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Tina Arena (born 1 November 1967) is an Australian singer, songwriter and musical theatre actress. Over her long career in the entertainment industry she has won numerous awards, most notably 5 ARIA Awards and in both 1996 and 2000 she received the World Music Award for the world's best selling Australian artist.
BiographyFilippina Lydia Arena was born to Italian immigrants, Franca and Giuseppe Arena, living in the Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds
. She has two sisters, Nancy and Silvana. Her family calls her Pina which evolved into her stage name, Tina.
Arena began her career as a 7-year-old, singing live on Australia's longest running variety television show, Young Talent Time. Even as a young girl she was known for her powerful voice and stage presence, but she dropped from sight for several years following her Young Talent Time tenure, working the club circuit alone and in bands and appearing in musicals. In 1990, at the age of 21, she was reinvented as a raunchy disco diva with the national #3 Platinum selling single "I Need Your Body". It gave her a successful album, Strong as Steel, and more hits, but for Arena this was a momentary digression, as this was never a music style or image with which she was comfortable.
After a couple years, Arena broke the stigma of a TV childhood and carved out a successful solo career with Columbia Records. The David Tyson-produced ''Don't Ask'' was Australia's biggest selling album of 1995, and the biggest selling album by any Australian female to date. ''Don't Ask sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide and was certified 10x Platinum in Australia. "Chains" scaled the charts in the UK to #6, and charted well throughout Europe, earning her numerous awards in the process.
The follow-up album, In Deep, produced by Foreigner's Mick Jones, was also a multi-platinum success. The singles "I Want to Know What Love Is" and "Burn" even had minor success in some U.S. airplay charts and Arena's songwriting abilities were particularly well noted in Nashville where a number of pedigreed country music artists have since covered her songs, including Wynonna Judd ("Heaven Help My Heart", "Love's Funny That Way"), Jo Dee Messina ("Burn"), Pam Tillis ("If I Didn’t Love You"), Terri Clark ("Unsung Hero"), Kellie Coffey, Kathie Baillie ("Love's Funny That Way") and LeAnn Rimes ("You Made Me Find Myself").
An attempt by Sony to "break" Arena into the American market prompted the release of "If I Was a River", penned by Diane Warren, prior to In Deep's release there. The single was not particularly successful despite numerous promotional appearances on television shows such as Donny & Marie, but in 1999 she met label-mate Donna Summer who asked her to join her in concert to sing "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)". The duet was well received and subsequently released on Summer's live album Live & More Encore.
A foray into dance music in 2003 was also successful when Arena was featured on The Roc Project's "Never (Past Tense)" which made it into the United States Billboard dance Top 10. This marked the first time three performers associated with Young Talent Time were simultaneously in the chart's Top 10 with Dannii Minogue's "I Begin to Wonder" and Kylie Minogue's "Slow" also appearing. Arena performed the Tiësto remix of "Never" along with a new remix of "Dare You to Be Happy" live at the official Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras afterparty in March 2005.
Arena's collaboration with Marc Anthony, "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You", from the Mask of Zorro soundtrack, gave her a new kind of European success, tipping the scales of her success in France where both the song and the movie became Top 10 hits. She began to record in French, and her single "Aller plus haut" moved in excess of one million units and peaked at #2 on the French national chart. Her debut French language album Un Autre Univers was released in December 2005 and was yet another Platinum milestone for her there, riding high in the French charts for well over a year and featuring the award-winning single "Aimer jusqu'à l'impossible". She is now credited as being one of only five non-French artists to achieve album sales in excess of a million units in France.
Regardless of her recording achievements, musical theatre has always remained more than just a sideline for Arena. Her performance in the Australian production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, while still in her teens, was applauded by the show's producer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. She has since made acclaimed appearances in the UK production of Notre Dame de Paris, as Esmeralda, and as Sally Bowles in the Sam Mendes-directed Cabaret in 2002. Arena returned to the London stage in April 2007, starring as Roxie Hart in the hit West End production of Chicago.
Arena's sixth studio album titled Songs of Love & Loss was released on 1 December 2007. The record was primarily made up of torch songs originally recorded by women in the 1960s and 70s such as Dusty Springfield and Diana Ross and the arrangements featured a full string orchestra conducted by Simon Hale. A promotional tour of Australia in early November included appearances on Dancing with the Stars and Sunrise. Five concert dates backed by a 35 piece orchestra were held in December–January: three at the Sydney Opera House and two at Melbourne's Hamer Hall. The album peaked at #3 on the ARIA Top Albums chart.
While Arena was still promoting Songs of Love & Loss in Australia, her first French single in two years, "Entends-tu le monde?", was made available to French radio. The video was shot in and around Sydney during the promotional tour of her home country and went on heavy rotation on French music television channels upon its release. The song was the first single from Arena's sophomore French album 7 vies which was released on 28 January 2008 and debuted at #12 on the official French charts, her highest debut ever in the country. The single "Entends-tu le monde?" was physically released on 11 February 2008 and debuted at #10 on the French charts, becoming her sixth top ten single there.
August 2008 saw Arena performing with Andrea Bocelli during his Australian tour. The two performed duets of "The Prayer", "Cantò Della Terra" and a cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love". Prior to the tour she had been in the UK recording her forthcoming eighth studio album Songs of Love & Loss II. Arena recorded her vocals live with a full string orchestra, again conducted by Hale, for seven songs at AIR Lyndhurst Hall during July.
Alongside fellow Australian singer and songwriter Darren Hayes, Arena appeared as a guest judge during the London auditions of Australian Idols sixth season. The episode featuring Arena and Hayes aired on 27 August 2008.
DiscographyAlbumsSinglesAwardsThe 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 Ask
- ARIA: Best Pop Release [1]
- ARIA: Song of The Year [1]
- ARIA: Album of the Year Ask
- Radio Awards: Most Played Artist
- Variety Club: Entertainer of the Year
- BRIT Awards: Best International Newcomer [2]
- Young Australian of the Year: Outstanding Achievement
1996
- APRA Awards: Song Of The Year It Good
- World Music Awards: World's Best Selling Australian Artist
- Advance Australia Foundation: Outstanding Contribution
- Radio Awards: Best Australian Performer on Radio
1999
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
2005
- Platinum Award (Australia): Greatest Hits 1994-2004
2006
2007
- NRJ: Artiste Feminine Francophone [2]
- Sunrise Australia: Platinum Award for Songs of Love & Loss
RelationshipsArena's partner is a Frenchman called Vincent Hare (artistic name is Vincent Mancini). They have a son named Gabriel Joseph who was born on 11.
External Links
AskMen.com - Tina Arena
Copyright Citations
This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Tina Arena
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