Savage Garden
Savage Garden were an Australian pop duo consisting of Darren Hayes on vocals and Daniel Jones on guitar, keyboards, and vocals; they formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1993. They were signed to John Woodruff's talent agency and achieved international success with their No. 1 hit singles "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back" (both 1996), "Truly Madly Deeply" (1997), and "I Knew I Loved You" (1999).
This article is about the Australian pop duo. For their self-titled debut album, see Savage Garden (Savage Garden album). For other uses, see Savage Garden (disambiguation).
Savage Garden
The band's two studio albums, Savage Garden (March 1997) and Affirmation (November 1999), reached No. 1 in Australia and Sweden; they also hit the top ten in the United Kingdom and United States. These albums sold a total of 23 million copies worldwide.[4] The group won a record number of ten ARIA Music Awards in 1997 for their debut album and its related singles. They disbanded at the end of 2001 with Hayes continuing as a solo artist with Jones moving into record production before becoming a real estate agent.
History[edit]
1993–1995: Formation[edit]
Savage Garden were a spin-off from Red Edge, which had formed in Brisbane as a covers band in 1992 by Daniel Jones on keyboards and rhythm guitar, his brother Oliver Jones on lead guitar and lead vocals, Jamie Sullivan on bass guitar and backing vocals, and his brother Scott Sullivan on drums.[5] In mid-1993 Daniel Jones placed an ad in Brisbane street press Time Off seeking a vocalist for the group.[6] Darren Hayes, who was studying at university and working as a record sales assistant, joined after his audition.[5][6][7] Hayes' first performance with Red Edge was in front of an audience of four in Toowoomba.[5] Their set included the group's renditions of "Hurts So Good" (originally by John Cougar, 1982), "Let's Stick Together" (in the style of Bryan Ferry, 1976), "Khe Sanh" (Cold Chisel, 1978) and "Don't Change" (INXS, 1982).[5] The five-piece version of Red Edge played pubs and clubs from southern Queensland to northern New South Wales, while Hayes and Jones started to write original material.[5][6]
In June 1994, Hayes and Jones left the group to work as a duo, originally as Crush.[6] By year's end, the pair had enough songs for a five-song demo tape under the name Bliss.[5] They sent 150 copies to various record companies around the world.[5][6] They were renamed Savage Garden after a phrase from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice: "Beauty was a Savage Garden".[8] John Woodruff (The Angels, Baby Animals, Diesel) provided a positive response;[5] he became their talent manager and negotiated a contract with Roadshow Music/Warner Music.[1][6] In 1995 they entered the studio to work on their debut album with producer Charles Fisher (Air Supply, Moving Pictures, 1927).[1][5][9] Woodruff financed the recordings by drawing on his home's mortgage and taking loans in exchange for also becoming the group's record label representative and their music publisher.[5]
Tours[edit]
The Future of Earthly Delites[edit]
The Future of Earthly Delites Tour was called the To the Moon and Back Tour in the US. Some footage from this tour can be seen in the international music video for "Break Me Shake Me", as well as the music video for "Tears of Pearls".
Affirmation World Tour[edit]
The Affirmation World Tour (2000), played 80 shows across Australasia, Europe, and North America. The show was the beginning of Hayes' collaboration with Willie Williams, having a stage set consisting of a game-show-like backdrop of multicoloured neon lights. The international music video for the song "Affirmation", as well as the music videos for "Chained to You" and "The Best Thing", were filmed during this tour. During the Australian leg, a camera crew filmed both on-stage and backstage, the footage of which was issued as the Superstars and Cannonballs video album in March 2001.