Paulini Curuenavuli

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Paulini

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Img_capt =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Pauline Curuenavuli
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1982|10|15
Died =
Origin = Fiji
Instrument = Singing
Genre = Pop Urban R&B
Occupation = Singer-songwriter
Years_active = 2003-present (Solo) 2006-2008 (Group)
Label = Sony-BMG (2004–present)
Associated_acts = Young Divas
URL = [http://www.paulini.com.au Official Website]
Young Divas Current_members = Paulini Curuenavuli, Jessica Mauboy, Emily Williams, Kate DeAraugo
Young Divas Past_members = Ricki-Lee Coulter
Urban Music Awards

Paulini Curuenavuli (born Pauline Curuenavuli on 15 October, 1982) is an Australian pop and R&B singer, who is best known for coming fourth in the first series of Australian Idol. She has released two studio albums and five singles over her solo career including the number one smash hit "Angel Eyes". Her debut album "One Determined Heart" was a platinum selling album and was one of that year's most successful releases. She has also been nominated for numerous ARIA Awards and Urban Music Awards. She is also a former member of the multiple platinum selling group Young Divas.

Biography

Early life

Paulini was born in Fiji and moved to Australia in 1986 with her family at the age of four. Paulini has two sisters, Sereima Curuenavuli and Litia Curuenavuli, who are also singers. Her family settled in the south-west of Sydney where she went to school and regularly attended church. She began singing at the age of six with her church gospel choir.

When Paulini was eight years of age, her brother, Khal, was shot in the chest and died during a robbery. Paulini was very close to her brother and was devastated by his death. Years later, she would sing "Fields of Gold" on "Australian Idol" in his memory. [ [http://www.paulini.info Paulini Online] ]

In 1997, Paulini's singing talent was spotted by her high school, Bankstown Girls High School, and she was put into the New South Wales Talent Development Program. This led to her entering and winning the televised talent contest "Starstruck" at the age of 16. Her song "When You Believe" is included on the CD of the show. She was also a participant in the live Schools Spectacular concerts which are also televised on the ABC. At age 17 she performed Barbra Streisand's "Somewhere" at the 2000 Schools Spectacular and in 2001's Schools Spectacular she sang "Rising Star" and Handel's "Hallelujah" Chorus. Also in year 2000 she performed at Bankstown's Millennium Buzz, which was held over four nights at the Dunc Gray Veledrome in the local area. On every night Paulini performed her solo "When You Believe" and sang many other songs.

Curuenavali formed a band in 2001 called MIXX and also started session singing and cutting demos as a solo artist. Her two sisters are still members of MIXX. The group performed regular gigs around Sydney and toured Australia and Fiji in 2002. Paulini still performs with MIXX for special events.

Paulini was invited to open the South Pacific Games in Fiji in 2003 where she performed and recorded the South Pacific Games anthem ("Many Rhythms, One Love") for the Games Official Album: "The Pacific At Its Best" [http://www.kingmusic.co.nz/item_detail.lasso?id=68892 King Music website] .

"Australian Idol" 2003

Paulini auditioned for the first series of Australian Idol in 2003, in which she eventually placed fourth. She is widely regarded to be one of the most memorable contestants in the show's history and throughout the contest was greatly respected by the both the judges and the Australian public for not only her powerful voice, but also her exceptional grace and humility.

In the first four weeks of the final stages of the competition she was widely considered as the favourite to win the title over eventual winner Guy Sebastian and fellow female contestant Cosima de Vito, who placed third. Controversy erupted during the final 6 performance night, when after a powerful performance of the Aretha Franklin classic "Freeway Of Love", she landed in the bottom three, much to the shock of the judges and the Australian public. She was saved from elimination, and judge Mark Holden famously made a plea to the viewers to vote for their favourite performers to avoid losing huge talent such as Paulini.

In the Final 5, Paulini was targeted by the judges for having bad taste and was told that to wear the gold dress she'd worn for her performance, she needed to "shed a few kilos". Paulini was apparently deeply hurt, but after surviving another week in the competition she picked up her confidence once more.

The next week, in the Final 4 Paulini was eliminated after two extremely good good Big Band performances. Her elimination from the contest has since been considered to be the second-most surprising public vote in the show's history, second only to the shocking elimination of favourite Ricki-Lee Coulter during Season 2. Paulini has since gone on to be the seventh highest-selling "Idol" solo artist, and is also the highest-selling solo artist within the Young Divas.

