Paulini

Paulini Curuenavuli (born Pauline Curuenavuli on 15 October, 1982) is an Australian pop and R&B singer, who is best known for coming 4th in the first series of Network Ten's Australian Idol in Australia in 2003 and for the #1 Australian success of her debut single "Angel Eyes".

Career History

Paulini was born in Fiji and moved to Australia in 1986 with her family at the age of four. Paulini has two sisters, Sereima Curuenavuli and Litia Curuenavuli who are also singers. Her family settled in the southwest of Sydney where she went to school and regularly attended church. She began singing at the age of 6 with her church gospel choir.

When Paulini was 8 years of age, her brother, Khal, was shot in the chest and died during a robbery. Paulini was very close to her brother and sang Fields Of Gold on Australian Idol in his memory. Paulini Online.

In 1997, Paulini was spotted as a promising talent by her high school and was put into the New South Wales Talent Development Program. This led to her entering and winning the televised talent contest "Starstruck" at the age of 16. Her song "When You Believe" is included on the CD of the show. She was also a prominent participant in the much-loved live Schools Spectacular concerts which are also televised on the ABC. At age 17 she performed Barbara Streisand's "Somewhere" at the 2000 Schools Spectacular and in 2001's Schools Spectacular she sang "Rising Star" and Handel's "Hallelujah" Chorus. Also in year 2000 she performed at Bankstown's Millennium buzz, which was held at the Dunc Gray Veledrome in the local area. The performance went over 4 nights where over 7500 dancing, singing and actor school kids from all over the Bankstown Region performed. The event went down in Bankstown's history books as the largest performance ever undertaken by school kids, the "BUZZ" received more media coverage then any other school's regional performance making it one of the largest shows to ever be undertaken of that genre. On every night Paulini performed her solo "When You Believe" to a standing ovation night after night. Paulini also sang many other songs on these evenings.

Curuenavali formed a band in 2001 called MIXX and also started session singing and cutting demos as a solo artist. Her two sisters are also members of MIXX. MIXX performed regular gigs around Sydney and toured Australia and Fiji in 2002. Paulini still performs with MIXX for special events.

Paulini was invited to open the South Pacific Games in Fiji in 2003 where she performed and recorded the South Pacific Games anthem ("Many Rhythms, One Love") for the Games Official Album: "The Pacific At Its Best" King Music website.

Paulini auditioned for and was a contestant in the first series of Australian Idol later in 2003 where she reached the final 4. Her appearance on the show attracted controversy on the R&B/Soul themed night after judges Mark Holden and Ian "Dicko" Dickson criticised her for wearing a golden dress that they perceived to be too tight, while performing Destiny's Child's "Survivor". The following week, on Big Band Night, Paulini was shockingly eliminated. Paulini's Australian Idol Song List:

1. Sydney Audition - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Marvin Gaye & Tammy Terrell)
2. Semi Final Group 5 - "Somewhere" (Barbra Streisand)
3. Final 12 (70's) - "Don't Leave Me This Way" (Thelma Houston)
4. Final 10 (#1's) - "Eternal Flame" (The Bangles)
5. Final 8 (Aussie Hits) - "Chains" (Tina Arena)
6. Final 6 (80's) - "Freeway of Love" (Aretha Franklin)
7. Up, Close & Personal - "Fields of Gold" (Sting)
8. Final 5 (R&B/Soul) - "Unbreak My Heart" (Toni Braxton) & "Survivor" (Destiny's Child)
9. Final 4 (Big Band) - "At Last (Etta James) & "Almost Like Being In Love" (Natalie Cole)

Paulini also performed Freeway Of Love, The Voice Within, Crazy In Love and Chains in the Australian Idol concert tour 2003.

Paulini was offered several recording contracts after Australian Idol but she was not approached by BMG who were associated with the television show. Eventually she accepted a four album deal with Sony Music.

After Australian Idol

Debut album

Paulini was signed to Sony Music in 2004 and released her debut album, One Determined Heart, soon after. The album was produced by Audius Mtawarira, who had previously co-written Delta Goodrem's Australian #1 hit "Born To Try". The album included two original tracks, "One Determined Heart" and We Can Try as well as various covers including TLC's hit "Waterfalls" and The Thymes' 1960's hit "Trustmaker".

