Nightwish: Why did Tarja Turunen leave the band? Open letter, resignation, and resentment.

Nightwish made history and became a benchmark for symphonic metal worldwide in the early 2000s. And even two decades after Tarja Turunen the group and two new vocalists joined the band (first Anette Olzon , and now Floor Jansen ), it is the voice of the original singer that is imprinted on the band's greatest classics. After all this time, the public still asks: why did Tarja leave Nightwish?

To understand the dismissal of such a captivating voice and personality during a moment of success for the band, it's necessary to understand the context of the events. A project of composer and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen , Tarja's childhood friend, Nightwish was born in 1996 in Finland, blending classical music, the drama of opera, and the heaviness of heavy metal. Since the release of their debut album, Angels Fall First (1997), the presence and talent of the young, opera-trained vocalist have been highlights of the band.

With each new album released, Nightwish grew in popularity and global reach, but it was with Once (2004) that the band reached a new level of success, especially with the single "Nemo," considered one of the band's best-known songs to this day. Despite this excellent moment of commercial recognition, that would be Tarja Turunen's last album with Nightwish.

The year after the release of their successful fifth studio album, Nightwish recorded their second live DVD, called End of an Era . Recorded on October 21, 2005, in the Finnish capital Helsinki, the show was the last with Tarja Turunen, but the singer only found out the news along with the rest of the world.

Following the successful performance, the singer received a letter backstage suggesting she only read its contents the next day. Signed by all the other members of Nightwish at the time, the letter explained that the remaining members had decided to move forward without Tarja. According to Nightwish's official website Once world tour had shown the rest of the band that continued collaboration with Turunen and Marcelo Cabuli , her husband and manager, had become impossible."

Tarja Turunen's resignation letter

The day after the recording of the DVD End of an Era , the letter that Nightwish gave to Tarja after the performance was made public to all fans through the band's website. The lengthy text justified the decision by citing "different values" between Tarja and the rest of the band.

According to the letter, Tarja canceled sold-out shows for frivolous reasons, such as "rehearsing her solo performances, meeting friends, and going to the movies," demanded a higher percentage of payments, never participated in rehearsals with the band before recording albums, and considered refusing to do new tours longer than two weeks, among other reasons. 

Another point in the letter states that the artist already had the intention of leaving Nightwish, despite having expressed plans to record another album. Read below a portion of the letter, according to a translation published by Whiplash .

“Nightwish is a lifestyle and we certainly won’t give that up. Equally certain is the fact that we can no longer continue with you and Marcelo. During the last year something sad happened that I can’t get out of my head, every day, night and day. Your attitude and your behavior no longer fit with Nightwish. I never thought I would see my old friend acting like this. People who go a year without speaking to each other cannot be part of the same band.”

We are involved in an industry where business is a necessary evil, as well as a source of constant worry. (...) Personal satisfaction should always be more important than money! Nightwish is a band, it's emotion. For you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with those emotions have become more important. You think you sacrificed yourself and your musical career for Nightwish, instead of thinking about how much the band gave you in return.

Your attitude became very clear when you told me two things on that flight to Toronto: 'I don't need Nightwish anymore' and 'Remember, Tuomas, I can leave this band suddenly, giving you only one day's notice.' [Therefore], I can no longer compose songs for you to sing.

And you yourself have said that you are merely a 'guest' in Nightwish. Now that 'invitation' has come to an end and Nightwish will continue with a new vocalist. We are sure that this will represent a relief, both for us and for you. This discomfort of ours has lasted for too long.

Nightwish is a way of life, a job with obligations that involve us and our fans. We were no longer able to fulfill these tasks with you. Honestly, we don't know which of you two led us to this situation. In a way, Marcelo transformed that lovely girl you were into a diva who no longer thinks or acts like before. You are too convinced of your status, and believe you are irreplaceable.

(…) Cultural differences combined with greed, opportunism, and love are a dangerous combination. Don't let yourself be consumed [by Marcelo]. We are not proud of this decision, but you left us no other alternative. The divergence between us is too great. And the decision was made by the four of us. We've gone beyond the point where things could be resolved in a conversation.” 

Tarja Turunen's response to Nightwish

It took some time for Tarja Turunen to make an official statement after Nightwish released their open letter regarding her dismissal. Although she responded to some fan clubs during this period, a letter signed by Tarja was only published a week later, on October 29, 2005, on the singer's former official website

The singer explained that she decided to travel with her husband and manager to Argentina, Marcelo's native country, after receiving the news of his departure from Nightwish, something "compared to a divorce," in Tarja's words. 

In Tarja's letter to the public, the first topic addressed is the recording of the DVD End of an Era , for which the singer was "very nauseous and nervous" due to vocal problems during rehearsals, in addition to the pressure of performing a larger show, with more costume changes, special guests, and a production with screens never before seen by the band. Despite everything, the sold-out show in the Finnish capital was a moment of joy and everything went well.

In the following sections, Tarja Turunen describes the atmosphere backstage after the show. “After the concert, the guys in the band invited me backstage to join them and asked me to hug them all together. This seemed strange, as it was the same kind of hug we traditionally did before each concert. This tradition remained between us, even though the tension and increasing pressure had been there for a long time.”

My immediate feeling was to thank them, which I did aloud, but without response. After that, they gave me a letter and asked me to read it the next day. The same letter that is now public. I read it and was shocked. I didn't know what to say, and even now, as I write these lines, I still don't.

I sense there's a lot of anger in that letter, and I continue to have very mixed feelings about it, but I don't want to respond to that anger with even more anger. Private matters should never be made public.

I know this is a very sad time for everyone, including them. Although there were so many possibilities and different ways to express what they wanted to tell me in the letter, I still can't understand the way they chose to handle it. I'm sorry they misinterpreted me so much. I don't recognize myself at all in the way they described me. They mentioned bad things about me, but the fact that they involved Marcelo, my husband, crossed the line. He is the man I love, my friend, and has been my greatest support in recent years. (...) I thought I knew [my bandmates], but I was wrong. Still, everything that happened isn't enough to make them bad in my eyes. (...) The wonderful music we created together will not be affected by recent events.” 

Tarja Turunen and her current relationship with Nightwish.

Almost 20 years after leaving Nightwish, Tarja Turunen has a successful solo career and a consistent fan base, while the band continues its work with tours and new albums, now with Floor as the frontwoman. In fact, Tarja and Floor have a good relationship, having shared the stage and performed live together in recent years.

Over the years, Tarja has made several statements about her relationship with Nightwish. In 2017, the singer revealed that she didn't listen to her former band ("I don't follow their career because I'm not interested. I'm very happy in my solo career and very grateful for the freedom I have," she said at the time ), but that was also the year of a reunion with Marco Hietala , Nightwish's bassist, on stage. "It was a really good reunion. It was good to hug each other on stage and people were crying, the audience was crying. It was a good thing for us. They have their own lives, I have mine, everything is fine. Time heals. Besides, you're an adult. You need to think and live your life. You only live once. That's how it is," the singer stated in 2018.

In 2022, Tarja Turunen gave an interview to Regis Tadeu and Paulo Baron 's channel and spoke about the possibility of returning to Nightwish in a "very, very hypothetical" scenario in which she would receive an apology from the band. "We are living in a world where things happen without us realizing it. I mean, I can't really close any doors in that sense, I'm not that kind of person anymore. I've learned so many things in this life, I accept them as they are," she said.

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