Kimberly Goss is an American singer and keyboardist, best known as frontwoman and co-founder of the Finnish metal band

Sinergy Sinergy was a Finnish/Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band started in 1997 by American musician Kimberly Goss. The idea for a "balls-out female-fronted metal band" was first formed when Kimberly Goss of Dimmu Borgir met Jesper Strömbla ...

Early life

Goss was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, to a Korean father and a German mother who worked as a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer. Shortly after, she went with her mother to live in Japan, before coming back to the United States and settling down in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where she was raised for most of her childhood.

Career

Goss started her career in music early, debuting as a singer for the underground band ''Avernus'' at the age of fifteen. She went on to write and publish her own underground extreme metal

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

at the age of sixteen, interviewing widely recognized bands such as

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

Mayhem Mayhem most commonly refers to: * Mayhem (crime), a type of crime Mayhem may also refer to: People * Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress * Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter * Mayhem Miller (dra ...

and Bathory, to name a few. At seventeen, she moved to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in order to pursue an offer she received to play keyboards for Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

band

Ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

. After recording one album with them, they went on tour with

Dark Funeral Dark Funeral is a Swedish black metal band from Stockholm, founded by guitarists Blackmoon and Lord Ahriman in 1993. They emerged during the second wave of black metal. Their lyrical themes have traditionally pertained to Satanism and anti-Chr ...

and

Bal-Sagoth Bal-Sagoth ( /baʊl 'sægɑθ/ ''b-owl SA-goth'') were a symphonic black metal band from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993. Originally formed as an epic symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyrici ...

. Two days after that tour ended, she was also invited to play keyboards and sing backing vocals on Therion's world tour in support of their '' Theli'' album. With Therion, she toured with bands like

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal, an ...

Sentenced Sentenced was a Finnish gothic metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989 in the town of Muhos and broke up in 2005. History Early years (1988–1991) Sentenced started in 1988 as Deformity and c ...

and

My Dying Bride My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Since their inception in 1990, they have released 13 studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. Alon ...

as well as playing major European festivals like

Dynamo Open Air Dynamo Open Air is a festival in the Netherlands held (almost) every year between 1986 and 2005. It was reborn in 2008 as Dynamo Outdoor and in 2015 as Dynamo Metal Fest. History Originally held to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Dynamo ...

. In 1997 she was also asked to join

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, ...

as a session keyboardist where they went on to tour to promote their album, ''

Enthrone Darkness Triumphant ''Enthrone Darkness Triumphant'' is the third studio album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, released on 30 May 1997 through Nuclear Blast. It was the band's first release through Nuclear Blast. This is the last release to fe ...

''. During the tour with

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal. During t ...

in August 1997, she met guitarist

Jesper Strömblad Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad (born 28 November 1972) is a Swedish musician who is the guitarist of the bands The Halo Effect, Dimension Zero and Cyhra, and formerly of In Flames and The Resistance. He is best known as the founder and former ...

and together they formed the first incarnation of

. She moved to Sweden in 1998 to rehearse with the first line-up of the band and proceeded to record their debut album, ''

Beware the Heavens ''Beware the Heavens'' is the first album by the power metal band Sinergy, released in 1999. The album features two instrumental tracks "Born Unto Fire and Passion" and "Pulsation", and a track inspired by the series Xena: The Warrior Princess ...

''. She then went on to temporarily play keyboards for

Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Sep ...

during their 1998 European tour while their own keyboardist was occupied with school. Shortly after, she relocated once again and moved to Finland, where together with original band member

Alexi Laiho Alexi Laiho ( IE-ho born Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho; 8 April 1979 – 29 December 2020) was a Finnish guitarist, composer, and vocalist. He was best known as the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and founding member of the melodic death metal band C ...

, they reformed Sinergy with Finnish musicians. Over the years Sinergy has teamed up to tour with the likes of

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

, Angra,

Dark Tranquillity Dark Tranquillity is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg. They are considered one of the pioneering acts of the Gothenburg metal scene, which also includes bands such as In Flames and At the Gates. Dark Tranquillity is regarded a ...

, In Flames and Children of Bodom. They've also played some of the biggest metal festivals in the world including

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...

. The success of Sinergy in Japan resulted in Goss receiving an offer to write a monthly column for over three years in ''

Burrn! is a monthly Japanese magazine for fans of heavy metal music, published since September 1984. It is the major publication on heavy metal music in the country. As of 2013, it is published by Shinko Music Entertainment in Tokyo. The magazine's c ...

'' magazine, the country's most popular music publication. Goss has also made contributions to other bands, writing some lyrics for Children of Bodom on three of their albums, and lending her voice to guest sing with other artists, including

Warmen Warmen is a Finnish heavy metal band assembled by keyboardist Janne "Warman" Wirman. Wirman has played with Children of Bodom from 1997 until their disbandment in 2019, and in 2000 created a musical project focused on instrumental work, which ...

Eternal Tears of Sorrow Eternal Tears of Sorrow (commonly abbreviated to EToS) is a Finnish symphonic/melodic death metal band formed in Pudasjärvi. Biography The band was formed in 1994 by Jarmo Puolakanaho, Altti Veteläinen and Olli-Pekka Törrö, after variou ...

To/Die/For To/Die/For (often abbreviated TDF) are a gothic metal band from the town of Kouvola in southeast of Finland, originally assembled in 1993 as a hard rock band under the name Mary-Ann. In 1999, they decided to change their musical style to gothi ...

, Exhumation,

Kylähullut Kylähullut was a Finland, Finnish hardcore punk band consisting of Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom), Tonmi Lillman (ex-To/Die/For and Lordi), and Vesku Jokinen (Klamydia). The band name means "Village Idiots" in Finnish language, Finnish. The ...

and The Wicked. The fourth Sinergy album, ''Sins of the Past'', began production in 2004, but due to Children of Bodom's busy schedule the album was never completed. Alexi Laiho stated in an interview with

Ultimate-Guitar.com Ultimate Guitar (Ultimate Guitar USA LLC), which is also known as Ultimate-Guitar.com or simply UG, is an online platform for guitarists and musicians. Its website and mobile application provides guitar tablature catalogues and chord sheets. U ...

in February 2011 that Sinergy is now defunct. In mid-2011, Kimberly began scoring background music for various TV shows that have aired on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

, Freeform,

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, among others.

Personal life

Goss was in a long-term relationship with and eventually married guitarist

, who played lead guitar for both Sinergy and Children of Bodom (in which Alexi also did lead vocals). The couple separated in 2004, although they still remained close friends. They both shared identical tattoos of a coiled snake around their ring fingers and also had each other's initials tattooed on the upper part of their left arms. After Laiho's death in 2020, the Finnish media revealed that they never got divorced, but were on good terms and had regular text and video contact until the day he died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goss, Kimberly American heavy metal keyboardists American women heavy metal singers American people of German descent American musicians of Korean descent Living people Singers from Chicago Therion (band) members 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Sinergy members Year of birth missing (living people) American expatriates in Finland