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 Originally made up of Jay, Paulo, Johan, and Sean, the band debuted during the popular South African Aardklop Festival followed by a tour all over South Africa releasing their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).[1] They are signed to Coleske Artists. 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. 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”. 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. In 2010, with his band Eden taking a break, Jaco du Plessis released a popular solo album titled SOLO, that sold more than 40,000 copies and gained platinum status in South Africa. the album was in the making for three years starting 2007, with most materials written by Ewald Coleske with additional co-writing by Jay and Reana Nel. Some materials were also contributed by Dewald Wasserfall and by Johan Vorster, the latter his colleague in Eden. The debut single was “Is ek nie die een”. Nitable tracks were “Melanie” also used in Platteland, and two duets with Lianie May. Jay was awarded as a solo act two Tempo Awards by the popular Huisgenoot magazine for “Best Pop Album” and for “Song of the Year” for his single solo release “Melanie”. Music video for “Toe Stop My Hart” was nominated for Huisgenoot Tempo award for “Best Music Video of the Year”. Jay was also nominated for two South African Music Awards (SAMA) nominations in 2010 for “Best Pop Album” and “Best Newcomer” (as a solo act). Starting 2011, he concentrated his efforts with Eden, in preparation for their big launch with the massive album success Point of No Return’. Besides his solo and band acts, Jay has also cooperated with the South African singer Lianie May forming a duet called Jay en Lianie. They had released a 2012 joint duets album together called Bonnie en Clyde including 16 tracks most notably the songs “Toe Stop my Hart” and “In a Moment Like This”. Jaco du Plessis also took part in a major South African musical drama film Platteland co-written by Deon Opperman and by Sean Else, an earlier member of Eden who also produced and directed the film. The film premiered on screen on 12 November 2011. Jay plays in the film the role of Jakes Ferreira, the son of Mike Ferreira which is played by singer, songwriter and actor Steve Hofmeyr. The film also stars Lianie May as Riana van Niekerk and Bok van Blerk as Dirk Pretorius. The song “Melanie” sung by Jay is on the soundtrack and one of the contemporary music hits woven in the storyline of Platteland with other popular tunes included “Tyd om te Trek” from Bok van Blerk, “Vergeet My Nie” by Lianie May, “Pa en Seun” by Steve Hofmeyr and Bok van Blerk and “Sweet Dreams” by Karlien van Jaarsveld. He has signed a contract with the brand “Lee Cooper” and is the official face of the firm for its jeans wear and perfume series in South Africa.
