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Tina ArenaBurn
Arena was born to Italian immigrants, Giuseppe and Franca Arena, living in the
Melbourne suburb of East Keilor, Victoria. She has two sisters,
Nancy and Silvana. Her family calls her Pina which evolved into
her stage name, Tina. Arena attended St. Columba's College, Melbourne,
in Essendon, from 1980 and graduated in 1985. Arena began her career as a 7-year-old, singing
live on the 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 also appearing in musicals. In 1988, at the age of 21, she was reinvented
as a raunchy disco diva with the national Number 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.[citation needed] After a couple of 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 one of the biggest selling album
by any Australian female singer to date. Don't Ask sold over two
million copies worldwide and was certified 10 times 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 song was also a minor hit in the United States, peaking at
#38 on the Billboard Hot 100.[2] 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"). 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 album became Top 3, which the album peaked at #3 and was certified 3× Platinum in France. Her first French single "Aller plus haut" has sold 617,000 copies in France and peaked at #2 on the French singles chart, her second French single "Les trois cloches" was released in 2000, which peaked at #4. 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. 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.[3] Arena returned to the London stage in April 2007, starring
as Roxie Hart in the hit West End production of Chicago. During the opening ceremony, Tina performed The
Flame. Despite her international success, Arena's popularity
in Australia had begun to wane with her fourth album Just Me failing
to match the success of Don't Ask and In Deep, but still managed
to certified Gold in France. The album spawned a Top 10 ARIA single
and #1 Australian radio airplay single, 'Symphony Of Life'. Tina
performed the track at the closing of the Gay Games, when the international
sporting event was held in Sydney. A foray into dance music in 2003 was also successful when Arena was featured on The Roc Project's "Never (Past Tense)" which reached #1 on 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 on the chart. The track was also featured heavily on the US TV series Queer as Folk and on the soundtrack album. 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. In 2004, Arena released her first compilation
album greatest hits album and release a new single Italian Love
Song, peaked at #33 on the ARIA Charts, became her last single
peaked in the top 50. After that she had a subsequent tour in late
2004-early 2005. 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" which peaked at #3 on the French charts and stayed in the top 5 for over 10
weeks. The song received the award for Song Of The Year in France.
A second single "Je m'appelle Bagdad" is released in June 2006, peaking at #6. Arena's sixth studio album titled Songs of Love & Loss
was recorded independently and self-financed as she no longer had
a recording contract in Australia. The album was eventually released
on 1 December 2007 after a new deal was struck with EMI Australia.
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 and was nominated
for the ARIA Award for Best Selling Album. 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 her 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 well received duets
of "The Prayer", "Canto 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 eighth studio album
Songs of Love & Loss 2, which was released on 15 November 2008.[4] For this album, her vocals
were recorded live with the London Studio Orchestra, again conducted
by Hale.[5] Alongside fellow Australian singer and songwriter Darren Hayes, Arena appeared as a guest judge during the London auditions of Australian Idol's sixth season. The episode featuring Arena and Hayes aired on 27 August 2008. She again appeared as a guest judge on 16 November while she was in Australia to promote Songs of Love & Loss 2. Arena has been awarded a Knighthood of the Order of National Merit, the second highest civil honour in France, by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2009 for her contributions to French culture.[6][7] In March 2009, Arena toured Australia in support of her album Songs of Love & Loss 2 and also appeared as a surprise guest performer at the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras party singing a medley of "Aimer jusqu'à l'impossible" and "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" at 3 am accompanied by Alison Jiear on the latter. 2009 also saw the release of Arena's first French
greatest hits album, The Best & le meilleur, and The Peel Me Sessions, an album of original material recorded
in 2003 but rejected by her label at the time Sony. A live CD and DVD was released in Australia in
January 2010, The Onstage Collection, where the album peaked at
#22 on the ARIA Charts. On 24 July 2011, Arena sang the Australian
National Anthem on the podium of the Tour de France after the victory
of Cadel Evans. Arena has been confirmed as a judge on the upcoming
French version of The Sing-Off. In December 1995, Arena married her manager Ralph
Carr. In 1999 they divorced. In 2000, Arena began dating French
artist Vincent Mancini, sometimes credited as Vincent Hare. Together,
they have a son Gabriel Joseph, born 17 November 2005. The family
travel between France, Australia and the UK, but have been based
in Paris since 2008.[8] English studio albums 1977: Tiny Tina and Little John with John Bowles French studio albums 2005: Un autre univers
Compilation albums 2000: Souvenirs Live albums 2003: Vous êtes toujours là DVDs 2004: Greatest Hits 1994–2004
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