Paulini is a 24 year old Libran who was born in Fiji and still speaks fluent Fijian when at home with her family.
Paulini’s personality is very laid back and easy-going. She has a lot of self-confidence and a winning sense of humour although she can be very shy at times. Paulini is very close to her family and very involved in church life. She has been singing all her life and has had ambitions to be a professional singer since she was 10. Paulini also plays piano and writes music. It is interesting to note that Paulini has never had any professional voice training, all that superb talent you hear comes straight from within!!!!
Paulini has a healthy down-to-earth attitude to life which has probably seen her through a lot of trials and difficulties. Most people are astounded at how mature and professional Paulini has acted and sounded ever since she came to public attention at the age of 18.
Her first public appearances were when she was still in high school. Paulini was part of the School Spectacular in the year 2000. She then entered the Star Struck television talent show and won it.
Her school days were spectacular
Paulini attended Wiley Park Girls School, Bankstown Girls High School and later Bradfield College (all in Sydney). As a teenager she had already impressed many people with her naturally powerful and tuneful voice, even scoring an official mention in Parliament.
Paulini’s involvement in school performances began when she auditioned for the Bankstown Buzz in 1999.
The audition panel were so ‘blown away’ by her voice that they recruited her as a soloist in the show.
She was then brought into the NSW Talent Development Program (“TDP”) along with several other talented students.
TDP is ” — a vocationally oriented public education program designed to develop the best of the best musically talented high school students in NSW… it’s…a joint venture combining the practical experience of the broader entertainment industry with the development and teaching aims of the NSW Department of Education and Training.”
Paulini won critical acclaim for her rendition of Berstein’s “Somewhere” at the 2000 Schools Spectacular (organised by the TDP) and went on to win the 2001 Star Struck television competition.
This show resulted in her first recording – she sings “When you Believe” on the Highlights of Star Struck 2001 CD (an mp3 of this recording is available to registered members).
Paulini was also featured on the ABC’s televised “Rising Stars” program the same year as one of Australia’s most promising talents.
In December 2001 Paulini headlined the Wesley Mission’s Darling Harbour Christmas event – a premier community event in Sydney.
Still in 2001, Paulini also again performed as a special guest in the Schools Spectacular, televised by the ABC. Critics in the entertainment industry were lavish with their praise of the “big-voiced” youngster and her performance of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus in Gospel style. She also performed the song “Rising Star” written by John Foreman as well as a group rendition of “Teach your children well”.
The year 2003 was a major one for Paulini
It started with Paulini being asked to sing the anthem for the 2003 South Pacific games and having the song recorded on the CD that was produced from the Games entertainment. That CD went on to sell well and become a favourite in the Pacific region.
Immediately after this gig Paulini performed her first audition for the new Australian Idol television show. She passed the first audition stages and was then sent to strut her stuff in front of Marcia, Mark and Dicko. All three judges were blown away by this talented youngster and she went on to perform flawlessly throughout the competition. Paulini reached 4th place before failing to obtain enough votes to get through to the next round. This shocked the majority of viewers after her stunning performance of “At Last” and “Almost Like Being in Love” the week before.
But Paulini wasn’t set back by failing to win this latest competition.
After leaving the Idol program she moved ahead in leaps and bounds.
In the months after her appearance on Australian Idol Paulini was a popular addition to a number of events around Australia and was often found performing in televised productions. She returned to her “roots” with a guest appearance on the 2003 Schools Spectacular where she reprised her song Somewhere which was bigger and better than ever. She then blew everyone way with a blistering rendition of the old gospel classic “Operator” at the Melbourne Carols in the Domain which was televised across Australia.
Later, she travelled to New Zealand and thrilled her many fans in that country performing at the Pasifika Festival. She also performed numerous gigs right across Australia. At times it was hard to keep up with exactly where she was, especially as there was often no publicity at all about her performances. Paulini capped off a stunning year with her much acclaimed performance at the New Year’s Eve Mayor’s party on the magnificent Sydney Harbour which was also televised around Australia.
