Eicca Toppinen: Map

Categories: 1975 births > Living people > Finnish cellists > Finnish heavy metal cellists > People from Vantaa

Wikipedia article:

Map showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article:

Eino Matti "Eicca" Toppinen is a Finnish

cellist, songwriter, producer, arranger, and (as a hobby) drummer.

Biography

Toppinen grew up in Vantaa's Hakunila and has two older sisters and two brothers.Toppinen began to play the cello at the age of 9, and decided to start playing drums at the same time.He called himself Eicca from a very young age to avoid confusion with his sister's name, Aino Toppinen.

He attended the Sibelius Academy

in Helsinki

, where he met Paavo Lötjönen, Antero Manninen and Max Lilja. When he attended Sibelius, Eicca couldn't get an apartment or student support money because he lived too close to Helsinki

; where the Academy resides.In the beginning, that made Eicca feel down. He tried to get away from his parents' house, but that wouldn't work: he had to be at least 21 years old, and he couldn't afford to live by himself.After graduating, he played for several orchestras, like "Radio Symphony Orchestra" and "Avanti".He's also a founding member of the Sibelius Academy's Cellosextet.

In 1993, he changed his mind about college life. The members of the young Vivo Christian Orchestra got to witness how their orchestra mates played 3 songs from one of Metallica's albums, Ride the Lightning.Two years later, Apocalyptica performed at Helsinki

's Teatro Heavy Metal Club.A week later, Kari Hynninen of Zen Garden Records contacted Eicca for a deal to make their very first record: Plays Metallica by Four Cellos.

Perttu Kivilaakso replaced Antero Manninen in 1999, and Max Lilja left the band in 2002. In 2006, Mikko Sirén, who had played with the band on recordings and on tour, was made a permanent member of Apocalyptica.

Toppinen married Kirsi Ylijoki, a Finnish actress, in 1997. They live in an expansive rural area in Sipoo, Finland.They have 2 children: Eelis, born in 1999 and Ilmari, born in 2002.

After first writing songs for Apocalyptica, Toppinen also became involved in the writing of music for various other projects, such as the theatrical performance of Paper Rain and the Finnish Film Milja.

In 2007, Toppinen composed the soundtrack for the Finnish movie "Musta Jää" (Black Ice). He has since been nominated and, on February 3, 2008, won a Jussi Award for writing the score. He also wrote the movie's main theme, sung by Hanna Pakarinen

In December, 2007, Toppinen was invited to the Finnish Independence Day Presidential Reception in Helsinki. He attended with his wife, Kirsi, and was prominently featured in several news articles and interviews. Unfortunately, he had to miss Apocalyptica's sold-out show in Strasbourg, France, the first time he had ever missed a performance by his band in 14 years.

Toppinen says his biggest achievement is Apocalyptica.