Tina Arena

Tina Arena (born Filippina Lydia Arena on November 1, 1967, in Melbourne, Australia) is a pop singer.

Her 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 for the power of her voice, which was considered remarkable for such a young child. Often billed as "Tiny Tina Arena", 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 substantial hit single "Chains". The song also reached the Top 10 in the United Kingdom and Top 40 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 Céline Dion or Mariah Carey, 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 Edith Piaf song "Les Trois Cloches" was a major hit throughout Europe and reached number 3 in France. Her 1999 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 2000, Arena was invited to perform the role of Esmerelda in the West End production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in London. Also in 2000, she performed to the largest audience of her career at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Later that year she received a lifetime achievement ARIA Award for her career achievement, with the award also specifically recognising her success in France.

In 2003 she was recruited by techno DJ Ray Roc to sing on his single "Never (Past Tense)". The song was one of the year's longest running hits on the Billboard Magazine Club Charts where it reached number one.

Arena completed her contract with Sony Music in early 2004, with a "Greatest Hits" album to be released marking the end of her association with them. As of 2004 she is reported to working on an album of new material.

Trivia

• 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 former "Young Talent Time" performers were simultaneously in the United States Billboard Magazine Dance Top 10 - Arena with "Never (Past Tense)", Dannii Minogue with "I Begin to Wonder" and Kylie Minogue (whose first television singing performance was on YTT despite never being an official member) 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, and Jo Dee Messina's version of "Burn" reached number two on the US Country Chart.
• Arena's duet album with fellow Young Talent Time member John Bowles, titled Tiny Tina and Little Johnny 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 "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". Summer was sufficiently pleased by the result that it was included on her live album.

Discography

• Strong as Steel (1990, re-issued in 1996)
• Don't Ask (1994)
• In Deep (1997)
• Tiny Tina and Little John (1998)
• Souvenirs 2000
• Just Me (2001)
• If I Was a River (2002)
• Vous Etes Toujours La (2002)
• Greatest Hits 1994-2004 (2004)