Savage Garden

Savage Garden were an Australian pop duo consisting of Darren Hayes as vocalist and Daniel Jones as instrumentalist. Formed in Logan City, Queensland in 1993, the duo achieved international success in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the number-one hit singles "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", "Truly Madly Deeply", "The Animal Song" and "I Knew I Loved You". Their two studio albums, Savage Garden and Affirmation reached number one in Australia and peaked in the top ten in both the United Kingdom and United States.
The group won a record number of ten ARIA Music Awards in 1997 for their debut album and its related singles. They disbanded in 2001 and Hayes continued as a solo artist.

In 1993, multi-instrumentalist and producer Daniel Jones placed an advertisement in Brisbane newspaper Time Off seeking a vocalist for his five-piece covers band Red Edge which he had formed with his brothers.Darren Hayes, who was studying at university, was the only respondent and joined after his first audition. Red Edge played venues along the Gold Coast pub and club circuit, while Hayes and Jones started to write original material. In June 1994, Hayes and Jones left Red Edge to pursue a career together originally as Crush. The new duo was renamed Savage Garden after a phrase from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, "Beauty was a Savage Garden".
By year's end, the pair had enough songs for a demo tape, they sent 150 copies to various record companies around the world. John Woodruff (The Angels, Baby Animals, Diesel) was the only positive response, he became their manager and negotiated a contract with Roadshow Music/Warner Music. In 1995, they entered the studio to work on their debut album with producer, Charles Fisher (Air Supply, Moving Pictures, 1927).

In July 1996, Savage Garden released their debut single "I Want You" under Roadshow Music. It peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Singles Chart and on the 1996 End of Year Singles Chart was highest placed by an Australian artist.

On 30 September, they received their first ARIA Award nomination, in the category 'Breakthrough Artist – Single', for "I Want You". Their success garnered interest from international labels and they signed to Columbia Records. In November, "To the Moon and Back", was released which reached No. 1 in January 1997.

As of 2005, Savage Garden had been certified 12× platinum in Australia, 7× platinum in the US, 3× platinum in Canada, 2× platinum in New Zealand, Singapore, and in the UK.

In late 2000, there was media speculation that the band would break up due to Hayes starting his solo album project. He announced that Jones was taking time off to work on a record label that he had founded. The band took a hiatus, but was expected to reform by early 2002. However, in October 2001, Hayes announced that Savage Garden had broken up. Hayes and Jones had agreed that they would break up after finishing their tour for their second album. It was reported that Jones did not learn about the actual date of the break-up until he read the report of Hayes announcing the split. After the announcement, the band's website posted a statement:
We are extremely grateful to our fans all around the world for their incredible support over the years. The success of Savage Garden and our time together has been an amazing experience... one that we will never forget. We just hope that you all understand our individual needs to continue growing.

In an interview on the musicMAX network, Hayes said that a few weeks before the release of their second album, Jones did not like the fame that the band was receiving and was not happy. Hayes wanted to move on in the music industry as a solo artist. His first solo single, "Insatiable", was released in January 2002 and his solo album, Spin, followed in March. It spawned several UK Top 40 singles, including "I Miss You", "Strange Relationship", and "Crush (1980 Me)". Hayes has released more solo albums.
Jones started his own production company, Meridien Musik, and built a recording studio, Level 7 Studios, to record young Australian artists including Aneiki and Bachelor Girl.
In August 2007, Hayes was asked by The Daily Telegraph if he and Jones would ever consider a reunion. He replied abruptly, "No, never. I once said I'd only do it if it cured cancer, and that's still how I feel."

Discography
Main article: Savage Garden discography
Savage Garden (1997)
Affirmation (1999)

Past members
Darren Hayes
Daniel Jones