Ville Valo is a Finnish singer, songwriter and musician best known as the lead singer of IHM , a gothic rock band formed in 1991. The band was one of the most successful Finnish bands of all time and the first to achieve a gold record in the US (500,000 copies) received. The band’s history with Ville was characterized by massive success and a large audience at concerts and tours. However, he announced that they were planning to retire in 2017, and the band played the last show on New Year’s Eve that same year. Outside of the band, Ville has had many successful projects and collaborations – with Die 69 Augen , Apocalyptica , Agentenand other bands and musicians. His voice was rated number eight on the list of the highest vocal ranges of well-known singers, as published by VVN Music in 2014.

Born name

Ville Hermanni Valo

nickname

Rakohammas, Balo der singende Hausmeister, Bil Bao, Rambo Rimbaud, Lux Airam

Sun sign

Protect

Place of birth

Helsinki, Finland

Residence

Little Huopalahti, Helsinki, Finland

nationality

training

He attended Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory while playing instruments and singing with bands.

Ville applied to the Sibelius Music and Dance High School but was rejected and later decided to leave the school as he did not have enough time to pursue music.

occupation

Singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist

family

• Father – Kari Valo (S*x Shopkeeper)
• Mother – Anita Valo (Shoe Store Worker)
• Siblings – Jesse Valo (brother) (Muay-Thai kickboxer)

Manager

Ville and his band HIM were represented by Razor & Tie Music Artist Management Company of New York City, New York, USA.

Genre

Rock, Gothic Rock

instruments

Vocals, guitar, drums, bass, keyboards

labels

During his career at HIM he was signed to record labels such as the following:

• Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) (1997-2003)
• Water records (2005-2010)
• DoubleCross (UK), Razor & Tie (US), Universal (EU) (April 2013)

To build

Average

Height

189 cm (6 ft 2.5 in)

weight

80 kg or 177 lbs

girlfriend/spouse

Ville dated –

1. Kari Rueslåtten (Unknown) – There was a rumor that the Norwegian singer and Ville hooked up sometime before 1997, but it was never confirmed.
2. Susanna (1998-2003) – He next dated a Finnish-born Susanna Niiranen from 1998 to 2003 when they broke up.
3. Jonna Nygren (2003-2006) – Another publicity was with Jonna, and they were spotted together at various events during the three years of dating. The couple became engaged on July 9, 2005 but broke up in March 2006.
4. Kat Von D (2008) – Ville is rumored to have hooked up with Kat Von D, a well-known tattoo artist, in 2008. She has a heart diagram, the logo of the band he founded, HIM, tattooed on her body.
5. Sandra Mittica (2012) – They were seen together over a period of approximately six months from March 2012 to September 2012.
6. Christel Karhu (2016-Present) – He started dating Christel, a well-known Finnish model, in September 2016. The couple have been seen at various events over the years and the relationship has existed since early 2019.

race/ethnicity

White

He has Swedish ancestry on his father’s side and Hungarian ancestry on his mother’s side.

hair colour

Hellbraun

eye color

Green

sexual orientation

Just

distinguishing features

• Big physique
• Long hair
• tattoos
• Often wears makeup around eyes
• Deep baritone voice

brand promotion

Vile Vallo has not yet promoted any brand.

Religion

Not religious

Known for

• To be the lead singer of a rock band HIM (1991-2017)
• Release of internationally successful rock albums such as Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 (1997), Razor Blade Romance (2000), Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (2001) and Love Metal (2003)
• Being part of the first Finnish band to achieve a gold record in the US with 500,000 copies
• Releasing Dark Light album in 2005 as part of HIM, which went gold in Germany, US and UK and platinum in Finland, his home country

First album

The band’s debut album was named Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666. It was recorded in just fifteen days and released in the summer of 1997. It received positive reviews for its sound, first peaking at number four in Finland but later going platinum. The album won Debut Album of the Year and Newcomer of the Year categories at Emma Awards in 1997.

first movie

His first film appearance was in a 1998 short film Asphalto Ab directed by Ilppo Pohjola, where he played the role of Lippumius.

First TV show

He first appeared in 2003’s Viva La Bam , which was a reality television show that was a spin-off from The Donkey , an MTV-produced film series.