The first single off the album was Angel Eyes a cover of the 1988 hit song by Canadian blues musician Jeff Healey which debuted at #2 on the ARIA Australian singles charts on 11 July 2004. It initially debuted at #1 until ARIA discovered that a Sydney DJ had bought 100 copies in one transaction, disqualifying 99 unit sales and bumping her out of the top spot. But a week later the song officially reached #1 on 18 July 2004 and stayed in the top 10 for over 3 months.

Paulini's first album, One Determined Heart debuted at #1 on 2 August following its release in late July 2004 and remained in the top 10 for several weeks earning a Platinum certification.

Angel Eyes was nominated for an ARIA Award for Highest Selling Single in 2004.

The second single released was We Can Try, an original blues track, which debuted at No. 30 in the Aria Singles Chart and No. 9 in the ARIA Urban Top 40 Singles chart. Angel Eyes and her album were also still in the charts at this time.

Other

In 2005 Sony Music merged with BMG so Paulini became a BMG artist even though they originally refused to sign her.

In 2004, Paulini toured Australia-wide as the support act for Human Nature and later, as special guest performer for Tina Arena's Australian tour and for the Guy Sebastian Beautiful Life tour.

Paulini recorded a Christmas EP in 2004 entitled, Amazing Grace: Songs for Christmas which included a performance of People Get Ready, featuring Human Nature. The EP was released in November of 2004 and started climbing the charts but only peaked at #70 on the ARIA charts.

In 2004, Paulini starred in the 2004 Christmas finale of Home and Away singing her second single "We Can Try" and 'Silent Night' which she had released on her Amazing Grace: Songs for Christmas album.

At the end of 2003 Paulini performed the gospel classic "Operator" at Melbourne's Carols In The Domain. The same year she opened the Pre-show Entertainment for the 2003 Brisbane Broncos VS Warriors Grand Final, performing: Say My Name, Higher and Higher, Don't Leave Me This Way and Australia's National Anthem, Advance Australia Fair.

Second album

Paulini recorded her second album, Superwoman, in London, the US, Spain and Australia in late 2004 but it took eighteen months for Sony BMG to release the album to the public.

In January 2006, Paulini released her third single, "Rough Day", which was the first single taken from the album, Superwoman The CD included her first self-penned track ("Last Love") on the B side. "Rough Day" debuted at number three on the ARIA Dance Chart and number twenty-six in the Singles Chart.

Her self-penned track "So Over You" was the second single taken from her album and was released in May 2006. It was widely praised but only peaked at number forty-nine in the ARIA singles chart, spending just thirteen weeks in the top one hundred. It fared better in the Urban Singles Chart where it reached number thirteen and stayed in the top forty for three months.

Superwoman was finally released on August 5, 2006, and included three tracks written by Paulini marking her debut as a song-writer. Paulini had more creative control over this album than her debut album and was responsible for all vocal arrangements.

The release of Superwoman was surrounded in controversy, having suffered numerous delays and many false official release announcements. This caused much (misguided) media speculation that Sony-BMG planned to drop her from the label and were not intending to release the album.

Though of far better production quality than her platinum debut album, One Determined Heart, Superwoman failed to make any impact on the ARIA charts, although it was more successful in the rival Brazin charts and in the ARIA Urban charts.

The third single release was "I Believe". A video had been shot for the song, and aired several times on television video hit programs. Also a CD of 2 Club mixes of the track had a limited release to the music industry and was aired on radio and played in clubs, but the track was released only to promote the album.

Paulini and her single "Rough Day" received nominations for: Best Single, Best New Talent, Best Female Talent and Best Video in the Australian and New Zealand Urban Music Awards.

Paulini's live performance of "Rough Day" was also included on the best-selling "Sunrise Live: Concert Series" CD.

Young Divas

In early 2006 Sony BMG asked Paulini to be part of an all-girl band concept which was to include previous Australian Idol contestants Emily Williams, Ricki-Lee Coulter and Kate DeAraugo. Initially the concept was based around a one-off single and concert tour to promote all four artists. The band, known as the Young Divas, had a successful debut release with their chart-topping single "This Time I Know It's For Real" and toured to sell-out concerts around Australia.

