Essentials:


Name: Tuomas Holopainen

Instrument: Keyboards

Date of birth: 25th of December 1976

Place of residence: Kitee, Finland

Musical background: Began playing piano at the age of eight and clarinet at age nine. At this age he also began to study musical theory at a college, for which he has a diploma. Outside of metal, he has played saxophone in a jazz band and clarinet in a brass band. Tuomas has played keyboards since the age of sixteen in bands such as Nattvindens Gråt and Darkwoods My Betrothed alongside Nightwish and his recent side project, For My Pain…

Bio: (by Jessica Ball )


As the mastermind behind Nightwish, Tuomas is a very, very deep person, as shown by the fact that many of his songs reflect something that has happened to him. Tuomas refers to himself as an Ocean Soul - a lonely soul, someone who longs to be alone, to keep to ones self and to fade away into the background. An Ocean Soul can also be interpreted as someone who longs to die. Tuomas has written a song entitled "Ocean soul" which appears on the Century Child album, and is considered such an emotional song and so very personal to him, that he and the rest of Nightwish have vowed never to play it live on stage.

Another very personal song to Tuomas is "Dead Boys Poem". This is basically a song which tells a story to everyone that Tuomas loves and hates. He has said in various interviews that he cannot tell people face to face how he feels about them, so if he were to die tomorrow, this song, or "A Poem from the Child's Heart" as Tarja refers to it on stage, will let these people know how he feels.

Ocean Soul contains to lines "Should I dress in white and search the sea, as I always wished to be - One with the waves - Ocean Soul". Dressing in white and searching the sea could be referring to the history of how the seamen would dress the corpses of certain bodies in white before throwing them overboard. "As I always wished to be" Well, at the time Tuomas just felt like giving up, the rest is pretty obvious.

When Tuomas wrote their most recent album but one, Century Child, he claimed he was having the hardest time of his life. Ocean Soul is a song on this album, and so the lyrics make sense when you think of the meaning behind the album.

Tuomas lives for Nightwish. He has played in bands previously, and now works with his side project, For My Pain, but mostly with Nightwish. Tuomas is heavily inspired by Lord of the Rings and Disney. Such songs as FantasMic (Wishmaster), Elvenpath (Angels Fall First), and Wishmaster (Wishmaster) are inspired very much by these two. Much of the Wishmaster album shows Tuomas' dedication to fantasy.

As said before, Tuomas is a deep and thoughtful man. Nobody but himself knows what goes on inside Tuomas' head, but whatever it is, it makes the most beautiful and enticing songs. On their DVD, End of Innocence, Tuomas explains Nightwish , and at one point he is crying, because everything he writes is so personal and close to him.

Tuomas says he will continue to write music and lyrics for Nightwish until he is out of ideas. After that, he says that he would love to follow his main idol, Hans Zimmer, and write a full soundtrack to a fantasy or horror movie. But until that time when Tuomas no longer writes lyrics and music, he will continue with Nightwish.

Tuomas says he will continue to write music and lyrics for Nightwish until he is out of ideas. After that, he says that he would love to follow his main idol, Hans Zimmer, and write a full soundtrack to a fantasy or horror movie. But until that time when Tuomas no longer writes lyrics and music, he will continue with Nightwish.