Ex-Savage Garden frontman Darren Hayes plans to unleash his debut solo album, titled "Spin", this spring.

Darren's single, "Insatiable", is part of the album that he's calling "sophisticated" and "lush", Rolling Stone reports.

Walter Afanasieff, who worked as the Australian pop duo's producer before Darren and his musical partner Daniel Jones parted ways, joined Darren in the studio.

Although Darren is again working with the producer who helped create Savage Garden's pop hits, the singer claims his new material will be different from Savage songs.

"I have no idea if the new record will sell but, for me personally, it's an album that I've wanted to make since I've been making records," Darren told Rolling Stone.

Savage Garden parted ways in October after seeing their two albums, "Savage Garden" and "Affirmation", spawn many successful pop singles.



--AllPop

Australian pop act Savage Garden has broken up.

Vocalist Darren Hayes gave Australian reporters the scoop while promoting his new solo album, "Spin", Billboard reports.

"I always thought we'd do three or four albums before I went solo," Darren said. "But that's it, Savage Garden is done."

Unfortunately for Darren's former bandmate, Daniel Jones, the reporters found out that Savage Garden was no more before Daniel did. Daniel's father saw the news on TV and told his son, who quickly called Darren before calling a press conference in his hometown.

"Darren was very apologetic that the media found out before I did," Daniel said. "We're still good friends."

A posting on Savage Garden's official message board, credited to Darren himself, tries to explain what happened -- and why Daniel heard about Darren's comments from reporters.

"Contrary to what you may have heard, although Daniel or myself didn't expect this news story to break TODAY ... we did know for a very long time that the future of the band was in question," Darren writes. "After speaking to Daniel today, I have learned that while we were sleeping in the U.S., the journalist I spoke to was e-mailing Australia with my comments ... and consequently confronting Daniel about it practically the minute he jumped out of bed. He was thankfully very protective of me and had no idea the actual story had been printed yet. "

Darren went on to say that he thought the reporter wouldn't release the interview for several weeks, which would have allowed him time to talk with Daniel, his fans, and his family about the future of the duo before the story came out.

"I guess I didn't realize how huge a story it would become," he wrote, "and that even the best behaved journo couldn't keep a story like this under wraps for long."

Part of the reason for the split could have been Daniel's reluctance to step into the spotlight. He is said to have preferred working in the studio or spending time on his yacht. Darren said that his partner hated touring so much that the duo's second (and last) album, "Affirmation", came close to never being released.

To appease Daniel, Darren said he'd look after most of the "Affirmation" publicity but hinted at some disappointment with Daniel when he said: "We could have been bigger if we'd done more promotion".

Darren also wrote about Savage Garden's troubles before "Affirmation" in the message board posting.

"As I stated, Daniel did in fact leave the band prior to the Affirmation release, and it was a shock and a difficult time for me and I imagine him. But I love him and stood by him and took on the public role, defending questions about the band's future which was at that stage vague at best."

Savage Garden's two hit albums, "Savage Garden" and "Affirmation", spawned the hit singles "Truly Madly Deeply", "To The Moon And Back", and "I Knew I Loved You". This year Savage Garden won the most broadcast track award in Australia for "I Knew I Loved You".

Savage Garden completed their world tour in December 2000. Shortly after, the two group members announced that they would be taking a two-year break from Savage Garden.

Darren went to the U.S. to work on his album, while Daniel formed his own music label called, Meridienmusik.



--AllPop

Savage Garden's Darren Hayes teamed up with U2's Bono recently to record a song for charity.

Darren was just one of the music stars who made his way to New York City to record a version of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" on Sept. 5 and 7, radioundercover.com reports.

Proceeds from the song were originally supposed to go towards fighting AIDS in Africa, but after the World Trade Center tragedy on Sept. 11, Artists Against AIDS Worldwide decided to give half of the money to AIDS and half to the United Way's September 11th Fund.

Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, Destiny's Child, Nelly Furtado, *Nsync, Britney Spears, and Marvin's daughter Nona Gaye are some of the artists who appear on the recording.



--AllPop

One half of Savage Garden is going solo.

Darren Hayes of the Australian pop duo Savage Garden plans to work on a solo album after the current Savage Garden finishes up in South Africa in December, MTV reports.

In a posting on the group's official website, Darren insisted that Savage Garden isn't breaking up. Darren said he and instrumentalist Daniel Jones will probably team up again in 2001 or 2002 to work on Savage Garden's third album.

Darren has apparently been working on solo songs for the past year and hopes to begin recording in February. He also said he's been writing a screenplay that he wants to have produced.

While Darren is busy writing and recording, Daniel plans to keep himself busy by working as a producer on other projects.

Savage Garden's most recent album "Affirmation" was released in November 1999.

--AllPop

Darren Hayes wants his music to be uplifting.

 But the 28-year-old lead singer of Aussie pop duo Savage Garden admits the group's latest effort, Affirmation, isn't all sunshine and roses.

 "There's a kind of sadness on the album," says Hayes, who wrote most of the album while living in New York City.

 He moved to the Big Apple after splitting with his wife of six years.

 "I was single for the first time since I was 17 and I was away from my family and a lot of the safety of familiarity.

 "I wanted to be in an environment where I wasn't famous.

 "And I wasn't famous in Manhattan. No one knew who I was. I lived in complete anonymity and wrote this very personal record."

 Affirmation is an unlikely combination of optimism and melancholy, where upbeat pop tunes and iridescent, sometimes sullen, balladry harmoniously co-exist.

 "The minute I finished writing it, I got the hell out of there," says Hayes, who shared ideas for the album with musical co-conspirator Daniel Jones -- who remained in Australia -- by e-mailing and phoning each other regularly.

 While Hayes enjoyed the energy and creative inspiration that New York offered, it was a lonely, brittle place to reside.

 "I didn't find a lot of sympathy or beauty there, but there's a lot of energy," recalls Hayes, who formed Savage Garden with Jones in Brisbane nine years ago.

 The group plays the Saddledome on Tuesday night with special guest Kina.

 Despite wanting to leave New York for greener -- and friendlier -- pastures, Hayes decided to stay in Manhattan until one day it finally became too much.

 "(My best friend and I) had tried to catch the subway train, it was stinking hot, it was sweaty.

 "People were yelling at each other in the streets. We turned around and saw this woman on the phone slamming the receiver and screaming at the person on the other end ...

 "Then this homeless guy bumped into this woman eating a doughnut and -- I'll never forget this -- she started screaming and swearing at him: 'Give me $2 for my doughnut! You just made me drop my doughnut!'

 "My friend and I looked at each other and said, 'Let's get the hell out of here.' "

 Based in San Francisco for the past year, Hayes says he is in a much better head space than he was a few years ago.

 It may have something to do with the relative success of Affirmation, which has sold about seven million worldwide in less than a year.

 Though their last album is now up around the 11-million mark, Hayes says he does not compare the two anymore.

 "The biggest relief was just the success of (the romantic ballad second single) I Knew I Loved You in North America," he says.

 "When we had a U.S. number one with that, it was a big deal because that was our second ... and it's a ripple effect. It spreads across the world and people take you a bit more seriously.

 "It doesn't matter if (Affirmation) sells the same ... If you're competing only with yourself, what am I going to do? Cry into my wallet?"

--AllPop