On November 11, following the success of the Young Divas first single, the band released a cover version of Lonnie Gordon's track "Happenin' All over Again" as a second single. The song debuted in the charts at number twelve and peaked at number nine. Their self-titled album was released on November 18, and charted at number four in Australia and accrediting double platinum by ARIA.

Post Superwoman

Paulini is up for two awards including Best Female Artist and Best R&B Album for 'Superwoman' at the 2007 rhino's Urban Music Awards.

Back for its second year, the rhino's Urban Music Awards (UMA) is a celebration of Urban Music and its huge influence within Australia and New Zealand, and this year it will be held on August 14 at Sydney's Luna Park.

To vote go to http://www.urbanmusicawards.com.au/ and please vote for Paulini!

Recent TV Appearances

Paulini coached and performed with journalist Simon Reeve in the Seven Network celebrity singing competition It Takes Two in mid-2006. Paulini also performed a duet of "No More Tears - (Enough is Enough)" with Wendy Matthews on the show. In May 2007 Paulini appeared on the second series of It Takes Two, this time coaching and performing with Lochie Daddo.

Paulini is a constant guest performer on numerous Australian television shows including Mars Venus (as a panellist), So Fresh (several times), Sunrise (many times including at their live benefit for the Beaconsfield Miners , Rove Live, The Footy Show, Burke's Backyard, Dancing With The Stars, Kerry-Ann Kennelly's show and Australian Idol (as a guest performer).

Most recently Paulini has performed for several telecasts as part of the Young Divas group, including the AFL Grand Final, the Footy Show and performing Super Trouper at the Abba special ABBAMANIA televised on November 2006. Paulini also performed "Knowing Me, Knowing You" as a duet with Ricki Lee at the ABBAMANIA special.

Trivia

Paulini is a committed Christian and is fluent in both Fijian and English. She has had no professional vocal training but is a trained pianist. Since 2005, Paulini has been dating St George Illawarra Dragons player Wes Naiqama. The couple broke up for a short period in July 2006, however they have since reunited. Naiqama is mentioned in the "Thank You" section of Superwoman's insert booklet.

Paulini went to Bankstown Girls High School

Discography

For a listing of her releases with Young Divas: Young Divas discography

Albums

Cover	Album information
	One Determined Heart Released: July 23, 2004 (Australia) Peak positions: #1 (Australia) ARIA certification: Platinum Singles: 2004: "Angel Eyes" 2004: "We Can Try"
	Amazing Grace: Songs for Christmas Released: November 26, 2004 (Australia) Peak positions: #70 (Australia) ARIA certification: — Singles: 2004: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
	Superwoman Released: August 5, 2006 (Australia) Peak positions: #72 (Australia) ARIA certification: — Singles: 2006: "Rough Day" 2006: "So Over You" 2006: "I Believe"

Singles

Year	Song	Australia	New Zealand	Certification	Album
2004	"Angel Eyes"	1	34	Platinum (AUS)	One Determined Heart
2004	"We Can Try"	30	-	-	One Determined Heart
2006	"Rough Day"	26	-	-	Superwoman
2006	"So Over You"	49	-	-	Superwoman
2006	"I Believe"				Superwoman

Others

• "Rise Up" (2003) — sang with the first season of Australian Idol Top 12 and featured on Australian Idol: The Final 12 - Cast Album and hit number-one in Australia for three weeks.
• "One Thing Leads to Another" (2003) — featured on the Australian Idol Top 12 album Australian Idol: The Final 12 - Cast Album.

Awards and recognition

Year	Award-giving Body	Award	Result
2005	ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards	ARIA No 1 Album (One Determined Heart)	Won
2004	ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards	ARIA No. 1 Single (Angel Eyes)	Won
2004	ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards	ARIA No 1 Album (One Determined Heart)	Won
2004	ARIA Award	Highest Selling Single (Angel Eyes)	Nominated
2006	Australian/NZ Urban Music Awards	Best Female Artist	Nominated

External links

• Paulini's Official Site
• Paulini's Myspace
• It Takes Two official website
• Paulini's Fan site
• Interview Site