HEART AND CRAFT

Tina Arena is looking back on 40 years of success while also helping the next generation of artists, as Kane Young reports

INY Tina” Arena first burst on to Australia’s TV screens via Young Talent Time back in the mid-1970s, and quickly became arguably the most popular singer in the country. She hadn’t even turned 10 years old.

Arena, of course, matured into one of our most successful singersongwriters, selling more than 10 million albums.

In 1995 she became the first woman to win the Album of the Year ARIA Award, for her record Don’t Ask — which remains one of the highestselling Australian albums of all time.

She was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2015, and made a member of the Order of Australia last year.

Along the way, Arena managed to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued countless other child stars — and she doesn’t envy young performers trying to establish themselves in the current environment.

“I grew up in an era when there was no technology or social media, or a platform for people to verbally regurgitate what they feel — whether it’s right, wrong or indifferent,” Arena told Pulse.

“We were much more protected from all that stuff. And there was a much more old-fashioned approach to what we did.

“We learned a craft — that’s a big difference. These days, the art of ‘the craft’ is not necessarily something that drives people to do what they do.