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Tina Arena
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Tina Arena (born Filippina Lydia Arena on November 1, 1967, in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne, Australia) is an ARIA award winning singer/songwriter.
Contents
- 1 Career
- 2 Trivia
- 3 Accomplishments
- 4 Discography and Her Singles
- 5 Awards
- 5.1 1983
- 5.2 1990
- 5.3 1995
- 5.4 1996
- 5.5 1999
- 5.6 2000
- 5.7 2004
- 5.8 2005
- 5.9 2006
- 5.10 2007
- 6 External links
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Career
Arena's career began at the age of seven when she was selected as a regular performer for the music television program Young Talent Time. As a child Arena attracted attention with the power of her voice, which was considered remarkable for such a young child.[citation needed] Often billed as "Tiny Tina", she was seen on weekly television singing and dancing the current pop hits. The show's policy was to promote talented children, and at the age of sixteen team members would leave, ostensibly to follow an adult career. As one of the show's youngest performers, Arena's nine year stint was also one of the show's longest.
Like most of the children who left the show, Arena carried with her a stigma that made it difficult to be taken seriously as an adult vocalist, and for a short time she contemplated ending her career, and found employment with an insurance company. She was invited to support
Lionel Richie on his Australian tour, but despite this success and the profile it gave her, record companies were unwilling to offer her a recording contract. Arena persevered, playing nightclubs in Melbourne and in several stage musicals, before finally being offered a contract. Her album
Strong as Steel, released in
1990, contained one major hit single, the uptempo dance track, "
I Need Your Body", whose accompanying video demonstrated Arena as a sexy and confident adult. The contrast between her adult image and that of the seven year old child she had been when she first became famous attracted considerable publicity in Australia, but some elements of the media insisted that she was little more than a novelty act. Despite the success of the further singles,
The Machine's Breaking Down and the
Diane Warren title track, the album failed to establish her as a major act, and she relocated to the
United States.
After signing a contract with Sony Music, Arena released the album Don't Ask in 1994. It became one of the highest selling albums of the year in Australia and provided her with her first international hit single "Chains". The song also reached the Top 10 in the United Kingdom, and Rhythmic Top 40 as well as the Top 20 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play in the United States. Arena's career was said to be a priority of record executive Tommy Mottola who envisioned her achieving the level of success of Mariah Carey or Céline Dion, but the album failed to sell well in the US, and Mottola moved on to other projects. Other hits followed in Australia and Europe, including "Heaven Help My Heart", "Wasn't It Good" and "Sorrento Moon". The album won Arena five ARIA Awards for "Album of the Year", "Song of the Year" ("Chains"), "Pop Release of the Year" ("Chains") and "Best Female Vocalist", as well as a special award for "Highest Selling Female Artist in Australian History". After more than twenty years she was finally accepted as a credible performer by both the record buying public and the Australian music industry.
Her next album In Deep (1997), produced by Foreigner's Mick Jones contained a cover version of their hit "I Want To Know What Love Is" (with backing vocals by the song's original vocalist Lou Gramm) and another major hit single "Burn". In Deep was the highest selling Australian album of the year. During this time she recorded the theme song for the film The Mask of Zorro, a duet with Marc Anthony titled "I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You". This song was highly successful in Europe, and Arena embraced European culture, recording several songs in French and relocating temporarily to France. During this period her greatest successes were these French recordings and they were major hits in France. A repackaged version of the In Deep album including the new French versions, and a cover version of the Édith Piaf song "Les trois cloches" was a major hit throughout Europe and reached number 3 in France.
Her 2001 album Just Me was a moderate success and included such hit singles as "Soul Mate #9", "Dare You To Be Happy" and "Symphony of Life".
In
1998, Arena was invited to perform the role of Esmerelda in the
West End production of
Notre Dame de Paris in
London. In 2000, she performed to the largest audience of her career at the Opening Ceremony of the
2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney, when she sang the
Olympic Flame song, titled "The Flame". Later that year she received an outstanding achievement ARIA Award for her career achievement, with the award also specifically recognising her success in France.
In 2003, she was recruited by Trance DJ, Ray Roc to sing on his single "Never (Past Tense)". The song was one of the year's longest running hits on the United States Billboard Magazine Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts where it reached #1. It also charted well on the Dance Radio Airplay chart. In early 2004, Arena duetted with the Italian singer Zucchero on the track "Ahum", which was included on Zucchero's "ZU & Co" album and the "Zu & Co - Live at the RAH" dvd.
Arena completed her contract with Sony Music in the autumn of 2004, releasing a Greatest Hits album and a Greatest Hits DVD marking the end of her association with them. She also released a Greatest Hits Live CD & DVD package in October 2005 which featured 90 minutes of LIVE concert footage recorded during her 2004 Greatest Hits tour in Australia.
After resigning a record deal with Columbia France, Arena recorded a new entirely French album, called Un Autre Univers (Another Universe). The album was co-written by Arena and an assortment of French and English writers and producers and peaked at #9 in the French album chart. The first single "Aimer Jusqu'à L'impossible" (Love till the impossible) received airplay across French radio and debuted on the French national charts at #3. The song went on to top 1 million sales in France, where it won the 'Song Of The Year' award. On 17 November 2005, Arena and partner Vincent Mancini became parents, with the birth of a son, Gabriel Joseph, in Paris. The album's second single "Je M'appelle Bagdad" also received significant airplay on French radio and a top 10 debut and it has spent 17 weeks inside the top 50 Singles chart in France. On 30 October 2006, due to the success of "Aimer Jusqu'a L'Impossible" and "Je M'appelle Bagdad", a third single "Tu Aurais Dû Me Dire (Oser Parler D'amour)" was released and the song received significant airplay on various radio stations in Europe much like its predecessors.
