Sugar Ray built one of the most recognizable song catalogs of the late 1990s and early 2000s with a string of radio favorites that helped define an era of pop rock. Formed in Orange County, California, the band began as a heavier alternative rock act before breaking into the mainstream with the massive hit “Fly.” That breakthrough launched a remarkable run of successful singles that included “Every Morning,” “Someday,” “Falls Apart,” and “When It’s Over.” Over the course of their career, Sugar Ray has released eight studio albums, including Lemonade and Brownies, Floored, 14:59, Sugar Ray, In the Pursuit of
Former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen has reflected candidly on the misery she experienced during her final years with the Finnish symphonic metal band in a new interview with Albert Perera of Metal Hammer Spain, contrasting that period sharply with the happiness she now feels as a solo artist. The interview coincides with the release of Tarja’s new album, Frisson Noir (June 12, earMUSIC), which has been described as the heaviest record of her career.
Asked whether she might one day write an autobiography addressing her side of the 2005 Nightwish split, Tarja said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Maybe one day. I wrote a book during COVID. It’s not really a biography. It’s about my career, where I didn’t involve too much about my past with Nightwish. Maybe one day I can go back. Maybe. It’s just perhaps. I don’t feel like I am in need of explaining too much. But I can tell you this — I was not really involved in that biography [the authorized Once Upon a Nightwish]. They’d made me only one interview on the phone, 20 minutes, and that’s it.”
Recounting how her touring outlook has transformed since leaving Nightwish, Tarja said that Sharon Den Adel of Within Temptation — with whom she toured roughly two years ago — was astonished at how relentlessly she stays on the road. “I really enjoy that. I’m like a glowing light bulb on my shows. I’m really happy. Very happy. And I’m happy to hear that you saw that in me, because it’s really real,” she said. Tarja acknowledged the personal toll of extended touring as a mother — leaving family behind for weeks at a time, the physical demands of the road — but said the quality of her crew and musicians transforms those hardships: “I have the best team of people. I have a beautiful crew, musicians. We all are like a happy bunch family. They are there to support me, and if I have a shitty day, like everybody does, they are there to give me a shoulder to cry on.”
The contrast with the Nightwish era couldn’t be starker: “I would never, ever, ever, ever be willing to go back where I was with the days in Nightwish. It was so miserable. It was not happy times. Why? You do music — it should be happy. I want the people to come to my shows, and they also go back home happy.”
Turunen was fired from Nightwish at the end of the band’s 2005 world tour by being presented with an open letter — signed by the other members and published simultaneously on the Nightwish website — accusing her of allowing business and financial matters to overshadow the band’s emotional core. Nightwish keyboardist and primary songwriter Tuomas Holopainen later called it “the most difficult thing I ever had to do.” Tarja’s response has been consistent over the years: “Maybe one day I’ll forgive, but I will never forget.” In 2019 she told Kerrang! that a reunion was “a very long distance away” and that she and Holopainen had been in touch but not seen each other in a long time. A December 2017 onstage reunion with then-Nightwish bassist/vocalist Marko “Marco” Hietala at a Raskasta Joulua concert in Hämeenlinna, Finland sparked reunion speculation that Tarja quickly quashed.
Tarja’s husband and manager Marcelo Cabuli, who had been blamed in the authorized biography Once Upon a Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996–2006 for the events leading to her dismissal, sued the book’s publisher Like Kustannus Oy and author Marko “Mape” Ollila for defamation; the Helsinki District Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2011.
Frisson Noir spans 10 tracks and features guest appearances from Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth), Apocalyptica, Marko Hietala and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers). It was mixed by Grammy-winning producer Neal Avron, known for his work with Linkin Park, Skillet and Disturbed. earMUSIC describes the album as “a powerful statement of identity, strength and belonging.”
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