AS one of half of rock band Savage Garden, he was one the poster boys of the 90s, travelling the world and selling more than 200 million records.
But more than 20 years since he hung up the microphone, singer, songwriter and guitarist, Daniel Jones looks a shadow of the pretty boy rockstar who took the charts by storm.
Now aged 50, the musician who is married to Kathleen de Leon Jones of the Aussie pop band Hi 5 fame, popped up on his wife’s Instagram account.
The couple who married back in 2005 and have two children together, appeared to be more in love than ever, as they kissed for the cameras.
Savage Garden which was made up of Daniel and his bandmate Darren Hayes, 50, formed in 1993 and put out a slew of hit songs including Truly Madly Deeply and To the Moon and Back.
But at the height of their fame, when they had sold more than 23 million albums in 2001, Daniel decided to turn his back on the big time.
The stress of travelling and all the press junkets had taken their toll and he decided that life in the spotlight was not for him.
In an interview in 2015, hesaid:
“The one thing I never wanted Darren to think was that it was personal against him. I never loved the lifestyle of the band or the existence of touring. I’ve never said anything other than that.”
But Darren Hayes who was born for stardom, was said to have resented his bandmate for pulling the plug right at the peak of their fame.
When asked about the bands split in an interview, he said: “Let me clarify that – Daniel left Savage Garden. ‘I loved it, I would have been in that band forever.”
When asked whether he and Daniel were friendly while in the band, Darren bluntly replied: ‘Uh, no. I was really supportive of him [but] he absolutely hated the experience of being famous.’
‘He decided before the release of that second album that he didn’t want that life – which is totally his right.”
He said: ‘His leaving was a huge rug pulled out from under me, and for contractual reasons we couldn’t really talk about it,’
After the break up of the band, Jones built his own recording studio, and started a record label, Meridien Musik.
He then focused on his personal life, marrying former Aussie pop star, Kathleen De Leon.
During this period, he launched a band named Aneiki: a duo that he formed, signed, wrote songs with and produced. Retreating to studio life was ideal for a man who had shunned the limelight.
Aneiki’s single Pleased To Meet You was the most-played song on Australian radio in 2002, and for a while it appeared that Jones’ pop radio smarts were readily transferable.
However the band fell apart after the first album and he moved to the US to focus on real estate.
Then in 2023, he returned to the Gold Coast back in OZ with his wife and their two daughters.
