- Tenure with Nightwish was 1996-October 21st, 2005. Their last concert together was Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Finland on October 21st, 2005, the final concert of a 1.5yr long tour (titled "Once Upon a Tour"). She was fired via a personal letter directly after the concert; a copy of which was uploaded to Nightwish's personal website, as an open letter, the day after. Their final concert was recorded Live and released titled "End of An Era" one year later. Tarja gave a tearful press conference the week after her dismissal, and posted her own open letter in response to the allegations made by Nightwish. After media attention grew too intense, she fled Finland to join her husband in Argentina via a last minute plane flight. After receiving death threats, Tuomas retreated to his parents house to recuperate. The traumatizing experience of Tarja's (very public) firing would be his inspiration for writing "The Poet And The Pendulum", later recorded for their cathartic album, Dark Passion Play.
- She met her Husband, Marcelo Cabuli, during Nightwish's first South American tour in 2000-2001 while promoting the newly released album Wishmaster. He was the band's Tour Manager for South America, in charge of finding venues for the band to play; They started having "full, warm feelings" for the other within the first few days of them meeting. The budding relationship was cemented and the two started dating after Marcelo saved Tarja being sexually assaulted by a fan, onstage, in Guadalajara, Mexico: The man had rushed onstage while the band was playing "Fantasmic III", grabbing Tarja from behind before the other band members could react, and both fell to the floor. Marcelo kicked the man in the head to get him off Tarja, and handed him to Security. She married the Argentinian businessman on December 31st, 2002, and he became her Personal Manager during her last 3 years with Nightwish, and continues to be employed as her Personal Manager to this day. He owns NEMS Enterprises, Tarja's Record Label. They have one child, and lived together in Argentina until 2018. They currently reside in Andalusia, Spain.
- Nightwish was originally meant to be an acoustic band. Tuomas soon discovered that Tarja's voice had grown much more powerful than their Comprehensive (High) school days, and would need equally powerful music to suit it. Taking inspiration from his Metallica concert in the United States, and from Finnish Metal band Stradivarius, Tuomas decided to make Nightwish a Metal band instead.
- Fluent in English, Finnish, German and Spanish.
- Favorite director is Ridley Scott, favorite actor is Russell Crowe, favorite movie is Gladiator (2000), favorite album is Gladiator (2000) soundtrack, favorite song is "Von Ewiger Liebe" by Brahms, and her favorite author is Mika Waltari.
- Vocal range is C3-G#6, 3.5 Octaves.
- In 1999, sang Solo for Waltari's Rock-Opera Ballet Evankeliumi (also known as Evangelicum (2000)) in several sold-out performances at the Finnish National Opera at 22 years old.
- In late 2007 Tarja was nominated for two awards, an "ECHO" as best newcomer and an "Emma" for best Finnish artist.
- Was not a fan of the heavy metal genre until she became Lead Singer for Nightwish, where she was welcomed with open arms by the Metal community. She grew highly respected for her vocal prowess, and she later grew to see that there were several similarities between the Classical World and the Metal Community.
- Loves Heavy Metal Christmas concerts, culturally specific to Finnish people. She's performed one every year for Christmas since 2003.
- Her most famous protegees are Floor Jansen (of After Forever, ReVamp, and now Nightwish) and Simone Simons (Epica). Both started Classical Singing lessons after the release of Nightwish's album Oceanborn (1998), with another 20 Symphonic Metal bands following suit; such as Xandria, and Visions of Atlantis.
- Was invited in December 2003 by then-Finnish President Tarja Halonen, to celebrate Finnish Independence Day with other Finnish celebrities. She attended with Marcelo, and was voted best dressed. President Halonen titled her "The Voice of Finland".
- Finnish cellist Max Lilja (ex-Apocalyptica and Hevein) became an official member of Tarja's Solo band in early 2007.
- Has sold over 100,000 albums as a Solo Artist, placing her among the top-50 best selling Female Soloists in the World.
- On May 12th 2016, in honor of Finland's Day of Identity a series of Finnish specific emoji were released to honor, and celebrate, Finnish culture. Tarja Turunen was included as her own emoji, her emoji is titled "The Voice".
- Has sold over 100,000 albums Worldwide as a Solo Artist, placing her among the top-50 best selling Female Soloists in the World.
- Nightwish was originally meant to be an acoustic band. After Tuomas Holopainen heard her classical singing voice for the first time, he was inspired to make Nightwish a Heavy Metal band to better suit it.
- The best selling Female Artist in Finland, and one of the top 50 best selling Female Soloists Worldwide.
- A professional Lied Singer (when not touring with her solo band).
- Is the middle child. She's performed with her younger brother Toni onstage a couple times Live before.
- On December 12th 2017, she duet with ex-bandmate Marko Hietala for the first time in 12 years since her expulsion from Nightwish. They sang "Ave Maria" together for her Christmas concert.
- Despite being gone longer than her tenure in the band, Tarja has the largest/most critically acclaimed Discography of any Lead Singer in Nightwish; with 5 albums, and 11 singles. Marko Hietala has the largest Discography of any Singer in Nightwish, with 6 albums.
