Darren Hayes

Darren Hayes was born in the Australian city of Brisbane in 1972. He was the youngest child of the three in the family. The boy demonstrated his talent for music at a very early age, and Darren's mother was his first devoted fan. Hayes proved to be a staunch admirer of the Star Wars film – in the mature age he even tried himself for a role in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, though unsuccessfully. During his school years, Hayes sang in musicals Bye Bye Birdie and Man Of Steel. He also took part in various school concerts, including the school-leaving performance in 1989. Hayes decided to continue his study in the University of Queensland. However, love of music won and he dropped out without getting a degree to pursue the musical career. At University Darren met a makeup artist Colbi Taylor. They married, but divorced subsequently in 1999. In 1993, Hayes answered to the advertisement by Daniel Jones, who was looking for a soloist for a band called Red Edge. At the audition Darren's voice broke several times, but he was taken without hesitation. The group did not do well, and after its disbanding Hayes and Jones decided to work as a duo.

The musician decided to call the band Crush, but there already existed a group with such name in the Great Britain. Therefore, they chose to call themselves Savage Garden, borrowing these words from the novel "Vampire Lestat" by Ann Rise. After managing the question with the title, the artists got down to the record of their debut attempt in 1995. In a year, they jumped on the top of all charts with the winding single I Want You. It was followed by a lyrical track To The Moon And Back and the marvelous ballad Truly Madly Deeply. The Savage Garden album was sold out in millions, while Hayes moved to the New York City in order to promote the band in the USA. In New York he wrote the Savage Garden's second album Affirmation in 1999. For that moment, Darren tried to surpass the parting with his beloved and decided to transmit his emotions through the music. Two singled from the disc - I Knew I Loved You and Animal Song – were gladly cheered by the public. The band got the honorable invitation to perform at the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Sydney in 2000. At that time, Darren became the official representative of Savage Garden, and it was he who announced the disbanding of the duet in 2001.

In 2002, Hayes released his solo debut Spin. For the matter of music, it reminded of Savage Garden, though with the R&B influence instead of the soft-rock one. Anyway, the first single from the album was a ballad Insatiable. The album was a big success, but Darren's label was not satisfied – Hayes was expected to sell discs with the speed of Savage Garden. The work over the second album took two years. The follow-up titled The Tension And The Spark became a huge step forward for Darren in both songwriting and performing, but the courageous transition to electronic, demonstrated on the first single from that disc – the sparkling dance track Popular, finally spoilt the relations between the artist and his recording company. In 2004, Darren moved to England. After the release of the most famous Savage Garden's singles compilation Truly Madly Completely (The Best Of) in 2005, the artist left the Columbia company and established his own label called Powdered Sugar. For several years Darren has been hiding his private life from the public, but in 2006, he announced openly that he was a gay and was going to marry his long-time boyfriend Richard Cullen. In 2007, Hayes finished his third album This Delicate Thing We've Made, which has both danceable songs and love ballads, decorated with the tender Darren's vocals. Album We Are Smug of the eponymous electronic duo consisting of Darren Hayes and Robert Conley saw the light in 2009. The record got fair reviews from the musical experts, who noted an original sound and interesting lyrics. There is no doubt that We Are Smug will be enjoyed both by Hayes’ fans and by those who are just going to get acquainted with his creativity.