"Australian Idol" Performances

#Sydney Audition - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Marvin Gaye & Tammy Terrell)
#Semi Final Group 5 - "Somewhere" (Barbra Streisand)
#Final 12 (70's) - "Don't Leave Me This Way" (Thelma Houston)
#Final 10 (#1's) - "Eternal Flame" (The Bangles)
#Final 8 (Aussie Hits) - "Chains" (Tina Arena)
#Final 6 (80's) - "Freeway of Love" (Aretha Franklin) - BOTTOM 3
#Up, Close & Personal - "Fields of Gold" (Sting)
#Final 5 (R&B/Soul) - "Unbreak My Heart" (Toni Braxton) & "Survivor" (Destiny's Child)
#Final 4 (Big Band) - "At Last (Etta James) & "Almost Like Being In Love" (Natalie Cole) - ELIMINATED

Paulini performed "Freeway of Love", "The Voice Within", "Crazy In Love" and "Chains" during the "Australian Idol" national tour in 2003.

Post-"Australian Idol" Career

2004: "One Determined Heart"

When "Australian Idol" ended, Paulini signed a four album recording contract with Sony Music and released her debut single "Angel Eyes" (a cover of the 1988 hit song by Canadian blues musician Jeff Healey) in early July 2004, six months after the competition's end. The single debuted at number two on the ARIA Australian singles charts on 11 July 2004. It initially debuted at number one until the ARIA discovered that a Sydney DJ had bought 100 copies in one transaction, disqualifying 99 unit sales and bumping her out of the top spot. A week later however, the song officially reached number one (a position it held for three weeks) and stayed in the top 10 for over three months. The song later became the 4th Best Selling Single of 2004.

Paulini's debut studio album, "One Determined Heart" was released at the end of July and fell straight into the chart at number one on 2 August and was soon certified platinum for sale in excess of 70,000 copies. The entire album was produced by renowned producer Audius Mtawarira, who had previously co-written Delta Goodrem's Australian number one hit "Born To Try". The second and final single released from "One Determined Heart" was "We Can Try", an original blues track, which debuted and peaked at number thirty on the ARIA Singles Chart and number nine on the ARIA Urban Top 40 Singles chart.

In November 2004, only four months after the release of her debut album, Paulini recorded and released a Christmas EP entitled, "", which included a performance of "People Get Ready", featuring Human Nature. The EP was well received by critics but stalled at number 70 on the ARIA charts. However, the album was a Top 10 hit in the Urban Charts and a Top 5 hit in the Australasian Charts. The first and only single from the album "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" was given an exclusive video release and as such enjoyed only limited success around the holiday period.

2006-2007: "Superwoman" and "Young Divas"

By the end of 2004, Paulini was already putting the finishing touches to her sophomore album, "Superwoman", which had been recorded in London, the US, Spain and Australia. However, due to numerous delays, it would take eighteen months for Sony BMG to release the album to the Australian public. In January 2006, Paulini finally released her third single, "Rough Day", which would be the first single taken from her second studio album, "Superwoman" The single included her first self-written track ("Last Love") on the B side. "Rough Day" debuted and peaked at number three on the ARIA Dance Chart and number twenty-six on the official singles chart.

"So Over You", another song written by Paulini, was the second single taken from the album and was released in May 2006. It was widely praised but only peaked at number forty-nine in the ARIA singles chart, spending just thirteen weeks in the top one hundred. It fared better in the Urban Singles Chart however, where it reached number thirteen and stayed in the top forty for three months. The long delay in releasing Paulini's second album began to spark controversy in the media, with many speculating that Sony BMG planned to drop Paulini from their label's line-up and were not intending to release the album at all. This was proven wrong however, when on August 5 2006, "Superwoman" was finally released. The album included three tracks written by Paulini herself, marking her album debut as a song-writer. She stated in interviews that she had more creative control over the album than she'd had on her previous, "One Determined Heart" and that she was responsible for all of the vocal arrangements.

Though of far better production quality than her platinum-selling debut album, "Superwoman" failed to make a significant impact on the ARIA charts, peaking at number seventy-two. It did however, find greater successful in the rival Brazin charts and in the ARIA Urban chart, where it peaked at number nine. The third and final single release from the album was "I Believe". A video was shot for the song, and aired on music television channels, and the song saw a limited physical release. It also found airplay on both the radio and in clubs, but was primarily used only to promote the album and as such did not chart. To date, "Superwoman" has sold around 10,000 copies in Australia, but despite the less-than-expected sales tally, Paulini and her single "Rough Day" received nominations for Best Single, Best New Talent, Best Female Talent and Best Video during the Australian and New Zealand Urban Music Awards.

