Fast Fact about Arnel Pineda:

Birth Date: September 5, 1967 – Birth Place: Sampaloc, Manila – Siblings: Russmon, Roderick and Joselito -Associated Bands:

• Ijos Band (later renamed “Hijos”)
• Amo
• New Age
• 9MM
• Most W@nted
• The Visitors
• The Zoo

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Arnel Pineda’s Childhood

Arnel Pineda’s singing career began at an early of 5 when he was joining the amateur singing contest. His parents encourage him in joining, both of them are tailors are together with 3 brothers they are struggling hard to have a comfortable life.

When he was 12 his mother died and eventually his father was forced to send his 3 other brothers to live with their relatives. He had to quit school and collect scrap metal, bottles and newspapers at the pier in Manila to earn money. Life for him and his family become very hard. He slept in the streets and sometimes in some wooden chair of his relatives.

The Road To Success

Many qoute the story of his success , and here is another story…

1987-1988 – With his talent in singing, he set aside his dream for becoming an Engineer and joined the band Ljos (which become “Hijos”) as the band’s lead singer. With “Hijos” he received an award as the Best Vocalist in the World Band Explosion

After Hijos, he then joined the band “Amo” which later became “New Age”.

New Age then performed regularly in Hongkong for several years. He returned in the Philippines in 1999 where Warners Bro released his self titled album Arnel Pineda.

The band then added a female vocalist side by side with Arnel and renamed the band “Most W@nted”. Their regular gig was still at The Cavern Club in Hong Kong. They later renamed their band “The Visitors”.

From Zoo to Journey

Arnel Pineda together with Monet Cajipe, the guitarist who had been in all of Pineda’s previous bands, was encouraged by Bert De Leon to move back in the Philippines. They formed The Zoo with Emil Bondoc on bass, Edgar Mendoza on keyboards, and Makoy Alcantara on drums. They signed on with de Leon’s company, Sundance Entertainment Corporation.

It is with The Zoo that Neal Schon of Journey saw their uploaded videos on Youtube. The Zoo has been covering songs by Journey, Survivor, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Air Supply, The Eagles… Neal Schon sent an email to the one who uploaded those videos and asking for the contact details of Arnel. At first Arnel was in doubt. He thought that these was an elaborate joke, a hoax and not real until Neal Schon called him and asked for him to audition as the Journey’s lead vocalist…

He got the part and the now the history is being written….

Check out wikipedia’s article on Arnel Pineda for more detailed information.. Thanks you! Mabuhay si Arnel!