Daniel Jones (musician)

Daniel Jones (born 22 July 1973) is an English-born Australian musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the successful Australian pop duo Savage Garden, whose international hit singles included the songs "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", "Truly Madly Deeply", "I Knew I Loved You", and "Crash and Burn". After Savage Garden split in 2001, Jones launched his own production company (Meridien Musik) and a recording studio (Level 7 Studios), to work with various new, young Australian artists.

Jones was born at Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, but his family moved to Australia when he was less than a year old. The Jones family settled down in Australia at Brisbane in Queensland, where Daniel grew up as the youngest of three boys.

In 2000, Jones met Kathleen de Leon, a member of successful children's group Hi-5, at the 42nd Annual TV Week Logie Awards. Jones proposed to de Leon on his 30th birthday at the GPO Bar in Brisbane. Jones wed de Leon at Avica Weddings and Resort on the Gold Coast in Queensland on 9 October 2005.

As of July 2015, Jones, de Leon and their two children reside in the United States.

Early career

Jones was about 18 years old when he was in a band called Red Edge with his brother and some friends, but the band needed a singer. Jones put an advertisement in the local Brisbane music paper, Time Off, looking for a suitable singer. Darren Hayes responded to the ad and became their singer. Hayes got tired of performing other people's songs and he was ready to quit Red Edge, whereas Jones wanted to create his own music. Both decided to leave the band, and began to pursue a career together, marking the beginning of Savage Garden.

Savage Garden

The other half of the pair, Darren Hayes, wrote the lyrics and melodies, performed all of the vocals, while Jones mostly provided instrumental backing. However, Jones's voice is heard in a few demo songs – such as "Aubergine Girl" – and in the countdown in "To the Moon and Back".

Hayes and Jones wrote and performed all of their own music and had a global hit with "Truly Madly Deeply" in 1998 and "I Knew I Loved You" in 2000. Originally, both men travelled the world to promote their first album as well as perform singles. As travel strain and other issues began to take their toll on Jones, he decided that he was not comfortable with the press junket circuits and the intense scrutiny from fans and media that came with them, and informed the band's manager that he wanted to leave. As a result, Hayes agreed to take on the lion's share of the promotional duties for the band until the release of their second album. The duo eventually split up in 2001.

After Savage Garden

In 2001, Jones began assisting an Australian band, named Aneiki, the group consisting of Jennifer Waite and Grant Wallis. They were the first band to be signed to the music label Jones had started under the name Meridien Musik. Waite was one of the backing vocalists who traveled with Savage Garden during the Future of Earthly Delites tour for the first, self-titled Savage Garden album. Jones helped produce their first album Words in Place of Objects and co-wrote four album tracks with Jennifer; "Dearest", "She Says", "Saving Grace", "Feel This Fool", and the B-side "Sugarlust".

In 2002, Jones worked with another Australian duo, called Bachelor Girl, to co-write a song called "Falling" for their second album, Dysfunctional. In 2004, Jones helped produce for Australian pop-rock musician Julie Strickland and the Australian act The Wish (Peter Freebairn and Bill Kio) for their respective debut albums.

In a July 2015 interview, Jones revealed he has since left the music industry and currently works in real estate where he sells and maintains properties, where he also lives with his wife and two children.