Eden (South African band)
| Eden | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Genres | Pop |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Jukebox Records |
| Members | Jay (Jaco du Plessis) Paulo (Paulo Azevedo) Johan (Johan Vorster) |
| Past members | Sean (Sean Else) |
Eden is a South African pop band. Originally made up of Jay, Paulo, Johan and Sean, the band debuted during the popular South African Aardklop Festival followed by a tour all over South Africa releasing their album In in 1997. After Sean Else left in 2006, the boy band continued as a trio. Since 2003, the band has released three more albums, Point of No Return (2003), Eden (2006) and Knieë Lam (2008), a live DVD Live at The Mardi Gras (2008) and a compilation album Dekade (2009). They are signed to Coleske Artists.
The debut was with the limited edition album release titled In on the local label Volstruis Plate. The official national debut release was the album Point of No Return on Select Music / Jukebox Records / Coleske Artists / Sony Music / Sheer. It was a huge hit that went three times platinum in South Africa The self-titled album Eden on Coleske Artists went double platinum. Eden sings a variety of power pop and soft melody ballads, both in Afrikaans language and in English, the latter mostly comprising covers of well-known hits.
Eden has won many music awards including:
In 2011, the band announced that it was taking a hiatus, allowing each individual member to pursue various projects, with the agreement that this was not a break-up and that the band would come together for a new album later on.
Band members have been known to be very active with their side projects in their fields of expertise.
Jaco du Plessis also known by the stage name Jay is the most visible and media-savvy of the band. Considered a sex symbol, he has performed on stage with international acts like The Corrs, Bono, Ronan Keating and Westlife. He has also developed a very successful solo singing career. His beginnings were with theatre. Then he took part as a solo act, and won the annual South African Crescendo award for Afrikaans music organised by ATKV (the Afrikaans Language and Culture Association, in Afrikaans Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging). The win was jointly with another contestant named Joe Niemand. Following that, he released a solo album that earned two nominations for the local GMT Awards winning the title for "Best Pop Album".
Stage and theatre He was very active on stage in theatrical performances. His debut was with Neil Lessick in the musical Let's Rock in 1999 as a lead singer and was an actor under study for South African State Theatre production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Immediately after that he appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a member of the DooWah Boys and a lead role in pantomime in A Lad in a Lamp for which he was nominated for an acting prize. Years later he would appear yet again in Janice Honeyman's local remake of Aladdin.
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