Valo was born to a Finnish father named Kari and a mother of Hungarian descent named Anita in a small suburb of Helsinki called Vallila. As a child, Ville was influenced by his music-loving parents, who exposed him to the songs of popular Finnish performers such as Tapio Rautavaara and Rauli Badding Somerjoki, while an older cousin introduced him to the heavier sounds of bands like Kiss, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. Valo’s first musical step was as a three year old bongo drummer. He learned to walk with the help of the family dog Sami, and when the dog died, not only was he extremely upset, he also apparently developed his allergies to animals and asthma at the same time.