Editing Nightwish (section)

===1996: Formation===
[[File:Tuska 20130630 - Nightwish - 56.jpg|thumb|right|[[Tuomas Holopainen]] (left) and [[Emppu Vuorinen]] (right), two of the band's founding members, and the only founding members still left in the band.]]
After playing keyboards in several heavy metal bands in the 1990s, including [[Darkwoods My Betrothed]], [[Tuomas Holopainen]] decided to create his own project while sitting around a campfire with friends on July 6, 1996.<ref name="OUaN"/><ref name="MHammer">{{cite web|last1=Everley|first1=Dave|title=How Nightwish became a modern metal phenomenon|url=http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-08/how-nightwish-became-a-modern-metal-phenomenon|website=[[Metal Hammer]]|publisher=Team Rock|access-date=January 2, 2016|date=December 8, 2015}}</ref><ref name="anniversary">{{cite web |title=On this day, 25 years ago, Nightwish was born! |url=https://web.facebook.com/nightwish/posts/353390046148952?_rdc=1&_rdr  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/100044338783954/353390046148952 |archive-date=2022-02-26 |url-access=limited|website=Nightwish's official [[Facebook]] page |publisher=[[Meta Platforms|Meta]] |access-date=9 November 2021 |date=6 July 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He immediately had a clear idea of the music: experimental acoustic music he had written himself during his time in the [[Finnish Army]],<ref name="MHammer"/> similar to the music usually played around campfires, but with a distinct sound and atmosphere<ref name="nw bio"/> and played on his keyboards.

{{blockquote|We were sitting by the fire, Teemu Kautonen, Tero Leinonen, the whole old gang. It was there that I got the idea: what if I put together my own project? I hadn't yet come up with the name 'Nightwish', but the concept was already in my head. The band would be acoustic and its style would be mood  music. It wouldn't be heavy metal at all – we'd have acoustic guitar, some flutes, strings, piano, keyboards, and definitely a female vocalist. It was clear that it had to have a female singer, because at the time, [[The Third and the Mortal|The 3rd and the Mortal]], [[Theatre of Tragedy]] from Norway, and [[The Gathering (band)|The Gathering]] from Holland were a big thing to me. [[Ulver]]'s album ''[[Kveldssanger]]'' was also a big influence. I listened to ''Kveldssanger'' a lot and thought that maybe I should try to do that kind of stuff even better.<br>— Tuomas Holopainen<ref name="OUaN"/>}}

He soon invited friend and schoolmate [[Emppu Vuorinen|Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen]] to play [[Steel-string guitar|acoustic guitars]], and the classical vocalist [[Tarja Turunen]], who had shared the same music teacher, [[Plamen Dimov (musician)|Plamen Dimov]], a few years earlier. The three musicians recorded their self-titled acoustic demo in late 1996. The name "Nightwish" was derived from their first song together – the demo also included the song "The Forever Moments", and an early version of "Etiäinen".<ref name="nw bio"/>