Friday May 5 12:36 AEST

Singer Darren Hayes says it would have been easy to retire and live off his earnings from Savage Garden.

While he's always got that to fall back on, Hayes is keen to continue his solo career.

"I am certainly very respectful and maybe a little fearful of money because I see how it changes people," said Hayes from London, where he has been based for two years.

"It can be really easy as an artist to be spoilt and when you don't have to worry about where your next pay cheque is coming from, to not worry about art and performing."

Hayes, who will return to Australia for a one-off concert at the Sydney Opera House on July 4, says there were times he thought of giving up.

"I had a couple of years where I wasn't even sure if I really wanted to make records anymore," said Hayes, who turns 34 this week.

"I didn't particularly like who I was being preened to become and I wasn't entirely sold on the idea of me being this runner in a relay race that was going to take the torch from Savage Garden."

Savage Garden broke up in 2001 after five years together.

Hayes and group co-founder Daniel Jones had two internationally successful albums - Savage Garden and Affirmation - selling more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Their biggest hits included Truly Madly Deeply, I Knew I Loved You, The Animal Song and I Want You.

"It is hard for me to even relate now financially to who I was before I sold albums because, yeah I can obviously pay the rent," said Hayes, who grew up in suburban Brisbane.

"But I still worry. I worry more about being relevant and artistic control and making sure I just don't become a bland parody of myself than I do about money."

After Savage Garden, Hayes reinvented himself, turning to less commercial solo music at the risk of alienating some of his fans.

He has since released two solo albums - Spin and The Tension and the Spark - and is almost finished a third.

"I have written about 25 songs and I love about eight of them, but I am pretty hard on myself," he said.

He has an album title in mind but wouldn't say.

I have it all planned out," he said of the album, which will be released early next year.

I definitely have it thematically worked out and there is a title."