Member in bands
MARCO TAPANI HIETALA IS CURRENT MEMBER IN
MARCO TAPANI HIETALA IS FORMER MEMBER IN
Biography
Marko "Marco" Tapani Hietala (born January 14, 1966 in Tervo, Finland) is the vocalist, bassist and songwriter of the Finnish heavy metal band Tarot and bassist and the male vocalist of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish and is easily noticed for his unusual facial hair. He joined the band for their 2002 album Century Child, following the departure of previous bassist Sami Vänskä. Marco plays in Impaled Nazarene on album Suomi Finland Perkele (1994). He was a prominent guest musician in Delain, a project involving many members of the gothic/symphonic metal community. He is the bassist and lends his voice to a number of songs. He also participated in the recording of Invitation, by Altaria, providing backing vocals. Hietala has also been part of the band Sinergy.
Since his arrival to Nightwish, several songs have been written to contain duets with the former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, allowing songwriter and band leader Tuomas Holopainen to take full advantage of Hietala's raucous voice to add a new dimension to the band.
During Nightwish's shows, Turunen would take a break halfway through the set. Before Hietala joined the band, they used to perform an instrumental song during this time. Since Hietala joined the band however, they have performed covers of well-known songs, with Hietala singing the lead vocal part in this break. The band has performed Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", W.A.S.P.'s "Wild Child", Dio's "Don't Talk to Strangers", Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" and most recently, Pink Floyd's "High Hopes". Some of these songs have been put up for sale as well on various Nightwish album releases. Hietala has had much more involvement on the new Nightwish release, which is to be released September 2007, with some songs being totally sung by him. He has also written some of the new songs.
In Delain Hietala played the bass for the album "Lucidity", and he was also the main male vocalist on the album.
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