Ville Hermanni Valo (born November 22, 1976), is a Finnish singer, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish Rock band HIM. They have released six studio albums and four compilation albums. They became the first Finnish rock band to achieve a gold record in the United States. Valo is also the drummer for the rock band Daniel Lioneye. Valo is friends with American actor/pro-skateboarder Bam Margera, and HIM's music has been featured in Margera's projects.
Contents
Early life
Ville Hermanni Valo was born in Vallila, Helsinki to a Finnish father named Kari and a mother of Hungarian descent named Anita [1] . Soon after his birth, the family moved to the riverside community of Oulunkylä, where they lived through his teenage years. As a child, Valo was influenced by his music-loving parents, who exposed him to the songs of popular Finnish performers such as Tapio Rautavaara and Rauli Badding Somerjoki, while an older cousin introduced him to the heavier sounds of bands like Kiss, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. [1] Valo's first musical step was as a three year old bongo drummer. [1] He learned to walk with the help of the family dog Sami, and when the dog died, not only was he upset, he also developed allergies to animals and asthma. When Valo was at school, he was regularly in fights and considered a disruptive student. To counter this, Valo would be allowed to draw in class to calm down. At the age of 18 when visiting his parents, who had taken in a stray dog, his asthma came back. This sent him to the hospital for five days. His father decided to get him his own apartment nearer downtown Helsinki so that he wouldn't have any more asthma attacks and because Ville was 18 and he wanted to give him more freedom. [2]
Valo's main musical influences include Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Misfits, Judas Priest, Type O Negative, and others. He and other members of HIM are often seen wearing Black Sabbath t-shirts and he has frequently cited Sabbath as a major influence on him.