Greatest Story in Music

So, I just came across one of the greatest stories in the music industry that I’ve heard in a long time. I’m an 80’s kid. I lived most of my childhood and into early adolescence in that decade. So, my early music influences were bands like Chicago, Journey, etc. I grew up on bands that were defined by their lead singer. So, when Chicago lost Peter Cetera and Journey lost Steve Perry that was pretty much it for me. These bands have replaced their lead singers with really great vocalists, but they just don’t compare to the originals… until now!

The story goes like this… Arnel Pineda has been a musician in Asia for 25 years. (Sidebar: he’s 40!!! He looks like he’s 20.  I couldn’t believe it when I found that out.) His most recent stint was with a band called “The Zoo.” They did some original music but mostly covered Journey, Van Halen, Air Supply and others. Journey had once again lost their lead singer. Neil Schon (the only original Journey member) is quoted this way on Journey’s website, “I was frustrated about not having a singer, so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, ‘he can’t be that good.’ But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn’t sound synthetic and he’s not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter.”

What an incredible story! Here is a clip of “The Zoo.” You are not going to believe your ears!