- Australian Pop Rock duo formed in 1993 by Daniel Jones (guitar, keyboards, songwriting) and Darren Hayes (vocals, songwriting).
- In 1993, Jones placed an ad in a Brisbane Australia newspaper seeking a vocalist for his band Red Edge. Hayes was the only respondent, and he joined the band after his audition. Jones and Hayes started to write original music, and in 1994 they started their own duo. Their original name was Crush, and later it was changed to Savage Garden.
- The name is taken from the Anne Rice book The Vampire Lestat, one of the books in The Vampire Chronicles, which uses the phrase “Beauty was a Savage Garden.”
- By the end of 1994, they had enough original songs for a demo tape, which they sent to various record companies. They received interest from just one. They signed, and began recording in 1995.
- In May 1996, they released their first single, I Want You, in Australia. It was very successful, and the follow-up single released in Australia, To The Moon and Back, hit #1 locally. In early 1997, I Want You was released in the U.S., where it peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In March 1997, their debut album was released, the self titled Savage Garden. The album reached #3 in the U.S., and their third single, Truly Madly Deeply, reached #1, becoming their signature song. The song was the most played song on the radio in the U.S. in 1998. The album sold over 7 million copies in the U.S.
- Their second album was released in 1999 – Affirmation. It was another huge success, selling over 3 million copies. Three singles charted in the U.S. – The Animal Song, Crash and Burn, and I Knew I Loved You, which was their second #1 hit in the U.S.
- In late 2001, the duo split. Hayes started his solo career, and Jones started his own production company. Hard to believe that a music powerhouse of its day moved onto other endeavors so quickly. In 2007, when asked if they would ever consider a reunion, Hayes was quoted as saying “No, never. I once said that I’d only do it if it cured cancer, and that’s still how I feel.”
- Teenage girls in the late 90s were smitten by Savage Garden. They certainly were pop superstars during their brief careers. Flashback 20 years – where were you when you first heard Truly Madly Deeply?