Millions of people dream of the lavish life of fame, but singer Gary Jules had it all, and then gave it all up to go and live in the mountains, as he says ‘fame would have killed him off’.
The former music star scored a huge ‘unexpected’ festive hit, two decades ago when he released a cover of Tears for Fears’ Mad World, appearing in the soundtrack for the movie, Donnie Darko. It reached Christmas number 1 in the U.K, and his life changed forever, but he chose to leave it all behind.
Gary Jules reveals why he ‘quit fame’
The 54-year-old ‘little known’ songwriter was 34 at the time he rose to success when he found himself mingling with celebrities including Victoria Beckham.
“I’m glad the success didn’t happen when I was 23. I’d probably be dead or something,” he told The Sun.
“You hear stories of people are confronted with a little bit of fame who self-destruct or transform.”
In fact, he tells the publication it was his wife falling pregnant at the height of his success that changed everything.
The star chose to take a step back to focus on his children, and moved out of Hollywood, relocating to “a small college town in North Carolina, in the mountains.”
“They grew up very much around very kind of normal people and fairly normal circumstances,” he said of his two children.
The singer makes his return
Despite his choice to leave fame behind, Gary is actually making a return to the scene, 20 years after his iconic Christmas Number 1 hit.
The star has recorded a 20th anniversary version of Mad World and also has a new EP, set to debut in 2024.
In part of a statement on the release, Jules explained how the song “gives people permission to reflect, to sit in chaos, loss, change, and (hopefully) find beauty and community in the midst of isolation,” which he ‘also feels too,’ 20 years after the original release.
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