Ville Biography

Ville Hermanni Valo is the songwriter & leadman/ vocalist of the Finnish rock band, HIM.
He was born at 8:28 AM on the 22, November, 1976 in Vallila, Helsinki, Finland to Kari & Anita. His father is Finnish and his mother is of Hungarian descent.

Young Ville developed his love of music as a infant. To soothe Ville's crying, his father would play "Paratiisi" by Rauli Badding Somerjoki & his mother would dance with him in her arms.

Ville's first musical memory is that of Jallu, a close friend, at a family party, when he was only 3. Jallu was an Elvis impersonator, and was playing "Are You Lonesome Tonight". During his performance, Valo began to tap away on bongo drums. His parents recognised his talent and have supported his musical progression throughout his life.

Ville's first introduction to rock/metal music came when he was about 4, in his cousin's bedroom. His cousin was a huge fan of Iron Maiden, and young Valo became terribly afraid of Eddie, the band's mascot.

Eventually Ville would develop a taste for heavy metal. Bands such as Kiss and Black Sabbath would influence him greatly. The first album he ever bought was 'Animalize' by Kiss.
His musical interests gradually expanded to include reggae, early blues and country-oriented material such as Neil Young, Roy Orbison & Johnny Cash.

At 9, Valo attended the Pop and Jazz Conservatory in Helsinki, where he studied several different musical genres. In his teens, Valo participated in a large number of different Helsinki-based bands (see FACTS).
During this time, Ville would also spend a period of time working in his father's adult (porn) shop.

In 1995, Valo enlisted old schoolmates Mikko Lindstrom and Mikko Paananen, as well as drummer Juhana Rantala and keyboardist Antto Melasniemi to form His Infernal Majesty, a band that blended goth & heavy metal with fatalistic romanticism. Valo would invent what is now known as the genre 'love metal'

The band's name would later be shortened to HIM, when associations of Satanism gave the wrong publicity in Finland.