Ville Hermanni Valo (born 22 November 1976) is a Finnish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the lead vocalist and main songwriter of the Finnish gothic rock band HIM. Influenced by the likes of Black Sabbath and Type O Negative, Valo began his career playing bass and drums in various bands around Helsinki, before forming HIM in 1991. The band would go on to become one of the most commercially successful Finnish bands of all time, and the first to receive a gold record in the United States. Valo is also credited as the creator of the heartagram, the trademarked symbol of HIM. The band announced their plans to retire following a farewell tour, and played their final show on New Year\'s Eve 2017.\n', '

Aside from HIM, Valo has collaborated with various other bands and artist during the course of his career, including The 69 Eyes, Apocalyptica, Cradle of Filth and Anathema. He has also made brief appearances in TV and film, often collaborating with Bam Margera of Jackass. Valo has also been regarded as a sex symbol, and has received several accolades in the music industry, and was found by VVN Music to possess the eighth-highest vocal range of any known singer in popular music.\n', '

Ville Hermanni Valo was born on 22 November 1976 in Helsinki, Finland, to Kari and Anita Valo. A few months after Ville\'s birth, the Valo family moved from Vallila to Oulunkylä, where Ville later attended comprehensive school. Anita Valo worked at a shoe shop, and later as an employee of the city of Helsinki, while Kari Valo was a taxi driver. He later gave up this profession, and opened a sex shop in Helsinki, called Aikuisten lelukauppa, where Ville worked occasionally as a teenager. Valo also has a younger brother Jesse, born in 1983.\n', '

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