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Arnel Pineda

Birth name Arnel Pineda
Born September 5, 1967 (1967-09-05) (age 40)Manila, Philippines
Genre(s) Rock, Hard rock, Soft rock, Pop
Occupation(s) Singer-Songwriter
Instrument(s) Singing, Guitar
Years active 1982-Present
Label(s) Warner Bros. / MCA Universal
Associated
acts Ijos Band, Amo, New Age, Most W@nted, The Zoo, Journey


Arnel Pineda (singer-songwriter) is the newest member and lead singer of the popular American rock band Journey . 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.

BIOGRAPHY
Pineda began singing at age 5. His parents, who were both tailors, encouraged him to enter amateur singing contests. His mother died from a lengthy illness when he was 12, leaving his family in serious debt. Pineda and his three siblings were left to fend for themselves. The family was homeless, resulting in Pineda sleeping in Luneta Park or the houses of friends. Pineda collected scrap metal at the pier to earn money and according to one report, he dreamed of becoming an engineer.

Singing career
In 1982, when Pineda was 15 years old, he became the lead singer of the Filipino musical group called Ijos Band (later renamed "Hijos".) In 1987 and 1988, he won the Best Vocalist award at the World Band Explosion, with the finals held in Budokan Hall, Tokyo.

Pineda 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, and toured the country performing before audiences of 10,000-15,000.

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 one-and-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 (now defunct). 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 2001, Pineda sang one song with Filipino band, South Border’s album “The Way We Do”. The song is called “Looking Glass”.

In 2002, Pineda's band changed their name to 9MM and played at “The Edge” in Lai Kwai Fong, in Hongkong.

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. On their only day off, Sundays, the band often performed at Filipino community events.

During this time, Pineda recorded the theme song of the short-lived Filipino radio show, “Dayo."

After separating from his live-in partner, Pineda suffered from health problems, which almost destroyed his voice. After six months of recuperation, he was able to sing again.


The Zoo
In 2006, encouraged by legendary Filipino talent manager and TV director, Bert de Leon, Pineda moved back to the Philippines with Monet Cajipe, the guitarist who has been in all Pineda’s bands during the last 24 years. They formed the The Zoo. They signed on with de Leon's company, Sundance Entertainment. The Zoo Band 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.

Journey
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 of these 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.

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.


Upcoming Tour and Album
While an official 2008 tour schedule has not yet been released to the public, "El Mercurio Online" notes that Journey will perform at the Festival de Viña del Mar at Quinta Vergara Arena in Chile on February 21, 2008. Journey will also perform 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. They return to the US for a private Remax Convention event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 6, 2008. Another event in Las Vegas is scheduled shortly thereafter and will be recorded and released to the public on DVD. Journey will tour Europe from May 24 (starting in Sweden) through June 15, 2008. The official US tour begins on July 4 and continues through the end of September, 2008. In the closing months of 2008, Journey plans to tour Japan, Australia, and the Philippines.

Journey and renowned producer Kevin Shirley are currently in the studio creating a new album which is slated for release in July, 2008, to coincide with the beginning of the US tour. 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." 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...."

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