Lauri Johannes Ylönen (born 23 April 1979) is a Finnish singer-songwriter, best known as the co-founder and frontman of the Finnish

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

The Rasmus The Rasmus is a Finnish Pop music, rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (founder, frontman, lead sing ...

Biography

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

(then called just "Rasmus") in 1994, along with Eero Heinonen ( bass) Pauli Rantasalmi (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), and Jarno Lahti (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

), with Lahti subsequently being replaced by Heiskanen. First, they called themselves Trashmosh, then Anttila, 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 Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

. Ylönen became the lead singer,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

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 in 1999

Aki Hakala The Rasmus is a Finnish Pop music, rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (founder, frontman, lead sing ...

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 A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

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, Pauli also got the dynasty logo on his guitar (ESP LTD).

Side projects

Lauri sang co-vocals with Siiri Nordin, the singer of Killer, on a b-side version of the group's single, "All I Want". In 2004, Ylönen recorded a song together with

Apocalyptica Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is currently composed of three classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso. Originally a Classical music, classical- ...

and HIM's singer Ville Valo, named " Bittersweet". The song is available on Apocalyptica's self-titled album, ''

''. It has also been released as a single and music video. A 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." " Life Burns!" is taken from the same album as "Bittersweet" Ylönen also sang, with other members Kwan and Siiri Nordin of Killer, a song called "Chillin' at the Grotto" at a gala. Ylönen's most recent project was composing the soundtrack of the Finnish movie "Blackout". The soundtrack was released in December 2008.

Solo career

Most recently, Ylönen announced a solo album scheduled for release in March 2011 with the first single Heavy being out in February. The material will have its premiere at Emma Gala on 26 February 2011. Ylönen stated that he wanted several songs, that did not fit The Rasmus, to be released as a major record rather than a demo or something like that. The album will be self-produced with his record label Dynasty Recordings. In February 2011 the title of the album was revealed,

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. It was later released on 30 March 2011 in Finland, with other European countries following. The first single was called Heavy, the video was shot by Owe Lingvall who had previously directed the singles Justify and October & April for The Rasmus. In May 2011 Lauri stated that In The City" would be the second single from his debut album. The video was shot in Las Vegas. Throughout the summer Lauri toured the Finnish summer festivals and even a few European countries, his next stop was Germany in September 2011. In late September it was revealed that a remixed version of What Are You Waiting For would be his next single. Ylönen announced via his official website that he would continue his European tour starting with two dates in Russia for 2012. Recently he was nominated for best Finnish Act for the MTV EMA'S 2011. He subsequently won this category and went on to be nominated in the Best Worldwide Act.

Personal life

He has a son named Julius, born in April 2008, with Finnish singer Paula Vesala whom he married on 8 November 2014 in Las Vegas. The couple filed a statement on 29 December 2014 and the marriage was registered in Helsinki on 5 January 2015. The family moved to Los Angeles in autumn 2014. In September 2016 it was reported that the couple had filed for divorce after being together for 12 years. Ylönen is currently in a domestic partnership with Finnish model Katriina Mikkola. The couple have two children together, a son named Oliver (born 29 December 2017) and a daughter Ever Marlene (born 17 October 2021). The family resides in Miami.

Discography

Studio albums

With

*1996 – '' Peep'' *1997 – '' Playboys'' *1998 – '' Hell of a Tester'' *2001 – '' Into'' *2003 – '' Dead Letters'' *2005 – '' Hide from the Sun'' *2008 – '' Black Roses'' *2012 – ''

'' *2017 – '' Dark Matters'' *2022 – Rise *2025 – '' Weirdo'' Solo-Discography *2011 –

References

The Rasmus.com - official band biography
Retrieved on 2005-18-09

External links

The official website of Lauri's solo project

The Rasmus' official website

Lauri Ylönen
at the

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ylonen, Lauri 1979 births Living people Musicians from Helsinki 21st-century Finnish male singers Finnish rock singers English-language singers from Finland 20th-century Finnish male singers Finnish expatriates in the United States MTV Europe Music Award winners