Truemors
And now word has come our way that a Filipino cover band singer by the name of Arnel Pineda of Sampaloc, Manila, was personally envited by Journey to audition for the band in San Francisco. Pineda got the attention of the band because of his numirous video performances on popular video-sharing site YouTube, where he was seen performing Journey's covers, and nailing the notes that made by Steve Perry famous.
'Revelation' is Journey's first album with Pineda as lead vocals. It debuted at No.5 in the Billboard Top 200 album charts in June 2008, and remain in the Top 20 for six weeks.
Pineda's career with Journey started when the band's guitarist, Neal Schon, saw footage of Pineda and his band the Zoo covering the Journey song “Faithfully” on YouTube[1]. A friend of Pineda's had taped the band during a gig, and uploaded the footage to the video sharing site.
Neal Schon was looking for a new vocalist to replace their latest vocalist, Jeff Scott Soto[7]. He decided to search YouTube for new talent. Upon seeing Pineda's performance video, Schon emailed the video uploader to ask for an introduction to the Filipino singer. Schon wanted Pineda to go to San Francisco for an audition[8].
Pineda initially thought Schon's email was a hoax, but was convinced by his friend that it was real. After some negotiation, Pineda agreed to apply for a visa to be able to travel to the United States [8].
Pineda, along with his manager Bert de Leon, flew to Marin County, north of San Francisco, for a two-day audition.[9][10] The star-struck Pineda was welcomed warmly but he described the audition as "nerve-wracking, tense".[11]
Pineda was officially announced as Journey's lead vocalist on 5 December 2007[12] and made his concert debut on 21 February 2008 at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater in Viña del Mar, Chile. [13][14] He then went back to the US with Journey for a number of Las Vegas performances.
Will Arnel get the gig...Journey, the rock band is mulling over the possibility of holding an Asian tour early next year. Stay tuned for more developments...
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