Savage Garden

The Savage Garden duo took the world by storm without the record company hype and career-establishing game plan so often the background to pop-oriented acts. Everything was achieved by the quality of the songs.

Daniel Jones comes from a long line of musicians. When Daniel was ten he was already playing keyboards and drums in bars and hotels. His Savage Garden partner Darren Hayes' show business experience extended no further than his involvement in numerous school plays. When Daniel and the band he'd started with his brothers advertised for a singer the inexperienced but enthusiastic Darren was the only hopeful to answer. He wasn't what was needed for the job, a covers band playing the Gold Coast resort area of Queensland, but Darren inspired a different flame in Daniel and the pair broke away to start writing original songs.

Calling themselves Crush they sent 150 demo tapes all over the world and waited patiently for replies. The only positive response came from Australian music identity John Woodruff, who had previously managed The Angels and Baby Animals. Woodruff secured a deal with film distributor Roadshow's music label offshoot, an independent distributed by Warners with no proven track record. They'd released a number of records without significant airplay, let alone chart action. Whatever else Savage Garden achieved was going to be achieved by Savage Garden.

Woodruff put the duo in the studio with producer Charles Fisher who had previously created chart hits for Air Supply, Moving Pictures and 1927. Savage Garden's first single 'I Want You' was released in July 1996 and reached #2 behind the novelty hit 'Macarena', but was followed by consecutive #1s with 'To The Moon And Back' and 'Truly Madly Deeply'. When the self-titled debut album was released in March 1997 it entered the charts at #1 and notched up 13 weeks at the top, the third longest stay for any Australian-made album.

In the meantime a Dallas radio station had started playing 'I Want You' and, unaligned to any major international record label, Savage Garden was able to sign to Sony's Columbia inprint. 'I Want You' and 'Truly Madly Deeply' became worldwide hits, the latter achieving #1 in the US in January 1998, only the second time, and the first Australian record in 15 years (since Men At Work) to achieve the US top position. Savage Garden's album sold 11 million copies globally and earned the group ten Australian ARIA Awards. In almost every way they were contrary to everything normally associated with Australian music. They had resisted appearing on the national 'Hey Hey It's Saturday' TV program until they were already successful, and didn't give their first concert until their album was released and established.

Hayes and Jones dealt with their success in their individual ways. Singer Hayes amicably ended his marriage, moved to a New York apartment and rubbed shoulders with his peers. Daniel Jones stayed in Brisbane, wishing he could just write songs and make music in the studio. The second album 'Affirmation' was basically written by phone and computer from their separate corners of the world. The album was produced in Los Angeles by award-winning Walter Afanasieff, known for his work with artists such as Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand. In January 2000 the album's lead-off single 'I Knew I Loved You' gave Savage Garden its second US #1.

In October 2001 Darren Hayes surprised everyone, including Daniel Jones himself, by revealing that Savage Garden was no more. The duo had agreed on a year's break to allow Darren to record a solo album, and Daniel to work on music with others. Daniel, like the rest of the world heard about Savage Garden's end in the media. While Darren Hayes became a citizen of the world, releasing solo albums, Daniel stayed at home in Brisbane, concentrating on working in music's backroom.

Daniel married his long-time girlfriend, Kathleen de Leon, a member of successful children's group H-5, in October 2005. In May 2006 Darren Hayes married Richard Cullen, his male partner of two years in a civil ceremony in London.