Arnel Campaner Pineda born September 5, 1967, is a singer and composer from the Philippines. He rose to notoriety as the lead singer of the American rock band Journey in the 1980s and globally in 2007.
His mother instilled in him a love of singing from a young age, urging him to sing along to Karen Carpenter and Barbra Streisand. His parents entered him in numerous singing competitions as a child.
His mother, who had a heart condition, died when he was 13 years old. Her condition had bankrupted their family.
His father chose to move out and ask relatives to take in Pineda’s siblings because they were more than six months late on their apartment rent and unable to adequately provide for the family. Pineda dropped out of school and began working to relieve his father’s financial burden.
Who is the current lead singer of Journey?
Journey’s current main singer is Arnel Pineda.
Pineda, then 15, became the lead singer of the Filipino group Ijos in 1982. He used to sing in a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor on Manila’s Taft Street.
In 1986, some Ijos members created the band, Amo. Amo competed in and won the Rock Wars competition in the Philippines.
Amo competed in and won the Philippines leg of the Yamaha World Band Explosion in 1988.
They advanced to the finals in Hong Kong but were disqualified owing to a technicality. The winning song had to be an original creation, according to the regulations.
They did, however, clarify that the song entered in the finals had to be the same song that the band used to win their country’s leg of the competition.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen was Amo’s winning song in the Philippines. Following the event, the band continued to perform live as Amo. In 1989, they opened for Robert Palmer in Manila.
Amo performed in clubs in Quezon City, Olongapo City, and Makati, all of which are in Luzon, the Philippines’ largest island.
Amo was a favorite of US military men who attended the Chinese-owned California Jam bar in Olongapo City.
