Arnel Pineda

Arnel Campaner Pineda(born September 5, 1967)is a Filipino singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the Philippines during the 1980s and internationally in 2007 as the lead singer of the American rock bandJourney.
Arnel Pineda was born on September 5, 1967, at St. Jude Thaddeus Diagnostic Clinic inTondo,Manila, to Restituto Lising Pineda and Josefina Manansala Campaner.His mother instilled his love for singing at an early age, encouraging him to sing along to her favorite singerslikeKaren CarpenterandBarbra Streisand. Growing up, his parents entered him in many singing contests.
His mother, who had been suffering from heart disease, died when he was 13 years old. Her illness had left their family deep in debt.Being more than six months behind on their apartment rent and unable to sufficiently provide for the family, his father decided to move out and ask relatives to take in Pineda's siblings. To ease his father's burden, Pineda quit school and started working.
He spent about two years on the streets, sleeping wherever he could: in public parks, or on a narrow bench outside a friend's crowded house. He earned meager money by collecting glass bottles, newspapers, and scrap metal and selling them to recyclers. He would also go to the pier with his friends and take on odd jobs like cleaning scrap metal and docked ships. He didn't have much to eat, sometimes rationing a small package ofMarie biscuitas food for two days.
In 1982, when Pineda was 15 years old, he became the lead singer of the Filipino group Ijos. He used to sing in aShakey's PizzaParlor on Taft Street inManila. In 1986, some members of Ijos formed a group called Amo. Amo entered and won the Rock Wars contest in the Philippines.
In 1988, Amo entered and won the Philippines leg of the Yamaha World Band Explosion. They went on to the finals in Hong Kong, but were not qualified to win due to a technicality. The rules stated the winning song had to be an original composition. However, they also stated that the song entry in the finals had to be the same song with which the band won their country's leg of the competition. Amo's winning song in the Philippines wasQueen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". After the contest, the band continued as Amo, performing live. They opened forRobert Palmerin Manila in 1989.Amo played in clubs inQuezon City,Olongapo CityandMakati, which are in Luzon, the biggest island in the Philippines. Amo was very popular in the Chinese-owned California Jam club in Olongapo City, which was frequented by United States military personnel.
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.
Later in 1990, five of Amo's original members split from the band leader, Ulysis Ablang and formed another band behind Pineda, New Age. This occurred prior to the release of Amo's only album released in 1990 titledAng Tunay na Amo("The Real Master") onBMG recordswhich spawned one popular radio hit called "Running Away". (The song gained recognition in 2006 by another Filipino artistErik Santos, who won a Filipino TV talent 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 inMakati.
In 1991, during one of those performances, a talent agent spotted Pineda and New Age and asked them to move to Hong Kong to perform at a popular entertainment restaurant called Grammy's. With New Age, Pineda performed six nights a week, Tuesday through to Sunday, for several years thereafter.After a long-term serious relationship failed in 1994, Pineda suffered health problems, which almost destroyed his voice. He then returned to the Philippines. After six months of recuperation, he was able to sing again.He returned to Hong Kong and resumed singing with his band. In 1998, the owner of Igor's, a horror-themed restaurant/nightclub in Hong Kong, asked New Age to perform there. Dressed in skeleton outfits, they called themselves The Rolling Bones.
In 1999, Pineda caught the attention ofWarner Bros.record label and flew back to the Philippines on his days off to record a solo album, the self-titledArnel Pineda. Most of the album's ten original songs were slow ballads, with only two upbeat numbers, one of which carries a Latin style. One of the songs, "Iiyak Ka Rin" ("You Will Cry Too") became a karaoke favorite in Asia, while another song "Sayang" ("Too Bad") became a radio favorite. Pineda wrote and arranged several songs. He continued to perform with New Age while making his album and for several years thereafter. In 2001, Pineda sang one song, "Looking Glass", with Filipino bandSouth Borderon their albumThe Way We Do. Earlier that year, Pineda formed a new band, eventually called 9mm, and played around the city's top bars including theHard Rock Cafein Makati. The band played a three-month stint at The Edge inLan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong, in 2002.
In 2004, three members of New Age reformed with a female singer sharing lead vocals with Pineda and called themselves Most W@nted. This band played 3-4 hour long sets Monday through Saturday at The Cavern Club in Hong Kong.On their only day off, Sunday, the band often performed at Filipino community events.
In 2005, Pineda recorded the theme song of the short-lived Filipino radio showDayo. A band named The Visitors was briefly formed for promotion purposes of theDayosoundtrack consisting of three members from Ijos/Yjoz, Amo, New Age and Most W@nted.
