Arnel Pineda

Arnel Pineda was born on September 5, 1967, at St. Jude Thaddeus Diagnostic Clinic in Tondo, Manila, to Restituto Lising Pineda and Josefina Manansala Campaner. His mother instilled his love for singing at an early age, encouraging him to sing along to her favorite acts like Karen Carpenter and Barbra Streisand. Growing up, his parents entered him in many singing contests. His mother, who was suffering from heart disease, died when he was 13 years old. Her illness left their family deep in medical debt. Being more than six months behind on their apartment rent and unable to sufficiently provide for the family, his father moved out and asked relatives to take in Pineda's siblings. To ease his father's burden, Pineda quit school to work. He spent about two years homeless, sleeping wherever he could like public parks or on a narrow bench outside a friend's crowded house. He earned a meager living by collecting glass bottles, newspapers and scrap metal and selling them to recyclers. He would also go to the pier with his friends and take on odd jobs like cleaning scrap metal and docked ships. He didn't have much to eat, sometimes rationing a small package of Marie biscuit as food for two days.

Pineda married Cherry Pineda in 2001. They have a son and a daughter. Pineda also has two older sons. In 2013, Pineda told Rappler that he divides his time between the Philippines and the United States. Pineda met Donald Trump at the White House in 2017 with two other members of Journey, Jonathan Cain and Ross Valory. The move was strongly criticised by the group's guitarist Neal Schon. Pineda later explained that he does not belong to any political group, nor does he follow any religion.