Otus, drummer with Finnish heavy metal monsters Lordi, has sadly passed away. He was only 38 years old. Otus' real name was Tonmi Lillman. His status as a member of Lordi had never been publicly acknowledged until now because all members of Lordi are masked at interviews and have declared their wish for their personal identities to remain private.
Tonmi joined Lordi in October 2010 using the moniker of Otus. He replaced previous sticksman Kita, who was fired from the band after deciding "to pursue his own career publicly as himself [under his real name Sampsa Astala], without his alter ego Kita".
In addition to Lordi, Tonmi drummed with To/Die/For, Sinergy, Ajattara and Kylähullut among other acts.
Tonmi received his first drum kit at age nine and started performing live at age fourteen. Over the course of his career, he taught digital recording and drums at the Conservatory of Kouvola and played in numerous folk, dance and pop orchestras.
He was featured on several albums as a studio musician, including Reflexion and Twilight Ophera.
Here's a video from November 2010 introducing Otus:
In 2006 Lordi won the Eurovision Contest with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah:
