Jon Toogood
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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.<ref name="McQuillan2009">Template:Citation</ref> He started playing guitar when he was "8 or 9" and became friends with Tom Larkin while at Wellington High School.<ref name="stuff-apr-2019" /> Toogood and Larkin were fans of AC/DC and Metallica and started Shihad in 1988.<ref name="nzh-jun-2007" /><ref name="nzh-2008">Template:Citation</ref>
Non-Shihad projects
SML (mid-1990s)
After their respective bands were established on Wildside Records Toogood, Larkin, and Nigel Reagan (Head Like a Hole) had a side project called SML.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They recorded two albums in The Stench Room studio, releasing Is That It? and Mixdown in 1995 and 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Adults (2009–2012 and 2014–2018)
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.<ref name="McQuillan2009" /> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Toogood's main musical contribution is on bass guitar, and he also sings on two songs.<ref name="rnz-interview-july18">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="spinoff-oliver">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2018, Toogood completed a master of fine arts degree at Massey University, with a thesis on Aghani Al-Banat music.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> In 2020 Toogood was inducted into Massey University's College of Creative Arts' hall of fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear left
2020–2024: Come Together and Last of the Lonely Gods
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:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 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)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name="nzh-2024">Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life
Toogood's parents migrated from England to New Zealand in the 1950s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His mother comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family that changed its name during World War II. He has described his parents as "very egalitarian".<ref name="stuff-apr-2019" />
Toogood was a keen cricket player in high school, and at one stage captained the Wellington secondary schools' representative cricket team.<ref name="nzh-jun-2007">Template:Citation</ref>
As of April 2005 Toogood was married to Ronise Paul, with whom he had a stepdaughter.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 2008 they moved to Melbourne where the rest of Shihad already lived.<ref name="nzh-2008" /> The marriage, which Toogood later described as making him "miserable", lasted until his step-daughter was 18.<ref name="nzh-2024" />
In 2014 Toogood married second wife Dana Salih, who is a Sudanese Muslim, in Sudan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Toogood had converted to Islam prior to the wedding but only spoke publicly about his religion after 2019's Christchurch mosque shootings.<ref name="stuff-apr-2019">Template:Citation</ref> They have two children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
He is not related to broadcasting icon Selwyn Toogood.
Awards
Aotearoa Music Awards
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.
Template:Awards table ! Template:Abbr |- | 1992 || Jon Toogood – Shihad || Most Promising Male || Template:Nom ||rowspan="8"| <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |- | 1994 || Jon Toogood – Shihad || Male Vocalist of the Year|| Template:Nom |- | 1996 || Jon Toogood – Shihad || Male Vocalist of the Year|| Template:Won |- |rowspan="2"| 1997 || Karl Kippenberger & Jon Toogood for Shihad || Album Cover of the Year || Template:Nom |- | Jon Toogood – Shihad || Male Vocalist of the Year|| Template:Nom |- | 1998 || Jon Toogood – Shihad || Male Vocalist of the Year|| Template:Won |- | 2000 || Jon Toogood – Shihad || Male Vocalist of the Year|| Template:Won |- | 2001 || Jon Toogood – Shihad || Male Vocalist of the Year|| Template:Nom |- | 2010 || Jon Toogood (as part of Shihad) || New Zealand Music Hall of Fame || Template:Yes2 || <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |- Template:End
References
External links
- 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