Early life and influences

Ville Hermanni Valo was born in the Vallila district of Helsinki. His father, Kari, is Finnish and his mother, Anita, is of Hungarian descent. 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 was born. In his late teens, he worked at his father's sex shop 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. In various interviews he has cited his favorite artists include King Diamond, Elvis Presley, Neil Young, as well as bands such as Fields of the Nephilim, The Sisters of Mercy, Black Sabbath, Type O Negative, Depeche Mode, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Jim Morrison and The Doors, and The Stooges. Valo is frontman of the Finnish rock band HIM. They became the first and only 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. In May 2007, Valo checked into Promises Malibu, a California rehabilitation center, to seek treatment for his alcoholism. He currently resides in Helsinki.

Equipment

Guitars

Ville has played several acoustic guitars for promotional videos and appearances, as well as on stage. He has a well-documented affinity for Gibson acoustics, owning several known examples. These include a sunburst Hummingbird, a vintage Gibson L-1 dating to the early 20th century, and at least three J-200s. In a 2007 interview, Valo stated that he wrote the album Venus Doom using a recently acquired Fender Telecaster through a fuzz box. At the time, he was filling in on guitar at rehearsals while HIM's guitarist recovered from a broken wrist. This Telecaster can be briefly seen in the music video for "The Kiss of Dawn" to be a three-tone sunburst American Standard model with maple fretboard and a white pickguard.

In the Tears on Tape era, his main guitar has been a Gibson Custom Shop SJ-200 Western Classic Pre-War model outfitted with what appears to be a Sunrise soundhole mounted pickup. This is the guitar that he was recently seen playing onstage through a Laney Lionheart 4x10 half stack at the Helldone Festival 2012. He also played a Takamine 12-string acoustic on the promotional tour for Razorblade Romance.

In 2003, HIM played Top of the Pops, but Linde had to fly back to Finland to witness his daughter's birth. Ville filled in on guitar, miming on Linde's cherry Gibson Flying V.

Microphones

Valo has used Shure SM58 and Shure Beta 58A microphones for most of his career, but during the 2010 Screamworks tour he was seen using a Sennheiser E965 condenser microphone. In photos of the 2012 Tavastia shows, Ville is shown to be using a Shure SM58 again. As of the Tears on Tape tour, he can be seen using a Telefunken Elektroakustik M80.

Musical career

At 7 years old, Ville Started taking music lessons. Being a huge fan of Gene Simmons, he learned the bass guitar as his first musical instrument. At 13, he wrote his first song, untitled, and had his first gig as a bassist; the first song he performed at that time was "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" by Iron Maiden. At 15, he decided to drop school to launch his musical career.

In 1991, he founded "His Infernal Majesty." Originally meant to be a Black Sabbath tribute band, they started to record their own demos, but the record companies didn't like their music, so they recorded more demos until they got their first record deal.

Their song "Join Me in Death" was featured in the movie The Thirteenth Floor, which granted them success in Germany, the song was one of the bestselling songs in the history of Finland.

Influences

Ville Valo mentioned a couple of bands who majorly influenced him as an artist, his biggest influence being Black Sabbath; additionally, he's always been a fan of dark music. The following list includes some of the other influential bands: Cathedral, Iron Maiden, Kiss (band), Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, and Neil Young.

Films and TV

Valo was close friends with CKY, Jackass and Viva La Bam star Bam Margera, who shares many of Valo's tattoos. Ville can be seen in the movies CKY3, Jackass Number Two and Bam Margera Presents: Where the#$&% Is Santa?, which includes the whole band playing "Dead Lover's Lane". Valo can also be seen in four episodes of Viva La Bam (S1E5, S3E4, S4E1, S5E8). Valo also portrayed Jim Morrison in the 69 Eyes music video "Wasting The Dawn". He also voices the character of Moto Moto in the Finnish dub of Madagascar 2.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]