Ville Hermanni Valo (born 22 November 1976) is a Finnish singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the gothic rock band HIM. Born and raised in Helsinki to a Hungarian mother and Finnish father, Valo began his career playing bass and drums in various bands around the city. In 1991, he co-founded and became the lead singer and main songwriter of HIM, which would go on to become one of the most successful Finnish bands of all time and the first to receive a gold record in the United States. Outside of HIM, Valo has collaborated with various other bands and artists during his career, including Agents, The 69 Eyes, and Apocalyptica. In 2020, Valo embarked on a solo career under the moniker VV. His debut album Neon Noir was released in 2023. Known for his deep, crooning, baritone voice, Valo was found to possess the eighth-highest vocal range of any known singer in popular music by VVN Music. He is also the creator of the heartagram, HIM's trademarked symbol, which has achieved great popularity outside of the band's fanbase. Valo has received several accolades in the music industry and has been regarded as a sex symbol by several publications. On his twentieth birthday, Valo created the heartagram, which would eventually become the symbol for HIM. A combination of a heart and a pentagram, it is meant to represent the juxtaposition of "the soft and the hard, the male and the female, the yin and the yang". Musically, the heart represents the softer side of HIM, while the pentagram conveys the heavier elements of its sound. Valo has called the heartagram his greatest creation. He noted in 2013: "There are a lot of people who have heartagram tattoos now. Kat Von D has one, Steve-O has a dickagram, which is like a heartagram but ends with a dick. It's started to have a life of its own: there are a lot of people who have them who don't actually know what it was, don't relate it to the band, and in that sense, I consider that to be my greatest achievement. So it'll be nice to have it on my tombstone. And it'll be nice to see where it's going to go next." During his solo career, Valo has used a variation of the heartagram with two extra lines forming the moniker VV. Regarding the symbol, Valo jokingly stated: "Artistically speaking the main difference between HIM and VV is the extra line in the heartagram, but what an exquisite line it is!".