Back in July, we reported on Daniel Jones, the other, non-Darren Hayes half of Australian pop duo Savage Garden. After Savage Garden broke up, Jones receded into anonymity and disappeared completely from the music world.
News Corp found him living a comfortable life in Las Vegas with his wife, former Hi-5 member Kathleen De Leon, staying busy by “flipping” property that he buys for cheap, even completing some of the renovations himself.
It made sense to find the more camera-shy half of Savage Garden living a quiet family life, however what happened to Hayes, who enjoyed some solo success after Savage Garden’s split, was almost as much of a mystery.
After releasing some relatively successful solo singles, the singer also seemingly disappeared and turned his back on music. But according to a recent report from News Corp, Hayes is still in the entertainment business.
Now based in Los Angeles, Hayes has been embracing his love for comedy, hosting a comedy podcast called He Said He Said with new creative partner Tim Stanton and regularly performing with legendary comedy troupe The Groundlings.
Hayes recently began sharing videos of his sketches, one of which features music he wrote (see below), on YouTube, explaining to his fans on Facebook, “This is what I’ve been doing for the past three years.”
Hayes both writes and performs the sketches, including one in which he plays a member of a boy band, another playing a high-strung character named Vernon, and another in which he plays a hapless club-goer.
As for music, Hayes recently took to Facebook to reveal that he has in fact never stopped working on new music and is currently working on a musical which will unite his three passions – music, comedy, and writing.
“I get asked by people all the time if I’m ever going to make music again. I’ve never stopped. In fact, I’m writing a musical. I stepped away from the recorded music industry to study performance art, sketch comedy and improv,” Hayes wrote.
“My lifelong dream has always been to write a stage musical. I’ve been quietly doing that for some time now, I just haven’t spoken of it publicly.” Hayes noted that the majority of his time not spent studying is spent on penning new songs.
“It’s a big collaborative process and It’s a very long road – years in fact – until it reaches fruition – but just know that’s what I’ve been toiling away at all this time. There are many sides to me.”
