TINA ARENA
BIOGRAPHY
SONGWRITER - PERFORMER
Tina began her career as a seven year old, performing live every weekend on Australia’s longest running variety television show, Young Talent Time.
(1977-1983).
The pint-sized starlet sang her way into the hearts of a generation with her vivacious personality and already outstanding vocal range. By the time she departed the show, Tina was already a household name and the hit singles I Need Your Body and Strong As Steel (1989) cemented her blossoming status.
More remarkably, Tina broke the stigma of a boom to bust TV based career with a succession of outstanding albums released throughout the 90’s, figure-headed by the international hit Chains from her acclaimed album Don’t Ask (1995).
Don’t Ask sold millions of copies world wide including 10x Platinum in Australia.
The debut single Chains also topped the charts in the UK and across the rest of Europe, picking up numerous awards in the process.
Her follow up record In Deep (1998) sealed her fate as an international star and Tina based herself in LA and worked predominantly in America while still servicing a now solid European fan base.
Despite performance highlights which included performances with Chaka Kahn, Stevie Wonder and Donna Summer, it was Tina’s collaboration with Mark Anthony on Spend My Lifetime loving You from the Mask of Zorro soundtrack that gave her a new kind of European success. The duet tipped the scales in France where both song and the movie were huge hits.
Tina’s follow-up single Aller Plus Haut, was her first ever French language recording. It sold over a million copies and permanently endeared her to a French audience who to this day continue to embrace the Australian/Italian chanteuse as their own.
Her show stopping performance of The Flame at the opening of the Olympic games in Sydney 2000 was certainly a watershed moment in a career that was already beyond its’ second decade.
Tina’s 4th studio album, the critically acclaimed Just Me (2001) showcased an evolving artist who had broken the previous mould, embracing new genres of European dance music.
Tina’s vocal diversity was also becoming a trademark, exemplified by almost bipolar collaboration choices. Her guest vocal performance on the ROC Project’s Never ( Past Tense) is still a longstanding dance hit for DJ Tiesto as is her Andrew Lloyd Webber contribution on the title track of Whistle down the Wind sound track.
And so, this multitasking diva has since keep her audiences entertained not only as a recording and touring artist but with a continued appearance in musicals such as Notre Dame de Paris, Sam Mendes’ Cabaret as Sally Bowles and more recently in the West End production of Chicago: The Musical.
The birth of Tina’s son Gabriel in 2005 coincided with the release of her first all French language album Un Autre Univers. The album served as yet another Platinum milestone with the hit singe Aimer Jusqu’a l’Impossible and Je m’appelle Bagdad redefining play lists in many Francophile territories.
Its successor 7 Vies (2008) served similarly in France, Belgium, and Switzerland and ultimately lead to the 2009 Sony release of The Best & Le Meilleur, a celebration of Tina’s French success, duly recognized with Tina being awarded the Order du Merit by the French government.
Meanwhile, and somewhat incongruously, the Songs of Love & Loss concept, born in 2007 as an inspired collection of Dusty Springfield demos, extended into the release of SOL&L Volume 2 ( 2008). Tina rediscovered through recording, a diverse mixture of vintage songs that made up her early influences.
With a team of worthy producers and a string orchestra, guided by the acclaimed Simon Hale Tina stretched the musical boundaries to record two volumes of masterpieces, arrangements and moods.
Several emotive live tours of Australia have since followed.
