TARJA TURUNEN Has No Interest In Rejoining NIGHTWISH

Ex-NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen-Cabuli says that she has no interest in rejoining her former band — seven years after she was unceremoniously fired from the group via an open letter.

Turunen, who currently resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina with her husband and manager Marcelo Cabuli, tells Finland's Iltalehti that she's grateful to the fans who kindly hope that she will return to NIGHTWISH. However, she insists that there is no chance of that ever happening.

"I would be ready to rejoin NIGHTWISH if all the members of the band and the management team were changed," Turunen-Cabuli joked to Iltalehti.

Since 2005, the soprano has pursued a solo career and is now working her third studio album, which will be released around Christmas. She said she learned of the latest NIGHTWISH singer departure when a journalist from Finland contacted her for a comment.

And what were her initial thoughts about NIGHTWISH and Anette Olzon parting ways?

"Sadly enough, I wasn't surprised by it," Tarja said.

Turunen-Cabuli, who was in NIGHTWISH from 1996 until 2005, says she is really happy with her solo career right now and insists that returning to the band wouldn't bring her the same kind of joy and sense of fulfillment.

Although Turunen-Cabuli has been recording and performing as a solo artist for nearly a decade, she says that she understands the fans who miss the original lineup of NIGHTWISH and are hoping for a reunion.

"No one knows what I went through in the band during those years, so I accept how hard it is for the fans to understand my feelings on this matter," Tarja said.

Marcelo Cabuli and his business partners last year demanded nearly 100,000 euros (approximately $135,000) in defamation damages from the parties behind "Once Upon a Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996-2006". Named in the lawsuit were the publishing house Like Kustannus Oy and the author of the book, Marko "Mape" Ollila. Cabuli and his Brazilian business partners argued that the book includes false accusations and insinuations that have caused them suffering and financial problems.

The book, which was published in Finnish in 2006 and in English three years later, blames Cabuli for the events leading up to Turunen's dramatic expulsion from the band in late 2005.

The court ruled that the book — which criticizes Cabuli on only a few of its 380 pages — did not detrimentally affect his work or reputation in South America. In addition, the court determined that Ollila did not maliciously portray Cabuli in a negative light.

Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH a year before the book was published.

Photo below courtesy of Tarja Turunen's Facebook page