Romina Arena

Romina Arena (born May 12, 1980) is an Italian-American popera, operatic pop, pop classical crossover, rock opera and new-age singer-songwriter.

Early years and career beginnings

Romina Arena born and raised in Sicily, of a Sicilian mother Rita and a Roman father Renato. By the age of four, Arena became a Mouseketeer for Topolino, the Italian version of Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club. She also performed as a classical ballerina in the major Italian Theatres at the age of seven. Performing with other children from different parts of Europe, this is where Arena developed her multiple language skills. Her knowledge of 10 languages, including Italian, English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Greek, Bulgarian and Hebrew allowed her to open many doors to the international music market. Arena calls herself “the voice of women with a broken heart” but is also referred to as “the voice of women who never give up”

Attack

When Arena was a teenager after leaving Disney behind and starting a solo career, she was attacked at the backstage of a prime time television show in Sicily and her attacker severed her vocal cords with a pocket knife, leaving her comatose. Her physicians told her she would never sing again. However, she completely recovered over a three-year period. She fully regained her vocal abilities; a strange side effect of the attack was that she developed an extraordinary five-octave vocal range as a result of the trauma to her pharynx.