STACK April 2017 Issue 150

FEATURE

MUSIC

give with strength and dignity’, [and] to say to

men, ‘Please don’t be threatened; we need

to do this together.’” The question of mens’

exclusion from feminist discussion sets Arena

afire. “It is very, very important, darling – it’s

very important that we talk about it,” she says

fiercely. “The music industry in Australia, for

women, has been a very difficult industry. That

is categorical. Women have not been treated

equally in the music business. The reason for

my comment [to including men] is that I do not

have a problem with men – I adore males. I

have a lot of really close male friends, whom I

adore. I have a partner in my life whom I adore.

He is a beautiful man with great empathy, and

everything that a person or a woman could

ever ask for. So the reason for my

comment is that I don’t want

men to feel I am attacking

them. I want [men] to

understand the female

perspective.”

Arena describes an

in-depth article she read

about the musician Ke$ha,

whose ongoing personal

and legal tribulations

with her former producer,

including sexual assault, have

been displayed through the courts

and the media. “The running gags

and the commentary that was thrown at her

left, right and centre... Nobody deserves to

go through that. I mean, Jesus Christ, where

are we? The support that she received from

Adele and so forth, people saying ‘Stand up

for your rights. Don’t feel that you have to

be a possession.’ That’s all I’m saying. We’re

not possessions, we don’t deserve to be

treated like that – we deserve to be treated

respectfully.”

Arena’s participation in the Good Friday

Appeal – held April 14 at Melbourne's The

Plenary – is something the musician feels

incredibly strongly about too, and she’s been

a part of the project since she was “a little

girl.” “When you’ve got kids, and if something

happens to your child, the service that the

Royal Children’s Hospital – any Children’s

hospital in the country – provides is so pivotal,”

she says. “It’s pivotal to the foundation of

mankind, really. [We] must do everything in our

power to ensure that it continues to evolve,

and provdes a service to absolutely anyone

and everyone regardless of where you’ve

come from, what you believe in… it crosses

every border for me. They deserve all the

commitment that we can give them.”

Nov 1, 1967 –

Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena is born in

Victoria, Australia, to Italian immigrant parents

1972 –

Arena makes her first public performance at

five years old, singing Daryl Braithwaite’s

You’re My

World

at her cousin’s wedding

1976 –

Arena is dubbed ‘Tiny Tina’ and becomes

a regular performer on

Young Talent Time

, at nine

years old

1977 –

Arena records her first album, a split release

with fellow Young Talent Time vocalist John Bowles

(‘Little John’)

1982 –

At 15, Arena becomes a ‘coach’ for new

Young Talent Time performer Dannii Minogue

1987 –

Arena supports Lionel Ritchie on his

Australian tour, and performs at several charity

events

1990 –

Arena’s debut album

Strong As Steel

released and reaches #17 on the ARIA chart

1994 –

Arena’s second solo album

Don’t Ask

released; she co-wrote all of its 10 tracks. It becomes

the highest-selling album of 1995, peaking at #1

and remaining in the top 50 for 83 weeks. It spawns

singles

Chains

Sorrento Moon (I Remember), Heaven

Help My Heart

Wasn’t It Good

Show Me Heaven

and

That’s The Way A Woman Feels

1995 –

Arena is nominated for her first six ARIAs and

wins four: Best Pop Release, Song of the Year (for

Chains

), Album of the Year and Best Female Artist

1997 –

Arena releases her third solo album

In Deep

which peaks at #1

2000 –

Arena performs

The Flame

at the Opening

Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games; she’s also

awarded an Outstanding Achievement statue at the

ARIAs

2001 –

Arena’s fourth album

Just Me

is released; it’s

certified Gold in Australia and France

2005 –

Arena’s debut French language album

Autre Univers

is released

2008 –

Arena releases her 10 th studio album,

Reset

which becomes her sixth top 10 album in Australia

2009 –

Arena is the first Australian to receive the

Knighthood of the Order of National Merit, presented

by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for her

contributions to French culture

2013 –

Arena’s memoir

Now I Can Dance

is released

and is an instant hit; the book is now in its fourth

reprint

2015 –

Arena is inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame,

and releases her 11 th studio album,

Eleven

2016 –

Arena is appointed a Member of the Order of

Australia, in recognition of her contribution to the arts

and for her philanthropic work

TINA’S

TREK

including Jessica Mauboy, The Veronicas,

Katie Noonan, Ainslie Wills and Jimmy Barnes

covering some of Arena’s biggest hits. “I think

it’s really beautiful when you’ve grown up

with a song, and sometimes you may not like

it growing up but when you get older it may

take on something else. There’s all sorts of

reasons," she says of the guest artists and the

motivations behind their selections. "There’s

been some pearlers. I just let the artist choose

what they wanted to do – I put the concept out

there, and people embraced the idea, and once

the ball got rolling it kind of took care of itself.”

Most of the initial logistical concerns Arena

stepped back from, because she is keenly

aware of her other callings. “First and

foremost, I’m a mother, and I

have the responsibility of an

11-year-old little boy, who is

my priority,” she says. “My

family and my partner –

his father – they’re my

priority, and frankly there

are periods where they

really stand back and

watch me work around

the clock, and it can be

frustrating for them.”

The teaser video for

Greatest Hits and Interpretations

is a marvellous collage of Tina’s

life in the spotlight, presenting a fascinating

chronology from her first singles

Turn Up The

Beat

and

I Need Your Body

, through smash hits

Chains

and

Now I Can Dance

and up to more

recent hits like

Only Lonely

. It must be odd to

have such concrete examples of your place in

each era and its various aesthetic trappings,

but Arena eschews any awkwardness in the

name of the greater odyssey. “I think when

you’re nearly 50 years of age, you don’t really

care about the hair, the costumes, whatever,”

she says. “It’s all part of your journey. I don’t

believe there’s any individual on this planet

Earth that has had an incredibly perfect journey

because it doesn’t exist.” And if it did, wouldn’t

it be kind of dull? “Yes, life would be incredibly

boring, Zoë, if that was the case – absolutely.

I certainly wouldn’t want to be a part of it. The

hits and the misses and the good choices and

the bad hair and everything else are all part of

your journey. You go through a lot of different

performers' lives and they’ll all tell you the

same story. It’s all part of the process.”

Zooming out even further, Arena also

views her journey’s role within the context

of her gender and the music industry. She

lent her words to the recent

Her Sound Her

Story

photography exhibition and campaign,

which highlighted important females in music

across the last several decades, and upon her

induction into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 2015

she remarked she wanted “to say to a younger

generation of women, ‘This is not just about

me, it’s about us, our community; that you can

The hits and the

misses and the

good choices and

the bad hair...

are all part of the

journey

Greatest Hits

And Interpretations

by Tina Arena is out

April 7 via EMI.