TONY KAKKO

'Tony Kristian Kakko' (born May 16 1975) is the vocalist and primary songwriter and creative force in the band Sonata Arctica. He was born in Kemi, Finland and founded Sonata Arctica in 1996, after studying keyboards for two years and singing informally in local festivals. He assumed both the keyboards and the vocals, but after the release of the band's first album, decided to concentrate on singing with the joining of Mikko Härkin. The bands Queen, Stratovarius, Children of Bodom and Nightwish are amongst his biggest musical influences. Kakko also states the season of winter as one of his influences. His singing style is clean and generally high-pitched, he sings in the tenors range and often relies on falsettos.
Tony appeared as a guest male vocalist in Nightwish's 2001 remake of their song "Astral Romance", which appeared on the EP ''Over the Hills and Far Away''. He also sang backing vocals on the song "Over the Hills and Far Away" and sang a duet with Tarja Turunen on "Beauty and the Beast". Tony appears on stage with Tarja performing 'Beauty and the Beast', in Nightwish's live DVD ''From Wishes to Eternity''.
Tony also performed guest vocals in the song "Wasted Time" from Heavenly's album ''Virus'' and did backing vocals for ''Before the Bleeding Sun'', the fifth album of the Finnish band Eternal Tears of Sorrow.