Arnel Pineda was born on September 5, 1967 at St. Jude Thaddeus Diagnostic Clinic in Tondo, Manila, Philippines 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 singers like Karen Carpenter and Barbra Streisand. Growing up, his parents entered him in many singing contests.\n', '

His mother, who had been suffering from heart disease, died when he was 13 years old. Her illness had left their family deep in debt. Being more than six months behind on their apartment rent and unable to sufficiently provide for the family, his father decided to move out and ask relatives to take in Pineda\'s siblings. To ease his father\'s burden, Pineda quit school and started working.\n', '

He spent about two years on the streets, sleeping wherever he could: in public parks, or on a narrow bench outside a friend\'s crowded house. He earned meager money 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.\n', '

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