b. 8 May 1972, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The lead vocalist in electro pop duo Savage Garden, Hayes enjoyed a string of transatlantic hit singles and two bestselling albums that established his partnership with Daniel Jones as one of the most successful Australian music exports of the late 90s. The duo split up in October 2001, with Jones happy to step off the pop treadmill and embark on a behind-the-scenes production career. By this point Hayes was putting the finishing touches on his solo debut, Spin. The album was released in March 2002 and received a warm commercial and critical response. Although the hit single "Insatiable" stuck close to the lush pop sound of Savage Garden, other tracks made a welcome departure into edgier R&B territory.
Hayes maintained this experimental direction on the follow-up, The Tension And The Spark (2004), challenging his fanbase with a collection of electro pop tracks far removed from his previous work. The experimentation proved too much for his record label, Columbia Records, with whom Hayes parted company in 2006. He launched the Powdered Sugar label with his third album, This Delicate Thing We've Made.
DISCOGRAPHY: Spin (Columbia 2002)***, The Tension And The Spark (Columbia 2004)***, This Delicate Thing We've Made (Powdered Sugar 2007)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: A Big Night In With Darren Hayes (Roadshow 2006).
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Copyright 2008 by Muze Inc.; all rights reserved.