Ville Valo favorite things

• Movie – Vertigo (1958)
• Idols – Clint Eastwood, Edgar Allan Poe and Gene Simmons
• Writer – HP Lovecraft
• Food – sushi, veggie burgers, salad, thai food, grain bread
• Drink – Black Coffee
• Finnish Lyrics – Valo Yössa
• Lied – Blue Dream von Tapio Rautavaara

Will Valo The Fact

1. He is a good friend of Bam Margera, best known for his participation in various Jackass films and videos on the series. Ville himself has appeared in a few TV movies with Bam, most notably CKY 3 (2001), Jackass Number Two (2006) and Where’s Santa? (2008).
2. His last name, Valo, means “light” in Finnish.
3. He has asthma and is a vegetarian but loves veggie burgers, Thai food and sushi.
4. He performed in a variety of bands before becoming the lead singer of HIM Some of these include Kemoterapia, Donits-Osmo, Terapia, Winha, Natas, BLOOD, Charlie Parker, and Aurora . In addition to being a singer, he also played guitar, bass and drums.
5. His father, Kari Valo, was initially a taxi driver. He later owned a s*x shop called Aikuisten lelukauppa and ville worked there occasionally as a teenager to help out.
6. Ville was born on November 22, 1976 at 8:28 am.
7. He is the creator behind a heart diagram that would become a trademark for HIM. Kat Von D has it tattooed on her body, and Steve-O has a variation of it that instead features a male genitalia tattooed on the bottom rather than the heart shape.
8. Valo claimed that Heartagram is the best thing he’s ever come up with. He claimed it was a symbol of yin and yang, for both men and women, and that it had a life of its own, with many people adopting the symbol without knowing it originated with him. He wants the symbol to be on his own tombstone when he dies.
9. The band IHM was formed in 1991 but disbanded in 1993. In 1995 it was reformed and relocated to the United States in 2005. It was here that Ville became a well-known musician and singer and gained a large following.
10. Valle has not always given his name when collaborating with other artists. Some of these were Balo the Singing Janitor , Rambo Rimbaud , Lux Airam , MZ , Bil Bao and a few others.
11. To save youth centers in Finland, Valo sang back-up vocals at Rock ‘n’ Roll High School from the Ramones but covered by Save Nuta in 2008.
12. Along with his brother Jesse Valo, he remixed three songs on his HIM album SWRMXS in 2010.
13. After retiring from working with HIM , Valo made plans for a comeback to the music scene in 2018. It began after singing back-up vocals for Andy McCoy’s Soul Contentment EP that year. He then reunited with Agents, a band he collaborated with in 1999.
14. Towards the end of 2018 he started a collaboration with Ville Valo and Agents with a single Orpolapsi kiurun to be released on September 21, 2018. They played at the Emma Gala Event on February 2, 2019 and announced the release of a self-titled album on February 15, 2019. Then it goes on tour.
15. He didn’t have the cleanest record of being sober and was reported to appear intoxicated and nearly died standing on the railing of the hotel terrace in 2000, but his friends saved him.
16. In 2007, he began drinking excessively, reportedly vomiting, passing blood, not sleeping or eating, and had to be admitted to the Promises Rehabilitation Clinic in Malibu to recover and break the habit. Since then he has relapsed several times but the situation has not deteriorated that much as he has been drinking in and out and is in control.
17. In 2005, while his band was on a US tour in Minneapolis, his drink was drugged. He was robbed of his cell phone, cigarettes, jacket, credit cards and asthma medication.
18. He has a large number of tattoos on his body – five heart diagrams, a full sleeve on his left arm, lettering on his right wrist and a monogram of Venus Doom, the name of one of his albums. He also has Edgar Allan Poe’s eyes on his back, an Estonian letter for “night” which his brother Jesse has as well as many others big and small.
19. He takes regular blood tests about every six months because he’s afraid of catching a deadly disease from sharing microphones.
20. Ville is allergic to flowers, dogs and cats, and chlorine.
21. When he was 17, he almost died because he forgot to take his asthma medication, resulting in about two weeks of recovery in a hospital.
22. He does not like going to the cinema as he has a habit of coughing and getting up every 15 minutes to go to the toilet due to bladder problems.
23. In 2004, he claimed he could use a disposable razor several times because his facial hair was very thin.
24. Although he very often wore makeup around his eyes, he does not like it and only does it for a photo shoot or a public appearance.
25. He has been cutting his hair with knives since 1997, up to 2000 and possibly longer. He claimed there wasn’t much and he just cut it himself during studio recording because it looked awful and he wanted to keep it.
26. Due to health problems caused by asthma, he did not participate in Finland’s compulsory military service.
27. Visit his official website at www.heartagram.com.
28. He’s not on social media.