SJD, or Sean James Donnelly, is a musician from Auckland, New Zealand. His music is a mix of electronica, pop-rock, and soul. The name SJD also refers to Donnelly's touring band when not performing solo.
SJD's debut album 3 was initially self-released as 120 CD-Rs in 1999 before being picked up by Flavour Distribution. Second album Lost Soul Music was released in 2001. SJD's Southern Lights was released 2004 with funding from government arts funding agency Creative New Zealand, yielding the single Superman you're crying which met with some popular success in New Zealand and huge critical acclaim. Songs from a Dictaphone was released in July 2007 and the latest Dayglo Spectres, which is more of a collaborative effort with James Duncan (also in Dimmer), was released in Oct 2008.
SJD has collaborated with several other New Zealand musicians, including contributions to Dimmer's successful album You've Got To Hear The Music.
With Don McGlashan and Edmund McWilliams, he co-produced Don McGlashan's 2006 album Warm Hand and wrote I Will Not Let You Down which is on the album.
Sean Donnelly formed The Bellbirds in 2009 with Sandy Mill, Victoria Kelly and Don McGlashan. He writes most of their songs.[1]
In 2011, he is part of Neil Finn's Pajama Club project.[2]
"There's a disadvantage in terms of connecting to an audience because New Zealand is a small country and you can't really survive off a cult audience. But having said that, the cultural isolation and the fact that you probably aren't really going to make it add an imperative to achieve on a more aesthetic level, as opposed to a more financial level. If you don't think you can succeed any other way, you've got to try and be true to your heart." -- New Zealand's pulsing electronica, New Zealand Herald (2001-06-08)