Alexi Laiho
Finnish musician (1979–2020)
Alexi Laiho (Finnish: [ˈɑleksi ˈlɑi̯ho]; born Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho; 8 April 1979 – 29 December 2020) was a Finnish guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and founding member of the melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and a guitarist for Sinergy, the Local Band, Kylähullut, and Bodom After Midnight, which formed just prior to his death. Laiho had previously played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion, as well as Warmen and Hypocrisy.
Career
Laiho started playing violin at the age of seven and guitar at the age of eleven. His main guitar influence was Helloween. He then became interested in more extreme music, mainly black metal.
His first guitar was a Tokai Stratocaster.
In 1993, after taking part in an experimental band named T.O.L.K. with friends he met while attending the Finnish Pop & Jazz Conservatory, Laiho formed Children of Bodom together with drummer Jaska Raatikainen, under the name of IneartheD.
On 31 October 1997, prior to releasing their debut album, Children of Bodom played their first concert in Helsinki, as the opening act for Norway's Dimmu Borgir.
Silenoz, Dimmu Borgir guitarist, on Laiho's first performance: "We could hear the opening band playing from backstage. We were like, ‘Holy shit, what is this?' It sounded like Yngwie Malmsteen on speed.
“Alexi Laiho” enters the record as finnish musician (1979–2020). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alexi, Laiho and Finnish can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Alexi Laiho” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alexi, Laiho and Finnish provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q270970. VIAF identifies the subject as 451149106174068491357. The Library of Congress control number is no2011032557. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979, 2020, 1993 and 1997.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexi Laiho” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.