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Arnel Pineda

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Arnel Pineda

Arnel Pineda (singer-songwriter) is the lead singer of the popular American rock band Journey [1] . Pineda has enjoyed a successful musical career in Asia for the last 25 years. His singing style has been influenced by Steve Perry (Journey), John Farnham (Little River Band), Freddie Mercury (Queen), Sting (The Police), Survivor, Heart, The Beatles, Van Halen, Aerosmith, U2, Warrant, Deep Purple, and other bands from that genre. [2]

History

According to one report[3], as a child, Pineda wanted to become an engineer.

In 1982, when Pineda was just 15 years old, he became the lead singer of a band in the Philippines called Ijos Band. In 1987 and 1988, he won the Best Vocalist award at the World Band Explosion, with the finals held in Budokan Hall, Tokyo.

Arnel then joined a pop/rock Filipino band called Amo as their lead singer. Amo played in clubs in Quezon City, Olongapo and Makati, which are located on the biggest island of the Philippines. Amo was very popular in the renowned Chinese owned Cal Jam club in Olongapo City, which was frequented by United States Military personnel. During his tenure in Amo, Pineda made regular TV appearances in the Philippines.

In late 1990, five of Amo's original members split from the band leader, Ulysis Ablang (Uly) and formed another band behind Pineda, "New Age". This occurred prior to the release of Amo's only album released in 1990 titled "Ang Tunay na Amo" ("The Real Master") on BMG records which spawned one popular radio hit called "Running Away". (The song was popularized again in 2006 by another Filipino artist Erik Santos, who won an American Idol type Filipino TV show, Star In A Million.) The remaining members of Amo went on to become "The Boss Band", while Pineda's band, New Age played regularly at Fire and Rain in Makati, a city on the outskirts of Manila.

During those performances, a talent agent spotted Pineda and asked him to move to Hong Kong to perform at a very popular entertainment restaurant called Igor’s. With New Age, Pineda performed six nights a week, Tuesday through Sunday, at Igor’s for nine years thereafter. New Age also performed at Grammy’s in Hong Kong.

In 1999, Pineda caught the attention of Warner Bros. record label and flew back to the Philippines on his days off to record a solo album, the self-titled “Arnel Pineda” which he wrote and arranged. Most of the album’s ten original songs are slow ballads, with only two upbeat numbers, one of which carries a Latin style. One of the songs, “Iiyak Ka Rin” became very popular and is now a karaoke favorite in Asia, while another song "Sayang" became a radio favorite. Pineda continued to perform with New Age while making his album and for several years thereafter.

In 2004, three members of the New Age band reformed with a female singer sharing lead vocals with Pineda and called themselves “Most W@nted”. This band played 3-4 hour sets Monday through Saturday at The Cavern Club in Hong Kong[4]. They won a Battle of the Bands competition in Hong Kong in February 2005.

In 2006, Pineda moved back to the Philippines along with Monet Cajipe, the guitarist who has been in all Pineda’s bands during the last 24 years. They formed the Zoo Band. The Zoo Band has performed several nights a week at clubs in Manila and Olongapo during 2006 and 2007. Shows regularly spanned 3-5 hours. The Zoo’s first album “Zoology” was released by MCA Universal in September 2007 featuring 13 original tracks, several of which were penned by Pineda.

Present

Videos of The Zoo performing cover songs by Journey, Survivor, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Air Supply, The Eagles, Kenny Loggins and other popular acts from the 70s, 80s and 90s, began appearing on YouTube.com in February 2007 and now number more than 200 in total. In August 2007, Neal Schon of Journey contacted the YouTube member who uploaded many videos asking for contact information for Pineda. Pineda, along with his manager, Bert de Leon, flew to San Francisco to audition for Journey later in August, 2007.[5]

On December 5, 2007, Pineda was announced as the lead singer of Journey. CNN Headline News ran the story as part of their "News to Me" segment.[6]

El Mercurio Online in Chile notes that Pineda will appear with Journey at the Festival de Viña del Mar at Quinta Vergara Arena in Chile on February 21, 2008.[7] Pineda will also perform with Journey on February 23 at Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo in Santiago, at Grand Hotel and Casino of Viña del Mar on February 24, both in Chile, and in the US at a private Remax Convention event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 6, 2008.

Journey and renowned producer Kevin Shirley are currently in the studio creating a new album which he is producing, for release in spring/summer 2008. In his online diary, Shirley described the recording sessions as "wonderful, successful, stupidly creative" and said that "Sometimes you just know when there's history in the making."[8] In a statement on December 5, 2007, Shirley said "I was stunned at Arnel, who is a monster vocalist. He is the real deal. Just phenomenal." When speaking about the upcoming album in a later entry in his diary, he said: "Just got back from Vegas last night, after mixing seven new Journey songs. They are outstanding... For the record, I think Arnel is 'the business!' - the guy can really sing! He handles the ballads with SO much heart, and belts the rockers as hard, and melodically, as anyone I have heard. The songs are sensational - wonderfully crafted and deep, and so focused, you may wonder where they all came from. And I'm being serious...."

Discography

=== Albums ===
  • Arnel Pineda (1999)

http://megastore.uol.com.br/acervo/pop/a/arnel_pineda/arnel_pineda

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=214320956&id=214320898&s=143441

  • Zoology (2007) (The Zoo)

http://www.titikpilipino.com/album/?albumid=1388

http://www.fliptunes.net/store/product_info.php?products_id=7068

References

  1. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/12/05/journey-finds-new-singer-the-old-fashioned-way-on-the-internet/
  2. ^ abs-cbnnews.com, Journey's new lead singer is Filipino
  3. ^ http://www.inquirer.net/saturday/jan2000wk4/spc_2.htm
  4. ^ http://www.sunweb.com.hk/Story.asp?hdnStoryCode=937&Menu=4&hdnSectioncode=FEATURES
  5. ^ http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2007-08-09&sec=3&aid=27063
  6. ^ http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2007/12/24/ntm.web.hits.cnn?iref=videosearch
  7. ^ http://www.emol.com/noticias/cultura_espectaculos/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=280427
  8. ^ http://www.cavemanproductions.com/cavediary.htm
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