38 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com July, 2017
LIVING^ L
EGEND
‘
H
ey moz! have you got any
more of this gravy?” Tina Arena
calls out across a café in Fitzroy’s
Brunswick Street. She’s a regular
here since moving back to Mel-
bourne in late 2015 after almost two de-
cades in London and Paris, and the owner
gives her the thumbs-up and brings over a
small jug. Arena is tucking into a plate of
braised lamb with the same relish she ap-
proaches her career and her conversation.
She’s never backward in coming forward,
swears like a sailor and holds forth on ev-
erything from her personal life to attitudes
towards women in the music industry. As
she prepares to turn 50 in November, Arena
is already celebrating with the release of
Greatest Hits & Interpretations, which in-
cludes a disc of cover versions by the likes of
Jimmy Barnes, the Veronicas, Katie Noon-
an and Dannii Minogue.
You grew up in public on Young Talent Time
from the age of eight until just before your
16 th birthday. How tough was it to leave?
Oh, it was a slap in the face. When you
go from living this incredibly active life,
then all of a sudden that dwindles to noth-
ing, it’s a shock. A deep shock. So I grieved
the process of letting that go. Saying good-
bye to Johnny [Young, the show’s host] was
like saying goodbye to my father. He had
tears in his eyes. He’s like a second dad to
me. He’s always been very honest. He’s told
me things I want to hear and he’s also told
me things over the years that I don’t want
to hear, but in a beautifully protective way.
He’s an honourable man.
Did you feel that even though you grew up,
the public still saw you as frozen in time as
a kid?
I was a frozen embryo called Tiny Tina.
That’s for sure. Put on ice. It was frustrat-
ing. I wasn’t cool back then, honey.
There’s a history of child stars not making
the transition to adulthood very well.
Yeah, I haven’t held up any 7-Elevens
yet. [Laughs] I went through the personal
angst, but I went through everything very
privately. My philosophy is that it was my
business and not anybody else’s. And I still
feel very strongly about that. When I see
what’s happening today with people in the
public eye being gratuitously attacked be-
cause they’re trainwrecks, and the fact that
people have created an industr y over it, for
me that’s fucking reprehensible.
What’s your reaction to people who say,
“Well, look, you’re in the public domain
and you’ve courted publicity, so you’re fair
game”?
Fuck off , is what I say to them. My job is
a public job. I understand it’s a public job.
I’m grateful for my job. However, when you
leave the office at night, you clock off and
go home, don’t you? Well, why shouldn’t I
have the privilege of being able to clock off?
Back in 1990, “I Need Your Body” was an ob-
vious move to sexualise you and prove that
you were a grown woman.
Absolutely, but the video makes me
shudder. I was somebody who was very
non-sexual at that time in my life. Sexuali-
ty was a discovery for me when I met Vince
[Mancini, her partner of 17 years]. And I
was 33 years old. Talk about a late fuck-
ing bloomer!
In your 2013 memoir Now I Can Dance you
wrote that you didn’t really feel comfortable
in your skin until your early thirties.
I had a real stagnation of growth from
25 to about 33. I was imprisoned, really.
That coincides with your fi rst marriage to
then-manager Ralph Carr...
Yes. It was a diffi cult time. It wasn’t a
happy union. We came together for a rea-
son. We had a shared passion, which was
the music, and that was beautiful, but we
were very diff erent. Stratospheres apart.
The irony is you were enjoying huge com-
mercial success at that time. Don’t Ask was
the highest selling album of 1995 in Austra-
lia and it was estimated at the time that one
in four households owned a copy.
I know, but I wasn’t able to enjoy my
success at the time. I started enjoying the
musical aspect of my life when I start-
ed going to France in the late Nineties
and moving there. I was finally free of
Tiny Tina, Young Tale nt Tim e and precon-
ceived thoughts. France was just a gift. It
gave me this blank canvas to paint on. The
song from The Mask Of Zorro, where I got
to work with Jim Steinman and the beau-
tiful, late James Horner,
was a gift too and then that
opened all these doors and
before you knew it I’d be-
come the variety TV queen
of France.
When you were inducted
into the ARIA Hall Of Fame
in 2015, you gave a passion-
ate speech about ageism and
the sexist attitudes towards
women in the music industry. Do you think
things have changed much since then?
I think there’s an awareness. But then,
there’s a difference between awareness
and a diff erence. I grew up in an era where
women performers were seen as more via-
ble if they were sexy. And I don’t just blame
men for that. I really feel that women have
to take a sense of responsibility too. They
have to have enough strength and self-
awareness and faith in what they do.
On the new album you duet with Dannii Mi-
nogue on “Sorrento Moon”. Do you feel like
you two understand each other because of
your shared history coming up through the
ranks of Young Talent Time?
Defi nitely. And that’s why it was so in-
credibly poignant to have her on the re-
cord. I’ve known her since she was a baby
and watched her grow. She and Kylie are
such gorgeous human beings and they’ve
got a great supportive family. I’ve got a
great family too. It all boils down to that
in the end. La famiglia.
TINA ARENA
The singer holds forth on her sexuality, celebrity culture and how
she finally shook the ghost of Tiny Tina from ‘Young Talent Time’
✦By Barry Divola✦
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATHEW COYTE
I WAS A FROZEN
EMBRYO CALLED TINY
TINA. PUT ON ICE.
I WASN’T COOL.”