HE DIDN?T STOP BELIEVIN?
When the legendary rock band Journey needed to replace their lead singer, they turned to the Internet, where they found clips of an unknown 40-year-old singer from the Philippines. Arnel Pineda was just a small-town boy, living in a lonely world, covering Journey songs in no-name bar bands, but he had the voice?and the hair?of a natural-born rock star. Now he?s living a dream that goes on, and on, and on, and on?
In the early ?90s, New Age relocated to Hong Kong, a time-honored path for -Filipino musicians seeking their fortune. It didn?t go so well. Playing the same cover tunes every night began to drive Pineda crazy. He was bored, so he drank, took drugs, and generally pursued any and all forms of rock ?n? roll self-destruction available to a boy from Manila adrift on the Hong Kong bar circuit. Before long, he?d wrecked his voice. When he found he could no longer hit the high notes in Eric Clapton?s ?Wonderful Tonight,? he went to a doctor, who told him to retire. He was 27.