Kimberly Goss (born 1978) is an American former singer and keyboardist, best known as the frontwoman and co-founder of the Finnish metal band Sinergy (1997–2004).

Early life

Goss was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, to a Korean father and a German mother who worked as a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer. Shortly after, she went with her mother to live in Japan, before coming back to the United States and settling down in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where she was raised for most of her childhood.

Career

Goss started her career in music early, debuting as a singer for the underground band ''Avernus'' at the age of fifteen. She went on to write and publish her own underground extreme metal

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

at the age of sixteen, interviewing widely recognized bands such as

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Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band hailing from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991, Darkthrone transitioned to a black metal style influenced by Bathory (band), Bathory and Celtic Frost and ...

, Mayhem and Bathory, to name a few. At seventeen, she moved to Norway in order to pursue an offer she received to play keyboards for Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

band

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. After recording one album with them, they went on tour with

Dark Funeral Dark Funeral is a Swedish black metal band from Stockholm, founded by guitarists Blackmoon and Lord Ahriman in 1993. They emerged during the second wave of black metal. Their lyrical themes have traditionally pertained to Satanism and anti ...

and Bal-Sagoth. Two days after that tour ended, she was also invited to play keyboards and sing backing vocals on Therion's world tour in support of their '' Theli'' album. With Therion, she toured with bands like

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish progressive metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive meta ...

, Sentenced and

My Dying Bride My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Since their inception in 1990, they have released 15 studio albums, five EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. Along ...

as well as playing major European festivals like Dynamo Open Air. In 1997, she was also asked to join

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...

as a session keyboardist where they went on to tour to promote their album, ''

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''. During the tour with

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in August 1997, she met guitarist Jesper Strömblad and together they formed the first incarnation of Sinergy. She moved to Sweden in 1998 to rehearse with the first lineup of the band and proceeded to record their debut album, '' Beware the Heavens''. She then went on to temporarily play keyboards for

Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of frontman Alexi Laiho, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Seppälä, ...

during their 1998 European tour while their own keyboardist was occupied with school. Shortly after, she relocated once again and moved to Finland, where together with original band member Alexi Laiho, they reformed Sinergy with Finnish musicians. Over the years, Sinergy teamed up to tour with the likes of

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...

, Angra,

Dark Tranquillity Dark Tranquillity is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg. They are considered one of the pioneering acts of the Swedish death metal, Gothenburg metal scene, which also includes bands such as In Flames and At the Gates - regarded a ...

, In Flames and Children of Bodom. They also played some of the biggest metal festivals in the world including

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

. The success of Sinergy in Japan resulted in Goss receiving an offer to write a monthly column for over three years in ''

Burrn! is a monthly Japanese magazine for fans of heavy metal music, published since September 1984. It is the major publication on heavy metal music in the country. As of 2013, it is published by Shinko Music Entertainment in Tokyo Tokyo, off ...

'' magazine, the country's most popular music publication. Goss has also made contributions to other bands, writing some lyrics for Children of Bodom on three of their albums, and lending her voice to guest sing with other artists, including Warmen, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, To/Die/For, Exhumation, Kylähullut and The Wicked. The fourth Sinergy album, ''Sins of the Past'', began production in 2004, but due to Children of Bodom's busy schedule the album was never completed. Alexi Laiho stated in an interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com in February 2011 that Sinergy is now defunct. In mid-2011, Goss began scoring background music for various TV shows that have aired on

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, Freeform, Syfy and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, among others.

Personal life

Goss was in a long-term relationship with and eventually married guitarist Alexi Laiho, who played lead guitar for both Sinergy and Children of Bodom (in which Laiho also did lead vocals). The couple separated in 2004, although they remained close friends. They both shared identical tattoos of a coiled snake around their ring fingers and also had each other's initials tattooed on the upper part of their left arms. After Laiho's death in 2020, the Finnish media revealed that they never got divorced, and were on good terms and had regular text and video contact until the day he died. In 2012, it was reported that Goss had a five-year-old daughter and was working as a teacher at the

School of Rock ''School of Rock'' (titled on screen as ''The School of Rock'') is a 2003 comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, produced by Scott Rudin and written by Mike White (filmmaker), Mike White. The film stars Jack Black, Joan Cusack, White and Sa ...

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago located west of the city on the DuPage River. As of the 2020 United State ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goss, Kimberly 1978 births American heavy metal keyboardists American women heavy metal singers American heavy metal singers American people of German descent American musicians of Korean descent Living people Singers from Chicago Therion (band) members 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Sinergy members American expatriates in Finland Singers from Los Angeles Musicians from Los Angeles Musicians from Chicago