- Was a Judge and Vocal Coach on Season 4 of Finland's version of the international hit, Dutch made Reality T.V. show, The Voice. The season was titled "The Voice of Finland", in homage of her title and in honor of her guest appearance.
- Has been called a "Diva" in a (meant to be) insulting context by the remaining members of Nightwish and Nightwish fans, not realizing it's true meaning. The meaning of "Diva" in a Classical/Opera context, is an extraordinarily talented Singer (in essence complimenting her without realizing it).
- Has experimented with a more contemporary singing style the last few years, to mixed reviews.
- One of the two most emotionally intimate songs Tuomas has ever written was written for her to perform, "Dead Boy's Poem", which is Tuomas's autobiography song. The other would be "Poet And The Pendulum", which he wrote for Anette to sing.
- Tuomas Halopainen uses potent recurrent lyrical content, some consistently more per singer. Tarja's lyrical themes frequently dealt with the Ocean, the Moon, Fantasy, sirens, emotional depths, introspection, the inner child, naivety, purity, rage, lust, and kinship between the band members.
- The Spinto (also known as Lyrico Spinto, or Lyric Spinto) Soprano is a medium-heavy weighted Lyric Soprano voice with a darker timbre than both the Light and Full Lyric, but is not dark enough (ie: have enough vocal weight) to be a Dramatic Soprano. The Spinto Soprano has metallic high notes, and rich, warm, dark low notes, and is capable of 'pushing' for dramatic climaxes without causing strain to the voice. Most Spinto (and Dramatic) Sopranos have trained as Mezzo-Sopranos at some point in their career. Tarja trained as a Mezzo-Soprano her first 2 years of Vocal training.
- Performs several Nightwish songs to this day, mainly obscure songs they rarely played Live during her tenure with the band, but a couple of the hit singles they made together. These include Passion and The Opera, Stargazers, Over the Hills and Far Away, Nemo and Wishmaster. Tuomas is reportedly disturbed by this, but has no legal recourse as all Nightwish bandmembers (and former bandmembers) own Rights to the song(s) they helped make.
- Has trained for 2-3 hours a day performing vocal scales, warm ups and exercises for 25 years.
- Her iconic Red Coat (heavily associated with "Nemo" and "Ghost Love Score", has elements of traditional Hungarian Menswear; with a Mandarin collar and Hungarian black stitching across the bodice (and on the upper forearms). Has split-bell sleeves, Princess seams, and a tailored waist and bodice. Vertical seaming down both arms from the shoulders.
- Her name "Tarja" [pronounced Tar-ee-ya (r is rolled)] means "owner of goodness", "kingly, wealthy, possesses well" or "who holds firm the good". It is the feminine Finnish variant of Daria; Daria originates in Greek language and is a feminine form of Darius.
- Has performed for audiences as Vocalist since she was 3 years old.
- Has two tattoos: 3 red hibiscus flowers and "Die Alive" on her upper left arm, and 3 watercolor flowers on her bottom left leg (in dedication to her daughter Naomi).
- Watches documentaries and reads autobiographies when on Tour. Has not watched Game of Thrones yet.
- Gluten intolerant (Celiac disease), and suffered a stroke in 2018.
- Plays piano.
- The legendary 2005 Hartwall Areena (Live) performance of "The Phantom of The Opera" is Andrew Lloyd Webber's all-time favorite rendition of his iconic song. Her final note is an undulating E(flat)6-D6 (Sarah Brightman's classic), and Marko Hietala's highest note, is G5 in full (screaming) voice.
- Originally wanted to be a Blues-Soul singer, à la Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. After hearing Sarah Brightman in "The Phantom of The Opera", she decided to pursue Classical training.
- Nightwish's 2nd longest Lead Vocalist and Frontwoman, with having served 9 years. Floor Jansen officially took 1st for longest tenure as Lead Vocalist and Frontwoman, after October 21st, 2022, with 10 years total.
Marko Hietala was Nightwish's longest serving Vocalist, with 20 years as member upon announcing his retirement. - Was sick with the flu for the two concerts Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Finland in 2005 ("End of An Era"), and Montreal, Québec, Canada in 2004.
- While at Karlsruhe, Tarja had initially auditioned for Choir admission. She attracted the attention of renowned Japanese Mezzo-Soprano, Mitsuko Shirai, who had been a professor at the University since 1992. Mitsuko Shirai encouraged Tarja to apply for Soloist training (who took her advice).
- After her primary Vocal Training at Sibelius Academy, she pursued further Vocal Training at Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (Germany), during 2001-2003. There is audible vocal difference between albums Oceanborn and Wishmaster, and then Century Child and Once that highlight her maturing Voice. Prior to 2000, Tarja was classified as a Light-Lyric Soprano; upon enrolling at Karlsruhe she matured into a Full-Lyric Soprano, then finally a Lyric-Spinto.
- Is a fan of Football, she supports Argentina's San Lorenzo.
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