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Jon Toogood
Toogood in 2020
Toogood in 2020
Background information
Born
Jonathan Charles Toogood

(1971-08-09) 9 August 1971 (age 54)
Wellington, New Zealand
GenresAlternative rock, hard rock, industrial rock, pop, worldbeat, acoustic rock
OccupationsSinger, musician, songwriter
InstrumentsVocals, guitar
Member ofShihad

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

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SML (mid-1990s)

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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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Main article: The Adults
Toogood performing in Auckland, October 2015

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

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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]

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]

Jon Toogood playing a solo show at Last Place Bar, Hamilton, New Zealand, on 7 November 2024.

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

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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

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Aotearoa Music Awards

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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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  1. ^ a b McQuillan, Laura (17 August 2009), "Shihad's Week-Long 21st Party", The Dominion Post/Stuff.co.nz, retrieved 10 September 2009
  2. ^ a b c Behan, Alex (13 April 2019), "Shihad's Jon Toogood on being Muslim, changing his band's name and keeping the faith", Stuff.co.nz, retrieved 13 April 2019
  3. ^ a b Kara, Scott (22 June 2007), "A Quick Word With: Jon Toogood", The New Zealand Herald, retrieved 10 September 2009
  4. ^ a b Kara, Scott (12 April 2008), "Once More With Feeling", The New Zealand Herald, retrieved 10 September 2009
  5. ^ "The Adults on RNZ Music". RNZ. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  6. ^ Bertram, Gavin (20 December 2013). "Head Like A Hole aka HLAH". Audioculture. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  7. ^ Duda, Marty (25 June 2011). "The Adults – The Adults (Warner Music) review". The 13th Floor. 13thfloor.co.nz. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  8. ^ "Artist Search: The Adults". Aotearoa Music Charts. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  9. ^ Behan, Alex; Johnstone, Kirsten (19 July 2018). "The Adults new album Haja harnesses the power of women's music". RNZ. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  10. ^ Oliver, Henry (24 July 2018). "Jon Toogood's The Adults: 'I'm bored of hearing me. I didn't make the record to hear me'". The Spinoff. Retrieved 25 November 2021. I found out it was going to be an Adults record when I said to Warners, 'I've got all this music but it's so different, I don't know how I'm going to put it out' [...] and they went [..] 'You've got an existing collaborative name, The Adults. We'll help you out if you do that.'
  11. ^ Toogood, Jonathan (2018). Haja : incorporating Aghani Al-Banat into a Western popular music recording project (Master of Fine Arts thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University. hdl:10179/14360.
  12. ^ "Four alumni inducted into Massey hall of fame in Wellington ceremony". 4 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Neil Young, Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac's most iconic albums to be recreated for NZ Come Together concert series". New Zealand Herald. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  14. ^ Cudby, Chris (24 November 2020). "Primer: Come Together - NZ Supergroup Playing Albums By Neil Young, Dire Straits, The Beatles". Under the Radar. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  15. ^ Cudby, Chris (11 May 2021). "Come Together - Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' Concert Tour Announced". Under the Radar. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  16. ^ "Jon Toogood: Shihad frontman on the Come Together tour, and making music "I love being in front of an audience": Jon Toogood on music and the Come Together tour". NewstalkZB. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  17. ^ "Come Together supergroup announces end-of-year bash". The Press. 17 October 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  18. ^ "Shihad frontman Jon Toogood has a lot of 'personal carnage' to unpack". RNZ. 27 September 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  19. ^ Haley, Connor (10 May 2024). "Pandemic experience reflected in album". Otago Daily Times. Timaru Courier. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  20. ^ a b Bruce, Greg (4 October 2024). "Shihad's Jon Toogood reflects on loss and recovery in new solo album". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  21. ^ Miller, Andrew (May 2008). "Shihad – It's A Beautiful Thing | NZ Musician |". New Zealand Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010.
  22. ^ Kara, Scott (15 April 2005), "Repiling the rock foundations", The New Zealand Herald, retrieved 13 April 2019
  23. ^ Dekker, Diana (15 February 2014). "NZ's hard rocker gone soft?". Stuff. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  24. ^ Jack, Amberleigh (29 September 2024). "Jon Toogood is unplugging and going solo". The Post. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  25. ^ "Aotearoa Music Awards". aotearoamusicawards.nz. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  26. ^ "HOME INDUCTEES". www.musichall.co.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
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