Darren Hayes formerly of Savage Garden, tells Wil Marlow how insecure he feels as a solo artist, shunning the celebrity lifestyle

Darren Hayes is a bemusing character. On one hand there's the globally-acclaimed pop star who used to front the equally successful Savage Garden and has sold truck loads of his debut solo album, Spin. On the other hand, there's the quietly-spoken man who, as he talks, is sitting in his home in San Francisco, enjoying the company of his two best friends - his dog and a bowl of porridge. This is Darren's life outside his work. Rather than demand attention at the hottest showbiz parties, Darren shies away from that side of his fame. "I'm a contradiction," admits the 30-year old star. "In my heart I'm a shy person but I combat that by being an extrovert. The extrovert part of me is the performer and it's the part of me that I've never wanted to be a wallflower so I turn it on. But it can be exhausting turning it on and luckily I've managed to get paid for it." Of course, the rise of his solo stardom since the demise of Savage Garden in 2001 has meant that the limelight has been fixed firmly on the singer. But Darren feels he's managed to reach a position where he enjoys the good aspects of fame without suffering the bad. "There's more expectation now for me to be a celebrity," he says. "But I think I make a terrible celebrity. The truth is I find most celebrity parties boring. I find most of the people to be empty, fake and pretentious. So it's pretty hard to hang out on that scene and work it. I've never worked it. There's never been a hand I've had to shake or a butt that I've had to kiss to get where I am. I just write songs and sing them. But I have more of a connection with the songs and the people that listen to the songs. I don't want to give the impression that I hate all of this. I love my job. I've just found a way of having my cake and eating it." Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Darren moved to America four years ago, eventually settling in San Francisco. Darren's album Spin, released last March, has been a success around the world, with its lead-off single Insatiable spending nine weeks in the Top 20 and becoming one of the most played tracks on the American Top 40 radio stations soon after its release. Now he is having another hit with the fourth and final single from Spin, the sugar-coated paean to all the things Darren loved as a child of the 80's called Crush (1980 me), before he takes a six month sabattical to "take some classes at university and do some songwritting, but very casually." Yet despite his success beyond Savage Garden, darren doesn't feel confident that he is completely established as a solo star. "No, I feel like I've just begun. It's something that is slowly developing. I'm still trying to work out what my voice is, what kind of music I make as myself. I still don't feel like I've made the best record I can make."