1. Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala was born on 14 January 1966 and is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter.
27 Facts About Marko Hietala
1. 2.
Marko Hietala is the vocalist and bassist as well as composer and lyricist for the heavy metal band Tarot.
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Marko Hietala is a member of the supergroup Northern Kings, and portrayed one of the main characters in Ayreon's 2013 album The Theory of Everything.
4.
Marko Hietala was born in Kuopio, and is the youngest child of the Hietala family.
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Marko Hietala joined Nightwish in 2001 when Tuomas Holopainen and the band's manager called him and said that there would be a place in the band for a vocalist and a bass player.
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Marko Hietala was a prominent guest musician in Delain, a project involving many members of the gothic and symphonic metal community.
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Marko Hietala participated in the recording of Invitation, by Altaria, providing backing vocals.
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Marko Hietala has been part of the bands Sinergy and Northern Kings.
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Marko Hietala sang some songs, completely, and wrote the music for the song "The Islander", on which he plays acoustic guitar instead of bass.
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Marko Hietala is credited alongside Holopainen for co-writing the song "The Crow, the Owl and the Dove" from Nightwish's 2011 album, Imaginaerum.
11.
In Delain, Marko Hietala played bass for the album Lucidity and was the main male vocalist on the album with featured vocals on the song The Gathering.
12.
On 1 April 2010 it was said that Marko Hietala would leave the band to concentrate on a choir career.
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Marko Hietala was the master of the Kuopio choir in the program's second season.
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Marko Hietala came second in the contest, losing in the finals to the Joensuu choir, headed by pop rock singer Ilkka Alanko.
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On 14 August 2013, Marko Hietala was the first singer to be confirmed by Arjen Lucassen to guest on Ayreon's new album The Theory of Everything.
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Marko Hietala released his first solo album Mustan sydamen rovio in May 2019.
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Marko Hietala released the album under his birthname Marko Hietala and will be using the name in his other projects in the future.
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In December 2020, Marko Hietala told Nightwish he had decided to leave to focus on projects.
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Marko Hietala had been suffering from several mental disorders, including depression, for a decade.
20.
On 12 January 2021, Marko Hietala made his departure public and announced his withdrawal from the public eye.
21.
Marko Hietala performed with his solo band at Z7 Summer Nights Open Air in Pratteln, Switzerland on 8 July 2023, later joining former Nightwish bandmate Tarja Turunen at her solo show later in the evening to sing "The Phantom of the Opera" with her.
22.
Marko Hietala released the single, "Frankenstein's Wife", on 4 September 2024.
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Marko Hietala participated in Season 15 of the Finnish TV show "Vain elamaa" in 2024.
24.
Marko Hietala has stated that the biggest influence on him as a bassist is Geezer Butler and Bob Daisley, while Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford are his biggest influence as a vocalist.
25.
In 2016, a Finnish newspaper reported that Marko Hietala had filed for divorce.
26.
Marko Hietala said he adopted the version with "c" when he was young and trying to sound "cool", but that now it doesn't matter to him anymore.
27.
Marko Hietala referred to the "Marco" spelling as "the last lie I had constructed about myself".