Ville Hermanni Valo (born November 22, 1976) is a Finnish singer, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish rock band HIM. Valo was also the drummer for the Daniel Lioneye project. Valo has a baritone vocal range.[2]
Early life
Ville Hermanni Valo was born in a district of Helsinki, called Vallila. His father, Kari, is Finnish and his mother, Anita, is of Hungarian descent.[3] Soon after his birth, the family moved to the riverside community of Oulunkylä where they lived throughout his teenage years. In 1984 his younger brother and only sibling Jesse, a professional Thai boxer (left 'Iconcrash' in 2008), was born.[4] In his late teens, he worked at his father's sex shop[5] and later moved out on his own when he was 18. As a child, Valo was exposed to the songs of popular Finnish performers such as Tapio Rautavaara and Rauli Badding Somerjoki by his music-loving parents, while an older cousin introduced him to the heavier sounds of bands like Kiss, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.[3]
Former projects
Valo was in Helsinki based bands B.L.O.O.D 1987-1988, Eloveena Boys 1987-1988, Kemoterapia 1989-1999, Donits-Osmo Experience 1992-1993 and Daniel Lioneye. He has also starred in the video of Wasting the Dawn by the Finnish band The 69 Eyes. He has also taken part as a backing vocalist for their first two albums.
Current
Valo is frontman of the Finnish rock band HIM, who have released seven studio albums and four compilation albums. They became the first Finnish rock band to achieve a gold record (more than 500,000 copies) in the United States. Valo was also the drummer for the Daniel Lioneye project which featured HIM's guitarist Linde Lindström on vocals/lead guitar and Migé Amour on bass. The newest album of HIM, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice has been released between February 5 and February 12, 2010. He currently lives in Helsinki. HIM are currently touring, are set to play at Download 2010 and the Finnish leg of Sonisphere.
Movies and TV
Ville is close friends with CKY, Jackass and Viva La Bam star Bam Margera, who shares many of Valo's tattoos. Valo can be seen in the movie Jackass Number Two and the movie Bam Margera Presents: Where the #$&% Is Santa?, which includes the whole band playing "Dead Lover's Lane." Valo can also be seen in a couple of episodes of Viva La Bam (season 1 episode 5, season 3 episode 4, season 4 episode 1, season 5 episode 8). He also acts the role of Moto-Moto in the Finnish version of Madagascar 2. He is also in CKY 3. Valo also portrayed Jim Morrison in the 69 Eyes music video "Wasting The Dawn".
|
|
611
