Star Biztro

Personal

• Real Name: Arnel Pineda
• Screen Name: Arnel Pineda
• Profession: Singer, Songwriter
• Birthday: September 5, 1967
• Birthplace: Manila, Philippines

Family Background

• Arnel’s father works as a tailor in the Philippines.
• His mother, who had been suffering from rheumatic heart disease, passed away when he was thirteen years old.
• He has three brothers and all are already married and living in the Philippines.
• Arnel has three sons: Matthew (19 years), Angelo (11 years), and Cherub (3 years).
• When he’s not on tour with Journey, he lives in Quezon City with his girlfriend, Cherry, and their son, Cherub.

Career

• Arnel Pineda learned singing at a very young age from his mother.
• He has joined several singing contest.
• In 1982, when Arnel was 15 years old, he became the lead singer of the Filipino musical group called Ijos Band (later renamed “Yjoz”).
• 1986 some members of Yjoz band formed another group called Amo which won Rock Wars contest and Philippine leg of the Yamaha Band Explosion.
• In 1990, Pineda and other members of Amo formed another band called Intensity Five and once again entered the Yamaha World Band Explosion. Pineda won the Best Vocalist award and the band came in as first runner up.
• After that, Arnel formed another band called “New Age” and during one of their performances, a talent agent spotted Pineda and New Age and asked them to move to Hong Kong to perform at a very popular entertainment restaurant.
• 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.
• 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 9 mm and played at “The Edge” in Lai Kwai Fong, Hong Kong.
• 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.
• In 2005, Arnel recorded the theme song of the short-lived Filipino radio show “Dayo”. A band named The Visitors was briefly formed for promotion purposes of the “Dayo” soundtrack consisting of three members from Ijos/Yjoz, Amo, New Age and Most W@nted.
• In  2006, Arnel and guitarist Monet Cajipe moved back to the Philippines as encouraged by TV Director Bert De leon. Together they formed “The Zoo”.
• The Zoo’s first album Zoology was released by MCA Universal in September 2007 featuring 12 original tracks and one cover song (“Pain in My Heart,” originally recorded a decade earlier by Second Wind), five of which were penned by Pineda, and another was co-written by Pineda and Mark Valliente.

The Biggest Break in Arnel Pineda’s Career

• Videos of Arnel Pineda performing with his band was uploaded in Youtube.com by his friend Noel Gomez then later caught the attention of Neil Schon of Journey.
• Schon sent an e-mail to Pineda inviting him to audition for Journey.
• Pineda initially dismissed the e-mail as a hoax, but after being persuaded by Gomez, he finally replied to Schon’s e-mail.
• Ten minutes later, Pineda received a phone call from Schon.
• On August 12, Pineda, along with his manager Bert de Leon, flew to Marin County, just north of San Francisco, for a two-day audition.
• Arnel Pineda’s biggest break in his career came in 2007 when he was chosen by the famous band “The journey” to be the lead singer.

The Journey with Arnel Pineda as the lead singer

• Arnel Pineda debuted as the lead singer of Journey on February 21, 2008 at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival held at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater in Viña del Mar, Chile.
• Chilean media acclaimed Pineda’s performance saying that the new vocalist fit very well with the band.
• Journey returned to the US for a private Remax Convention event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 6, 2008, then performed at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood on March 8, 2008 (this concert was recorded and used, in part, for the Revelation DVD).
• February 1, 2009 Arnel Pineda and The Journey performed at the Super Bowl XLIII Pregame Show.

“Revelation” Album Tour

• Journey’s first album with Pineda, “Revelation” debuted at No. 5 in the Billboard Top 200 album charts in the week following its release (released June 3, 2008), and remained in the Top 20 for 6 weeks.
• It was certified gold by RIAA with more than 336,000 units sold within the first few days.
• It achieved platinum status by October 1, 2008.
• The US version of the album (distributed exclusively through Wal-Mart) consists of 11 new songs, and 11 re-recorded classics, plus a live in-concert DVD filmed during the March 8, 2008 concert in Las Vegas.
• The European version distributed through Frontiers Records contains 11 new songs, 11 re-recorded classics, plus one new bonus track, but does not include the DVD.
• Journey’s 2008 tour accompanying the release of “Revelation” began on June 8, 2008, in Spain, followed by four dates in Germany, and one date in the Netherlands.
• Journey toured the United Kingdom from June 17 through June 28, 2008.
• The US tour (with Heart and Cheap Trick) began on July 9, 2008, in Denver, CO, and continued through October 4, 2008, in Albuquerque, NM.
• Many dates were already sold out, well in advance.
• Pineda celebrated his 41st birthday on September 5, 2008 at a concert in Toronto, Canada’s Molson Ampitheater.
• In September 2008, Journey performed back-to-back sold out concerts at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The Revelation Tour was the eighth grossing concert of 2008, bringing in over $745,000.
• Pineda sang in more than 60 concerts in the 2008 Journey World Tour.

Related posts:

1. Watch Arnel Pineda’s Performance in Super Bowl 2009
2. Eraserheads Reunion Concert Part 2
3. Sarah Geronimo Profile
4. Heart Evangelista Profile
5. Britney Spears Profile

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Celebrity Profile, Local Stars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.