From 2 April 2007, Arena will play the character Roxie Hart in the London production of Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre. This is the role played by Renée Zellweger in the 2002 film version.
Trivia
- Arena's parents are Italian; she has two sisters, Nancy (born 1961) and Silvana.
- Arena is credited as being one of only five non French artists to achieve album sales in excess of one million units in France.
- In 2003, three performers associated with Young Talent Time were simultaneously in the United States Billboard Magazine Dance Top 10 – series regulars, Arena with "Never (Past Tense)" and Dannii Minogue with "I Begin To Wonder", along with Kylie Minogue, who had made her television singing debut on Young Talent Time with "Slow".
- Several of Arena's songs have become country hits in the United States when recorded by other artists. "Heaven Help My Heart" was a hit for Wynonna Judd, "Unsung Hero" for Terri Clark, Jo Dee Messina's version of "Burn" reached number two on the US Country Chart. The Filipino singers Nina and Christian Bautista made their own rendition of Burn for Nina's album Nina Live which awarded as 6x platinum in their native country Philippines. Czech singer Lucie Bila covered the smash hit "Chains" for her Úplne Nahá-Pouta album. Pam Tillis and Filipino singer Czarina Rosales recorded her version of "If I Didn't Love You". Italian singer Laura Pausini recorded "The Extra Mile", a song that was written by Tina, but never recorded. Pausini's song was included on the soundtrack for the Pokémon 2 movie. Recently, LeAnn Rimes recorded her version of Tina's "You Made Me Find Myself" from her album Twisted Angel and Puerto Rican vocalist Ednita Nazario made a Spanish cover of the same song, called "Por Ti".
- Tina credits fellow Young Talent Time star and friend Dannii Minogue on her Just Me album.
- Arena's duet album with fellow Young Talent Time member John Bowles, titled Tiny Tina and Little John and originally released in the mid 1970s, was reissued on CD in 1998 to capitalise on her success.
- Arena has frequently collaborated with fellow Australian singer/songwriter, Rick Price and has co-written songs with him. She provided backing vocals on several of his recordings - he provided backing vocals on several of hers.
- Years after performing Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park" for Young Talent Time as an eleven year old, Arena was approached by Summer to perform a live duet with her of "Enough is Enough (No More Tears)". Summer was so pleased by the result that it was included on her live album.
- There are two different editions of the Greatest Hits 1994-2004 CD album. One is a single disc with and the other is a two disc set which includes her French hits.
- Apart from speaking English fluently, Arena's first language is Italian. Arena also speaks competent French.
Accomplishments
- Tina is Australia's Highest Selling Female Recording Artist.[citation needed]
- She is one of only five non-French artists to sell over 1,000,000 units in France.[citation needed]
- Her debut French Single, Aller Plus Haut, sold over 1,000,000 Units.
- The first single from her album Un Autre Univers remained in the French Top 5 for over 12 weeks.
- Tina has won 6 ARIA Awards.
- Tina's French Album Un Autre Univers reached #9 on the French charts more than one year after its release.
- Tina made the BRW Young Rich - Australia's Richest People Under 40 list.
Discography and Her Singles
Soundtracks
One Fine Day
The Mask of Zorro
- Released: 1998
- Single:
- "I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You" (Duet with Marc Anthony)
Whistle Down the Wind
Notre Dame de Paris
- Released: 2000
- Singles:
- "Live (For The One I Love)"
- "Pagan Ave Maria"
- "The Bohemienne Song"
- "The Birds They Put In Cages" (Duet with Garou)
The Games Of The XXVII Olympiad 2000: Music from the Opening Ceremony
The Dish
- Released: 2001
- Single:
- "The Day The World Stood Still" (with Australian Boys Choir)
Awards
The following lists some of the awards won by Arena during her career.
1983
- Penguin Award: Best New Talent
- Television Society of Australia: Special Recognition
1990
- Countdown Reader's Poll: Best New Talent
1995
- ARIA: Highest Selling Australian Album [Don't Ask]
- ARIA: Best Pop Release [Chains]
- ARIA: Song of The Year [Chains]
- ARIA: Album of the Year [Don't Ask]
- Radio Awards: Most Played Artist
- Variety Club: Entertainer of the Year
- BRIT Awards: Best International Newcomer [Nomination]
- Young Australian of the Year: Outstanding Achievement
1996
- APRA Awards: Song Of The Year [Wasn't It Good]
- World Music Awards: World's Best Selling Australian Artist
- Advance Australia Foundation: Outstanding Contribution
- Radio Awards: Best Australian Performer on Radio
1999
- Alma Awards: [I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You]
2000
- ARIA: Outstanding Achievement
- BMI Awards: For co-writing Burn
- World Music Awards: World's Best Selling Australian Artist
- NRJ: Best New International Revelation
2004
- USA Dancestar Awards: Best Single [Never (Past Tense)] [Nomination]
- USA Dancestar Awards: Best Dance Act [Never (Past Tense)] [Nomination]
2005
- Platinum Award (Australia): Greatest Hits 1994-2004
2006
- France: "La Chanson de L'annee" Song of the Year: [Aimer Jusqu'a L'impossible]
- NRJ: Best French Female Artist [Nomination]
2007
- NRJ: Artiste Feminine Francophone [Nomination]
