BRISBANE pop duo Savage Garden were named the Best Selling Australian Group for 1998 at the World Music Awards in Monaco last week. Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones, who must be getting knocked-up receiving accolades of late, were handed the gong by Micky Rourke and Mike Tyson before a star-studded audience which included Gloria Estefan, Ursula Andress and Prince Albert of Monaco. Former world heavyweight champ Tyson, who is still on probation for the rape of a beauty queen, had to seek spe-cial dispensation to leave the US for the sale-based awards. After scoring no less than 10 Aria awards last year, the former covers band have become the current darlings of the US music scene with their brand of soft-pop landing them in the American top 10. It’s a long way from their humble begin-nings which saw them belting out Aussie favorites in Brisbane pubs only five years ago.
Savage Garden’s start]ing rise to star-dom is due largely to veteran music -industry figure John Woodruff, the man once behind names like Diesel, The Angels, Baby Animals arid Icehouse, who signed them after receiving a demo tape.