The History of Stratovarius

1982: Stratovarius is founded by drummer Tuomo Lassila in Helsinki, playing Heavy Rock influenced by Black Sabbath, doing the usual gigs and demos.

1983-86: Guitarist Staffan Straehlman leaves Stratovarius and Tuomo convinces Timo Tolkki, who so far has played guitar with Roadblock, to join in, and John Vilhervae is substituted by Jyrki Lentonen on bass. Due to the new line-up the musical style changes dramatically. Particuarly Timo Tolkki adds influences all the way from classical music to Rainbow.

1987: Stratovarius realize that Tuomo has problems singing their new style of music and from here on Timo Tolkki is singing. Once again demos are being recorded (including the songs Fright Night, Future Shock and Fire Dance Suite, which will be released later on Timo Tolkki's solo album).

1988: CBS Finland signs the band and releases their first single "Future Shock".

1989: The debut album "Fright Night" is released and the band extensively tours Finland. While in the middle of preparing for their second album they get dropped by CBS because the new A & R doesn't see any future for Stratovarius.

1989-92: Stratovarius keep working at new songs and have to get a loan to record their new album "Stratovarius". Jyrki Lentonen leaves the band to be replaced by Antti Ikonen at keyboards. Timo Tolkki plays bass even though the record credits Jari Behm. The album is released by the small Finish independent label Bluelight Records and is now a collector's item, as only 1.000 copies were pressed. This album is sent to lots of European companies and finally the band is signed by Shark Records, who re-release the album with a new cover and the title "Twilight Time".

In 1992 "Twilight Time" turns out to be the best selling import album in Japan (second place: AC/DC -Live).

1993: The band records the songs for their new album in various studios, and towards the end of the recording Jari Kainulainen joins Stratovarius on bass and records the last 5 songs of the album. All other bass parts are played by Timo Tolkki.

1994: "Dreamspace" is released by T&T Records and for the first time Stratovarius tour Japan. After the tour Timo Tolkki decides that they need a new vocalist. They run advertisments in Finnish newspapers and come across Timo Kotipelto. At that time the songs for the next album "Fourth Dimension" have already been written.

1995: "Fourth Dimension" is released and proves to be a great step in the right direction. Stratovarius tour Europe and once again Japan. During this tour they discover, however, that the chemistry within the band isn't right any more, Stratovarius are split into two opposing fractions. Consequently, both drummer Tuomo Lassila and keyboarder Antti Ikonen leave the band right after the tour and Timo Tolkki decides to ask Jens Johansson (Dio and Yngwie Malmsteen) and Joerg Michael (Running Wild) to join the band. After having heard the demos for the upcoming album "Episode" both of them agree.

1996: After four months in the studio "Episode" is released and for the first time choirs and a symphonic orchestra are introduced to Stratovarius' music. The album is a great success for the band, with a place in the Finnish Top 20 for 8 weeks and in Japan it reaches number 12 on the Orikon Charts. Once again Stratovarius tour Europe and Japan and then start recording their 6th album "Visions".

1997: "Visions" will be released in April and is the continuation of their "Episode" album, with the title song (10 minutes playing time) being the culmination. Shortly Stratovarius will tour Europe and Japan again. "Visions" has reached chart entry in five European countries.

1998: The double live album "Visions Of Europe - Live" was released and could convince the audience by its exstatic mood which got caught during the live shows. The album entered the finnish charts for 9 weeks and reached its peak with position no. 6. Immediately after that Timo Tolkki and his band mates went to start the recordings of the new single while the "Visions" album reached gold status in Finnland. In summer 1998 the single S.O.S. was released. The title track "Save Our Souls" as well as the speed metal killer "No Turning Back" show an impressive power as well as an unbelievably dynamical and the emotional ballad "Years Go By" brings you straight into the right mood. Covering the Scorpions track "Blackout" they also show up with the experimental side of their creativity. And they ruled. A real sweetie for each fan as that track will not appear on the forthcoming album which will be released in October.

Timo Tolkki (guitar, backing vocals. Production):

In 1966 Timo was born near Helsinki (meaning in the middle of nowhere) where he still lives today with his family (wife Anna-Maria, daughter Nina, 2 dogs, 1 horse, 2 parrots, mice etc.). The surroundings greatly influence Timo's music, you can just about hear nature, the blue sky, the clear water ... Timo's hobbies are various, he likes to read, to watch videos, surf the Internet and listen to classical music, mainly J.S. Bach.

Timo Kotipelto (vocals):

Timo was born in 1969 and lives in the middle of Helsinki. When not in the studio or on tour he studies classical singing, reads history books, composes at his computer or enjoys sports. He is really into the Internet and takes care of Stratovarius' Web Site, where the fans can get in touch with Stratovarius directly (http://www.netlife.fi/stratovarius/).

Jari Kainulainen (bass):

Born in 1971 Jari is the youngest of the band. He lives in Helsinki as well and in his spare time goes mountainbiking, enjoys computer games and listens to music.

Jens Johansson (keyboards):

Born in Sweden in 1963 he lives in New York at the moment and spends a lot of time travelling to Sweden and Finland. Other than that, he takes care of the record company that he and his brother own.

Joerg Michael (drums): Joerg lives in Dortmund, Germany and is a great fan of soccer. Whenever he doesn't work he either plays soccer himself or just relaxes. Each year he spends quite some of his time in Finland.