Lauri Ylönen

Infobox musical artist
Name = Lauri Ylönen
Img_size = [http://www.freewebs.com/therasmusbrasil/Lauri_cutie.jpg]
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Lauri Johannes Ylönen
Alias = Lintu
Born = birth date and age|1979|4|23
Helsinki, Finland
Died =
Instrument = vocals, guitar, drums, keyboards
Genre = Alternative rock
Occupation = Singer/songwriter
Years_active = 1994 – Present
Label = Playground Music
Associated_acts = The Rasmus
URL = [http://www.therasmus.com www.therasmus.com]
Notable_instruments =

Lauri Johannes Ylönen (born April 23, 1979 in Helsinki, Finland) is the frontman of the Finnish alternative rock band The Rasmus.

Biography

Early days

Ylönen was born and grew up in Helsinki, Finland, his full name being Lauri Johannes Ylönen. At a young age he became attracted to music. He learned to play the piano unwillingly when he was five years old. Later, he also learned to play the guitar and drums. When Ylönen was eight years old starting third grade in elementary school, he met Eero Heinonen (the bassist of The Rasmus) and they became close friends during the school year. Ylönen's older sister, Hanna, said that he should try to sing as well. He tried and decided to continue with that.

The Rasmus

When He and Heinonen started at Suutarila high school in the early 1990s, they met Pauli Rantasalmi and later Janne Heiskanen. Ylönen initiated the project of The Rasmus (then called just "Rasmus") in 1994, along with Eero Heinonen (bass) Pauli Rantasalmi (guitar), and Janne Heiskanen (drums). First, they called themselves Sputnik, then Antilla, and at last Rasmus. They played their very first show before the winter break in school, 1994. They played songs with a style of rock and funk. Ylönen became the lead singer, composer and songwriter of the band. He quit school because the band took too much of his time.

In 1998, after having released three albums, Janne Heiskanen left and Aki Hakala became The Rasmus' new drummer. In the same year, the band's former manager Teja Kotilainen left their current record label, Warner Music Finland. The band signed to Playground Music Scandinavia soon afterwards.

Dynasty

In 1999, an association called Dynasty was founded. The association consists of the three Finnish bands The Rasmus, Killer and Kwan. The purpose of Dynasty was to signify allegiance and friendship between the bands and their members. Many members have tattoos or wear the Dynasty logotype on guitar straps. The bands have often worked together musically. Lauri has the tattoo on his arm as well as Pauli, and The Rasmus bassist, Eero has the logo on his bass.

ide projects

When he was with Siiri Nordin, singer of Killer, he sang the song "All I Want", a single of the group Killer.

In 2004, Ylönen recorded a song together with Apocalyptica and HIM's singer Ville Valo, named "Bittersweet". The song is available on Apocalyptica's self-titled album, "Apocalyptica". It has also been released as a single and music video.

An year later, he released another song with Apocalyptica, named "Life Burns!". This song was also released as a single and music video. The musical genre was much heavier than "Bittersweet." It is taken from the same album as "Bittersweet"He also sang, together with the other member of Dynasty, a song called "Chillin' at the Grotto" in a Gala.

uccess

After many years of traveling and touring, The Rasmus has become one of the most popular bands in Finland, as well as being rather well-known throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Ylönen has said that Hakala has become a very close friend to him compared with the others. Lauri is a considered one of the best writers in Finland

Discography

tudio albums

With The Rasmus
*1996 – "Peep"
*1997 – "Playboys"
*1998 – "Hell of a Tester"
*-- - "Hell of a Collection"
*2001 – "Into"
*2003 – "Dead Letters"
*2005 – "Hide from the Sun"
*2008 - "Black Roses"

Trivia

* Along with Pauli, Lauri belongs to an association of Finnish artists called Dynasty which also includes the groups Kwan and Killer. Many members of the association have a tattoo of the name "dynasty", one of which can be seen on Lauri's right arm. In addition, The Rasmus have their own production called Dynasty Recordings which supports young bands. Lauri is listed as one of the four "owners" of DR and is also listed as a songwriter.
* Lauri is around 169 cm (around 5' 6½") tall and weighs between 54 and 60 kg (119 and 132 lbs).
* His eyes are green and his natural hair color is brown, although he has dyed it yellow, pink, purple, blonde, and black. Sometimes, his hair seems to be his natural dark brown, though when on the road, he has tended to dye it black. However, he has now dyed it back to blonde.
* He says all his hairstyles represent a certain thing, such as his current black hairstyle representative of a crow and his previous representative of a sun.
* Some of Lauri's favorite bands are Muse, Björk, Weezer, The Network, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and Radiohead.
* Apart from Bjork, Lauri's musical hero is Muse lead singer Matt Bellamy.
* Lauri likes to skateboard and snowboard, and his favorite sportsman is reportedly Tony Hawk.
* His favorite foods include pizza, Mexican and Thai food and liquorice.
* He has a sister named Hanna who is four years older than him. Hanna was the person who originally told Lauri he had a good singing voice, before this Lauri had no idea. Lauri has stated that he envies his sister, in the sense that she has lived in 5 different countries during her life so far.
* He has two tattoos. One of Björk transforming into a swan on his left shoulder and the word "DYNASTY" on his right forearm (from his elbow to his wrist, the T in DYNASTY is depicted as a cross).

ources

* [http://therasmus.com/a_bio_bio.htm The Rasmus.com - official band biography] Retrieved on 2005-18-09

References

Lauri's middle name is Johannes. There has been some confusion with 'Markus' and 'Paavo', however. But, Markus is Aki's (the drummer) middle name. Eero's is Aleksi and Pauli's is Esko.

External links

* [http://www.therasmus.com The Rasmus' official website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2215274/ Lauri Ylönen] at the Internet Movie Database