Then there was a transition when I heard the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson, his voice. When I was 5 years old I was hearing (sings) “Great balls of fire!” and “Go, Johnny, go!” Then it was the mighty Beatles. It is one thing for adults to suffer, but don’t bring these little angels into it. This is why I have my foundation (Arnel Pineda Foundation Inc.) to help these little angels. It’s not only happening in the Philippines, certainly. When you all need to sleep, you just get out a very thin, like, mattress to sleep on, all six of you. There is a hole where you open up a piece of wood and go to the bathroom, and that’s it. Imagine you’re living in a space about 20 square feet, and you have six kids, and you’re squatting on a riverside, which is so dirty and so polluted you can’t drink. I mean, no kids in the world should deserve a life like that. I don’t want them to go through what I went through, because it was bad. You still often think about that period of your life? You have talked about being homeless in the Philippines as a kid. It’s about me being a big fan and being grateful to have this magical moment.

You know what I mean? Like a kid, you know, it was like that. True! And then I can go back to the Philippines, and I can brag about it forever and ever. I’m already happy, like, fulfilled if that happens. So, even if you fail, you have four, five good songs you’ve performed with them out there onstage. And now you’re doing the whole thing, the whole set. Yes, I mean, you’ve only been dreaming to be with this band, even for one song. You had one show with Journey, guaranteed, right? I need to do this right.” But I also thought, “What’s the worst that could happen?” But I was just telling myself, psyching myself up, “I can do this. There were thousands of people, and it was broadcast all over Latin America. What was that first show in Chile like for you? That was when I became a member of Journey. 5, 2007, at the Hilton hotel in Healdsburg, California. But I’m still remembering the day Neal called me in and said that I am in the band. I’ve been with them for 14 years now, and I still do. Johnny Kats: Do you look around you and wonder “How did I get here?”Īrnel Pineda: (Laughs.) Yeah, no kidding. (keeping the humidifier humming throughout) at the Theater to talk Within months, he was singing for 20,000 fans at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile. Pineda was able to eat, but he never imagined rock stardom.īut in 2007, guitar great Neal Schon caught a YouTube video of Pineda and his band, The Zoo. As he says, “I sang my way out of poverty,” first from the streets and then landing a spot in local rock cover bands in his early teens. 18 date at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.Īs rock fans are readily aware, Pineda grew up impoverished in Manila. The band is entering its second and final weekend of an eight-show residency at the Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. S imilar to that famous song, Arnel Pineda’s fairy tale goes on, and on, and on, and on …

The journey back arnel