Jon Toogood
Jon Toogood | |
|---|---|
| Toogood in 2020 Toogood in 2020 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Jonathan Charles Toogood 9 August 1971 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Genres | Alternative rock, hard rock, industrial rock, pop, worldbeat, acoustic rock |
| Occupations | Singer, musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Member of | Shihad |
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Jonathan Charles Toogood (born 9 August 1971) is a New Zealand musician who is the frontman (lead vocals and guitar) of the rock band Shihad.[1] He started playing guitar when he was "8 or 9" and became friends with Tom Larkin while at Wellington High School.[2] Toogood and Larkin were fans of AC/DC and Metallica and started Shihad in 1988.[3][4]
Non-Shihad projects
[edit | edit source]SML (mid-1990s)
[edit | edit source]After their respective bands were established on Wildside Records Toogood, Larkin, and Nigel Reagan (Head Like a Hole) had a side project called SML.[5] They recorded two albums in The Stench Room studio, releasing Is That It? and Mixdown in 1995 and 1996.[6]
The Adults (2009–2012 and 2014–2018)
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In 2009, Toogood revealed he had been travelling around New Zealand to collaborate with other New Zealand artists for a project that is "extra-curricular" to Shihad's music. Collaborators included Tiki Taane, Ruban and Kody Neilson from the Mint Chicks, Julia Deans from Fur Patrol, Anika Moa, Shayne Carter of Dimmer/Straitjacket Fits fame and Ladi 6.[1] The Adults was released as a full-length album in New Zealand in June 2011. Toogood subsequently toured New Zealand and Australia under this banner, joined onstage by Deans and Carter.[7]
A second Adults album featured entirely different (musicians other than Toogood). Haja combined New Zealand hip hop and Aghani Al-Banat music from Sudan. Toogood encountered Aghani Al-Banat, which translates as "women's music", in 2014 as part of his wedding ceremony in his wife's home country. Haja was released in 2018 and reached #14 on the national album charts.[8] Toogood's main musical contribution is on bass guitar, and he also sings on two songs.[9] He hadn't originally intended for it to be released as "The Adults", but his record company offered more support for the project if it carried this name.[10]
In 2018, Toogood completed a master of fine arts degree at Massey University, with a thesis on Aghani Al-Banat music.[11] In 2020 Toogood was inducted into Massey University's College of Creative Arts' hall of fame.[12]
2020–2024: Come Together and Last of the Lonely Gods
[edit | edit source]Toogood is a key player in Come Together, a changing New Zealand supergroup that covers classic rock in live shows around the country. The group has recreated eight albums in their entirety:[13][14]
- Abbey Road by The Beatles (2020)
- Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits (2020)
- Making Movies by Dire Straits (2023)
- Rumours by Fleetwood Mac (2023)
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John (2021)[15]
- Damn the Torpedoes by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
- Harvest by Neil Young (2023)
- Live Rust by Neil Young (2020)
Come Together's "End of Year Bash" tours of 2023 and 2024 did away with full album play-throughs and instead are celebrations of what Toogood calls "the greatest rock songs".[16][17]
Toogood's debut solo album, Last of the Lonely Gods, was released in 2024. Played on acoustic guitar, the songs were inspired by years of what he called "personal carnage". This included a 2021 COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne preventing him from seeing his mother before she died, a later lockdown in Wellington stranding him away from his wife and children while he lived with his sister and dying brother-in-law, and then a COVID infection leaving him with severe tinnitus that prevented him from sleeping and led to panic attacks.[18][19]
The album's songwriting began after a cognitive behavioural therapist suggested that Toogood play guitar as a mindfulness exercise, which helped alleviate his tinnitus symptoms and anxiety. It was released in October 2024.[20]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Toogood's parents migrated from England to New Zealand in the 1950s.[21] His mother comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family that changed its name during World War II. He has described his parents as "very egalitarian".[2]
Toogood was a keen cricket player in high school, and at one stage captained the Wellington secondary schools' representative cricket team.[3]
As of April 2005 Toogood was married to Ronise Paul, with whom he had a stepdaughter.[22] In 2008 they moved to Melbourne where the rest of Shihad already lived.[4] The marriage, which Toogood later described as making him "miserable", lasted until his step-daughter was 18.[20]
In 2014 Toogood married second wife Dana Salih, who is a Sudanese Muslim, in Sudan.[23] Toogood had converted to Islam prior to the wedding but only spoke publicly about his religion after 2019's Christchurch mosque shootings.[2] They have two children.[24]
He is not related to broadcasting icon Selwyn Toogood.
Awards
[edit | edit source]Aotearoa Music Awards
[edit | edit source]The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Jon Toogood – Shihad | Most Promising Male | Nominated | [25] |
| 1994 | Jon Toogood – Shihad | Male Vocalist of the Year | Nominated | |
| 1996 | Jon Toogood – Shihad | Male Vocalist of the Year | Won | |
| 1997 | Karl Kippenberger & Jon Toogood for Shihad | Album Cover of the Year | Nominated | |
| Jon Toogood – Shihad | Male Vocalist of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 1998 | Jon Toogood – Shihad | Male Vocalist of the Year | Won | |
| 2000 | Jon Toogood – Shihad | Male Vocalist of the Year | Won | |
| 2001 | Jon Toogood – Shihad | Male Vocalist of the Year | Nominated | |
| 2010 | Jon Toogood (as part of Shihad) | New Zealand Music Hall of Fame | inductee | [26] |
References
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External links
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- 1971 births
- APRA Award winners
- Converts to Islam
- Living people
- New Zealand Muslims
- Musicians from Wellington City
- New Zealand male songwriters
- New Zealand male guitarists
- People educated at Wellington High School, New Zealand
- 21st-century New Zealand guitarists
- 21st-century New Zealand male musicians
- The Adults members
- Shihad members
- Massey University alumni