In 2006, encouraged by well-respected Filipino talent manager and TV director Bert de Leon, Pineda moved back to the Philippines with Monet Cajipe, the guitarist who had been in all of Pineda's previous bands. They formedThe Zoowith Emil Bondoc on bass, Edgar Mendoza on keyboards, and Mckoy Alcantara on drums. They signed on with de Leon's company, Sundance Entertainment Corporation. The Zoo 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 albumZoologywas released byMCA Universalin September 2007 featuring 12 original tracks and one cover song ("Pain in My Heart" was 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.
Videos of The Zoo performing cover songs byJourney,Survivor,Aerosmith,Led Zeppelin,The Eagles,Stryperand other popular acts from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, began appearing on YouTube in February 2007. On June 28, 2007,Neal Schonof Journey contacted Noel Gomez, a longtime fan and friend of Pineda who had uploaded many of these videos, to ask for Pineda's contact information.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 toMarin County, just north of San Francisco, for a week of auditioning.The star-struck Pineda was welcomed warmly but he described the audition as "nerve-wracking, tense".On December 5, 2007, Pineda was announced as the new lead singer of Journey.
Pineda debuted as the lead singer of Journey on February 21, 2008, at theViña del Mar International Song Festivalheld at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater inViña del Mar, Chile.
Chilean media acclaimed Pineda's performance (translated to English): "The new vocalist fits very well with the band, his vocal aptitudes shining through, which are very similar to the legendary musician of the band,Steve Perry."Journey keyboardist/guitarist Jonathan Cain described Pineda's performance in a radio interview: "We went to Chile just recently, where we had never played and they went crazy, they absolutely went nuts... Arnel's first show—talk about a stressful thing—we had a televised concert for 25 million people... Is the guy a winner? Yeah, he's a winner. He's a clutch player."
Journey returned to the United States for a privateRE/MAXConvention event at theMGM GrandinLas Vegas, Nevada, on March 6, 2008, then performed at Las Vegas'Planet Hollywoodon March 8, 2008 (this concert was recorded and used, in part, for theRevelationDVD).
On February 1, 2009, he performed with Journey at theSuper Bowl XLIIIpregame show.
Journey's first album with Pineda,Revelation, debuted at No. 5 in theBillboardTop 200 album charts in the week following its release (released June 3, 2008), and remained in the Top 20 for six weeks. It was certified gold by theRIAAwith more than 336,000 units sold within the first few days.It achieved platinum status by October 1, 2009.
The US version of the album (distributed exclusively throughWal-Mart) consists of ten new songs ("Faith in the Heartland" was co-written and originally recorded by vocalistSteve Augeriand S. Augeri is credited as songwriter in the liner notes of this album) and 12 re-recorded classics, plus a live-in-concert DVD filmed during the March 8, 2008, concert in Las Vegas. The European version distributed throughFrontiers Recordscontains 11 new songs, 11 re-recorded classics, plus one new bonus track, but does not include the DVD. All of the music onRevelationwas produced byKevin Shirley(who previously worked with Journey on their Platinum-certifiedTrial by Firealbum).
Jonathan Cain described the album in an interview:
In an interview soon after Pineda joined the band, Neal Schon said:
Journey's 2008 tour accompanying the release ofRevelationbegan on June 8, 2008, in Spain, followed by four dates in Germany, and one date in the Netherlands. Journey toured the United Kingdom and Ireland from June 17 through June 28, 2008. The US tour (withHeartandCheap Trick) began on July 9, 2008, inDenver, Colorado, and continued through October 4, 2008, inAlbuquerque, New Mexico. Many dates were already sold out well in advance. Pineda celebrated his 41st birthday on September 5, 2008, during a concert at theMolson Amphitheatrein Toronto, Ontario. In September 2008, Journey performed back-to-back sold-out concerts at theGreek Theatrein Los Angeles.Pineda sang in 57 concerts during the 2008 Journey World Tour. Journey's recentvisit to the United States Gulf Coast performing at the Wharf Amphitheater,Orange Beach, Alabama, and at thePensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, Florida, was a tremendous hit due to the large Filipino communities living in that area.
On the second leg of the tour, Journey went on an Asian–Hawaiian tour, going to cities in Japan, the Philippines, China and Hawaii.The Manila concert wasreleasedas a live concert DVD. Total concert revenue for Journey in 2008 was $35,695,481.
Pineda apologized for his poor vocal performance at theRock in Riomusic festival. Behind the Songs posted an FB clip of his  struggle to reach the high notes of “Don't Stop Believin'” on September 21, 2023. He conditionally offered to quitJourney.
Pineda married Cherry Pineda in 2001. They have a son named Cherub and daughter, Thea Chenelle Pineda, born June 15, 2012.Pineda also has two older sons, Matthew and Angelo.In 2013, Pineda toldRapplerthat he divides his time between the Philippines and the United States.
Pineda metDonald Trumpat theWhite Housein 2017 with two other members of Journey, Jonathan Cain and Ross Valory. The move was strongly criticised by the group's guitarist Neal Schon.Pineda later explained that he does not belong to any political group, nor does he follow any religion.