TARJA TURUNEN Never Wants To Go Back Where She Was During Her Final Days In NIGHTWISH: 'It Was So Miserable. It Was Not Happy Times.'

In a new interview with Albert Perera of Metal Hammer Spain, former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen was asked if she would ever consider writing an autobiography in which she would give her side of her split with NIGHTWISH, partly in response to the way her exit was portrayed in NIGHTWISH's authorized biography, "Once Upon A Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996-2006", which was published in Finnish in 2006 and in English three years later. She responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "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, that I was not really involved in that biography ['Once Upon A Nightwish']. They'd made me only one interview on the phone, 20 minutes, and that's it. But maybe [I could write about it in a book one day] — maybe, perhaps."

After Perera noted that Turunen seems much happier now touring as a solo artist than she appeared to be more than 20 years ago when he was on the road with NIGHTWISH, Tarja concurred. "Yeah, I am," she said. "I have some colleagues. I remember, for example, Sharon Den Adel from WITHIN TEMPTATION. When I was touring with them — it was also a little bit more than one year ago, maybe almost two years ago — she was asking me, 'How on earth you are doing so many shows all the time, Tarja? You're touring all the time.' And so she was asking, 'How the hell you work so much? You are on tour all the time.' And I'm, like, 'Yes, I am.' But I also really do enjoy that. I really enjoy, and I'm like a glowing light bulb on my shows. I'm really happy. Very happy. And so I'm happy to hear that you saw that in me, because it's really real."

She continued: "Of course it's hard to be on the road. As a mother, leave the home door and close it behind me, leave my family behind, be weeks away from home. It's hard. I miss my family. It's hard physically to tour and be on the road. But I have the best team of people. I have really good guys with me. I have a beautiful crew, musicians. We all are like a happy bunch family. I don't have a band, but I feel like I have a band with me. So they are there for me, and it feels great. And they are there to support me, and if I have a shitty day, like everybody does one day, they are there to give me a shoulder to cry on. And as well it was with Marko [former NIGHTWISH bassist/vocalist Marko 'Marco' Hietala]. We had good days and bad days, and we were there for each other. So it's very important for me to be able to feel this happiness, because 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. Yeah, having that energy is absolutely important."

Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH at the end of the band's 2005 tour by being presented with an open letter which was published on the NIGHTWISH web site at the same time. In the letter, the other members of NIGHTWISH wrote: "To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with emotions have become much more important."

NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen later called the decision to part ways with Turunen "the most difficult thing I ever had to do." For her part, Tarja said the way she was kicked out of the group proved that her former bandmates were not her friends. "Maybe one day I'll forgive, but I will never forget," she said.

In 2019, Turunen dismissed Internet chatter about her possible return to NIGHTWISH after her December 2017 onstage reunion with the band's then-bassist/vocalist Marko "Marco" Hietala during a "Raskasta Joulua" concert in Hämeenlinna, Finland.

"I know a lot of fans would love to see something happen, but it's a very long distance away," she told Kerrang! magazine. "Personally, I don't see anything happening with me and them, to be perfectly honest. Marco came a little later into the band; he wasn't there since the beginning. He was always a guy I was close to. Me and Tuomas Holopainen, however, haven't seen each other in a long time… but we have been in touch. It's not bad. The past is what it is; we can't change that. We can only change the future."

Tarja's husband of nearly 25 years, Marcelo Cabuli, who also manages her career, and his business partners later sued the parties behind "Once Upon A Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996-2006" for defamation. 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 blamed Cabuli for the events leading up to Turunen's dramatic expulsion from the band in late 2005.

In 2011, the Helsinki District Court dismissed Cabuli's lawsuit, ruling that the book — which criticized 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's new metal album, "Frisson Noir", arrived on June 12 via earMUSIC. The LP was previously described in a press release as "the heaviest record of her career and a powerful statement of identity, strength and belonging".

Across 10 tracks, Tarja delivers intensity, emotion, and strength, joined by special guest Dani Filth (CRADLE OF FILTH),APOCALYPTICA, Marko Hietala (ex-NIGHTWISH) and Chad Smith (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS). Mixed by Grammy-winning producer Neal Avron (LINKIN PARK, SKILLET, DISTURBED),the album blends a modern, hard-hitting sound with the dramatic and emotional elements that define Tarja's unmistakable metal identity.

"Frisson Noir" is available in retail as CD digipak, black 2LP gatefold and limited purple 2LP gatefold. The first pressing of all formats is finished with high-quality copper foil and logo embossing. Further exclusive formats as signed editions and a strictly limited collectors' box set (including black 2LP gatefold (180g) with 24-page vinyl size booklet of illustrations, photographs, and lyrics, CD Digipak with 28-page booklet, box set exclusive 7" vinyl single with "I Don't Care (Tarja Solo Version)" and "I Don't Care (Dani Mix)", four box set exclusive animal print postcards, box set exclusive DIN A2 "Frisson Noir" poster and a fine art print signed by Tarja are available in the official album store.

Press photo credit: Tim Tronckoe (courtesy of earMUSIC)