In 2004……
The year 2004 was no less hectic for Paulini, with more performances and concerts around the country and in particular, her concert at the Australian Gospel Music Festival in Toowoomba at Easter time.
Soon after the AGMF the news of her 4 album recording deal with Sony music was finally made public. This came as no surprise to most people who have heard her sing. It was really only a matter of which recording company would get her first. Silly silly BMG missed the boat on this one!
Things began to get interesting when Sony called for Paulini’s fans to contact them if they wanted to be a part of the video they were making for her new single. The single was announced as a cover of an old hit song called “Angel Eyes”. Some fans weren’t impressed with the song choice as the Healey version is a little too country and bland. But our faith in Paulini stayed firm and with reports coming back from those who appeared in her video that it was going to be “awesome” her fans began to eagerly anticipate the release of her very first single.
The rest most of you will know. Her single and her album One Determined Heart both hit number 1 in the charts. The single debuted at number 1 but was knocked back to number 2 after a controversial recount. The next week it was number 1 and stayed there for 3 weeks, in the top 10 for several more weeks and in the charts for 4 months. Both her single and debut album went Platinum. Paulini was awarded two chart arias from ARIA and then later released her second single, an original song from her album titled We Can Try. Her second single didnt do as well as the first, but it still spent months in the charts. Her debut album was still in the Urban Top 20 chart at number 12 after 3 months.
Meanwhile, Paulini toured to rave reviews with her old friends Human Nature appearing at venues across the country to perform and sign CDs.
Her next venture was her Christmas EP – Amazing Grace – which was released on November 26 and a track on the So Fresh Christmas album. She also guest starred in Home and Away, performed on This is Your Life and in Dancing with the Stars.
Meanwhile, Paulini managed 2 national tours at once, a repeat tour with Human Nature and a tour with Tina Arena.
I dont know where she gets the energy!
2005
The year 2005 saw Paulini mature as an artist and transform before our very eyes.
Unfortunately, part of that “transformation” took place on a tacky televised reality show Celebrity Overhaul which aimed at drawing an audience by showing various celebrities getting fit and/or losing weight. To some, the inclusion of Paulini in this show only served to reinforce negative messages to young women that they should be skinny (Paulini has never been fat). Others thought it was just about Paulini getting fit. Hmmmm. In any case, Paulini proved to be something of a rebel on the show, preferring chocolate (which she snuck in) to the dangerously low in protein diet they had all enduring and grumbling about the incessant walking and running they were required to do. She managed to lose a few kilos and tighten a few muscles (she was rated as fit, of good weight and healthy from the beginning of the show anyway though) and delighted audiences as the young slightly “naughty” member of the cast.
Paulini also toured nationally with Guy Sebastian winning many more fans and performed at the Australian Tennis Open and various other gigs throughout the year.
Meanwhile she squeezed in an overseas venture where she co-wrote and recorded several tracks in LA and Spain (amongst other locations) for her upcoming 2006 release of her second album Superwoman. Her first single off the album, Rough Day, was an awesome dance/RnB track which was released for sale in January 2006 and spent weeks in the charts peaking at no. 23 in the ARIA charts and number 3 in the Urban Charts.
And then …. along came The Young Divas…..
[BTW: THIS CONTENT IS STRICTLY COPYRIGHTED TO ME AND TO THIS SITE – No it is NOT okay to copy my words verbatim onto your own site and not reference them and claim them as your own. I don’t care how big a company you are or how famous you think you might be, taking other people’s work and passing it off as your own is THEFT. I have seen my phrases, paragraphs and even whole pages turn up on other music related sites with no referencing whatsoever and attribution for my work given to someone else. Particularly my work on Paulini’s background. This is not only unacceptable to me but is also illegal and prosecutable under Australian and International law. Plus it’s common decency to acknowledge other people for the work you’re using. I will soon be posting links in a “wall of shame” of anyone who steals my content. Sorry – I’m just tired of seeing it happening. Rant over!).
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