In early 2006 Sony BMG had asked Paulini to be part of an all-girl band concept which was to include previous "Australian Idol" contestants Emily Williams, Ricki-Lee Coulter and newly crowned season 3 winner Kate DeAraugo. Initially the concept was based around a one-off single and concert tour to promote all four artists as solo singers. The band became known as the Young Divas, and had a massively successful debut release with the single "This Time I Know It's For Real". The song spent almost a year in the singles charts, peaked at number two and was certified platinum for the sale of over 70,000 units. The girls' accompanying tour was successful far beyond expections, and not only did every date sell out, extra dates had to be added to meet the demand. As a result, the three-week tour was lengthened to twelve weeks, causing Ricki-Lee Coulter to postpone her wedding.

On November 11, following the success of the Young Divas first single, the band released a cover version of Lonnie Gordon's track "Happenin' All over Again" as a second single. The song debuted in the charts at number twelve and peaked at number nine, reaching gold status within weeks. The abnd's huge success promoted them to release the self-titled debut album "Young Divas" on November 18, which was filled with classic disco and pop covers. The album peaked at number four and was certified double platinum by theARIA for sales in excess of 140,000 copies. The third single "Searchin" was released in March of 2007, but did not perform as well on the charts as the other singles, peaking at number forty. However, the single had lacked promotion after Divas member Ricki-Lee Coulter suddenly announced that she had decided to leave the group in order to focus on her solo career. Despite the limited success of the third single, however, Sony BMG were very impressed with the Young Divas project and renewed their recording contract, thus allowing the group to record a second album for release in late 2007.

2007: "New Attitude"

On 26 September 2007, Paulini and her fellow Young Divas appeared to perform on the top 12 night of the fifth season of "Australian Idol". It was during this performance that they introduced season four runner-up Jessica Mauboy as Ricki-Lee Coulter's replacement, making the group a quartet once again. The addition of Mauboy had been kept secret, and her introduction was a huge surprise to the Divas' fans. The newly reformed group performed "When You Believe" (which was originally sung by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston) for the fortieth anniversary of Channel 7's Telethon Western Australia.

On 9 October, the Divas appeared on an "Australian Idol" special named Doing It For the Kids, where they revealed that the name of their second album would be "New Attitude", and that it would be released the following month. On 22 October they appeared on "Australian Idol" season five for a third time, where they performed their new single "Turn Me Loose" for the first time, along with New Zealand rapper Savage, who featured on the track. The single was officially released on November 17 2007 and after debuting at number twenty-one, peaked at number fifteen. The Divas' second studio album "New Attitude" was released on November 26, peaked at #10 and was certified gold for sales of 35,000 copies.

On March 28 2008, after four months of apparent inactivity, the Young Divas' record label, Sony BMG announced in The Daily Telegraph that due to the under performance of Turn Me Loose, no second single would be released from "New Attitude". However, it was also stated that the group were not being dropped from the record label's line-up of artists. [ [http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23442430-5012327,00.html Divas left in label limbo | The Daily Telegraph ] ]

2008-Present: Return To Solo Career

After five months of public and media speculation, it was officially announced on August 24 2008 that both Paulini and new member Jessica Mauboy had both decided to leave the Young Divas in order to concentrate on their solo careers. [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24230201-27258,00.html] The move meant that Kate DeAraugo and Emily Williams became the only remaining members of the Young Divas, though their manager David Champion stressed that the group's career was not over, and that after a third line-up reform, the Divas would release a third album. Paulini stressed not only that she left the group on good terms and planned to remain friends with all of her former band mates, but that her decision to leave the Divas was an 'evolution' in her career as a solo artist. Paulini has confirmed she has begun recording on her long awaited third studio album to be released in the near future.It has been reported that former Rogue Traders front woman Natalie Bassingthwaighte will team up with Paulini in her forthcoming album.

Discography

Infobox Artist Discography
Artist = Paulini Curuenavuli
Logo =


Caption =
Studio = 2
Compilation =
Live =
Video =
Music videos = 6
Singles = 5
Option = 3
Option name = B-sides
Option color = crimson
1Option = 1
1Option name = EPs
1Option color = chartreuse
2Option = 2
2Option name = Collaborations
2Option color = violet
3Option = 1
3Option name = Tours
3Option color = orange
References =
Ref link = Notes and references

The following article is a complete discography of every album and single released by Australian pop/urban/R&B music artist Paulini Curuenavuli.

Albums

Other charted songs

Awards and recognition

References

External links

* [http://www.paulini.com.au/ Paulini's Official Site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/divinemissp Paulini's Myspace]
* [http://au.yahoo.com/it-takes-two/ It Takes Two official website]
* [http://www.paulini.info/ Paulini's Fan site]
* [http://www.undercover.com.au/idol/paulini2004.html Interview Site]