Former NIGHTWISH frontwoman Anette Olzon spoke to CNN about balancing her singing career with her day job.
“I always wanted to help people and work with something that gives me something on the inside,” she said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “I’m a registered nurse. So I started studying and got a bachelor’s degree. It took me some years. And I’ve been working with that for three years now. And I feel that it’s a good complement — it’s a good complement to do music and to do another work. I believe it’s good for us to see other things. I’m working with newborn babies at the maternity ward, so it’s really a very nice job.”
The Swedish-born singer originally joined NIGHTWISH in 2007 and recorded two studio LPs with the band before being dismissed in 2012 in the middle of the group’s North American tour. She was replaced by former AFTER FOREVER frontwoman Floor Jansen.
Not long after Olzon was fired from NIGHTWISH eight years ago, she claimed that an argument arose between her and NIGHTWISH when she asked for an Australian tour to be postponed during her pregnancy. Keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen suggested that Jansen should front the band on a temporary basis, but Olzon said no.
Anette explained in a 2014 interview: “I would have been too pregnant to go to Australia, so I wanted to push the dates back, but Tuomas didn’t want that. Discussions about a substitute came up, and at first, I was, like, ‘Yeah, well, okay.’ But when they mentioned Floor, it was an automatic ‘no’ from me. I didn’t think it was a good idea, because I knew what would happen — I knew the fans would love Floor, because she’s a metal singer and I’m a pop singer, and I wanted to keep my job.”
A year after NIGHTWISH fired Olzon, the band released a statement denying that she was dismissed because of pregnancy or illness. “We discovered her personality didn’t fit this work community, and was even detrimental to it,” the group said. NIGHTWISH went on to say that Anette was initially receptive to the idea of hiring a temporary replacement if she couldn’t “manage everything,” but that she later “took back her decision, and the difficulties really started. Fear of losing money and position seemed obvious.” The band also insisted that “Anette and her company” were “paid a fifth of everything that was done during her time” with NIGHTWISH.
Anette‘s second solo album, “Strong”, was released on September 10 via Frontiers Music Srl. The follow-up to 2014’s “Shine” is a harder and faster musical offering than the debut.
The music for “Strong” was written and composed together with acclaimed Swedish guitarist and producer Magnus Karlsson.
Since the end of her stint with NIGHTWISH, Olzon also formed THE DARK ELEMENT with former SONATA ARCTICA guitarist Jani Liimatainen. The group’s self-titled debut album was released in 2017; a follow-up, “Songs The Night Sings”, came out in November 2019.
Olzon and noted progressive metal vocalist Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X, ADRENALINE MOB) released a collaborative album titled “Worlds Apart” in March 2020 via Frontiers Music Srl. The project was issued under the moniker ALLEN/OLZON.
