Daniel Jones (musician)

Daniel Jones (born 22 July 1973 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England) is a musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his part in the hugely popular 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". Since Savage Garden, Jones has launched his own production company Meridien Musik and recording studio Level 7 Studios and now works with various new, young Australian artists.

Personal life
Daniel was born in England, but his family moved to Australia when he was less than a year old. The Jones family settled down in Brisbane, Australia where Daniel grew up as the youngest of three boys. Even as a child, music was a big part of Daniel's life, with his brothers, Oliver Jones and Jonathan Lee Jones, also possessing musical talents of their own. Daniel's most used nicknames are Dan, Waggin, Jonesy, and Caniel. His mother gave him the nickname Caniel after a misspelling in a school paper after Daniel scored a goal in a game of soccer.

Daniel dropped out of Year 10 at Shailer Park State High School to pursue a musical career. Daniel suffers from gastroesophageal reflux disease.[1]

On 30 April 2000, when Jones was 26, he met his future wife Kathleen de Leon, a member of successful children's group Hi-5, at the 42nd Annual TV Week Logie Awards. After more than three years together, Kathleen organised a 1970s-themed party for Daniel's 30th birthday. Kathleen got the biggest surprise when Jones professed his love for her and proposed in front of more than a hundred people, including his parents, at the GPO Bar in Brisbane.[2]

On 9 October 2005, Jones married de Leon at Avica Weddings and Resort on the Gold Coast in Queensland. The big day turned out to be an Oriental-meets-Balinese themed fairytale wedding filled with special touches. Jones also used his musical talents to write a song called "Love Is Enough" for his bride.[3]

On 25 February 2006, after the couple returned home from their honeymoon, Kathleen confirmed that she was four months pregnant.[4] The couple's first child, daughter Mikayla de Leon Jones, was born on 26 July 2006.[5]

The family has two Golden Retrievers; Texas and Jackson.


Musical career

Early career
When Jones was about 18 years old he was in a band called Red Edge with his brother and some friends but the band needed a singer. Daniel Jones put an advertisement in the local Brisbane music paper Time Off, looking for a suitable singer. Darren Hayes was one of the people showing up at the audition and he got the job. After being in the band for some time, Hayes got tired of performing other people's songs and he was ready to quit Red Edge and since Daniel Jones wanted to create his own music, he made the difficult decision of leaving the band together with Darren Hayes. This marked the beginning of Savage Garden.


Savage Garden
Main article: Savage Garden
The other half of the pair, Darren Hayes, performed all of the vocals whilst Jones mostly provided instrumental backing. However, Jones' 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 Daniel, he decided that he was not comfortable with the press junket circuits and the intense scrutiny from fans and media that came with them. When Darren agreed to take on the lion's share of the promotional duties for the band, Daniel took charge of rehearsals of the backing band that Savage Garden took with them on tour, as well as setting up the musical arrangements for the tour. The duo eventually split up in 2001.


After Savage Garden
In 2001, Daniel 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 Daniel had started named Meridien Musik. Daniel knew Jennifer as one of the backing vocalists who had travelled with Savage Garden during the Future of Earthly Delites tour for the first, self-titled Savage Garden album. Daniel 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, Daniel worked with another Australian duo called Bachelor Girl to co-write a song called "Falling" for their second album Dysfunctional. In 2004, Daniel 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. And in 2005, Daniel worked with yet more Australians: Tori Horgan (on her debut album) and Paul Black. Daniel continued to demonstrate his interest in discovering new talent, and producing that talent with his new state-of-the-art Meridien Musik Studio, which he built himself.

In late 2005, Jones produced a series of EPs for Quiksilver's fledgling label, Pavilion Musik. Daniel recorded material with Sean Sennett, The Eight Colour, Moonjuice and Josh Boots.

In May 2006, it was announced that Daniel had purchased the legendary recording complex located at 301 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. This landmark recording studio was purchased from Tom Misner who owns the global SAE organisation and Studios 301. Throughout its long history, the studio was also owned by the EMI Group. The studio was purchased to start Level 7 Studios and to continue Meridien Musik in a new location. Daniel was also rumoured to be participating in a season of Australian Idol as resident producer.

Today, Daniel Jones is working on his record label and is living in Sydney, Australia.