One of Australia’s top singing coaches tried to cheat on a young student he had sexually abused, sordid new texts reveal.
Celebrity singing coach David Jaanz, 62, pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates Court in April to sexual offenses relating to an incident that took place in 2023.
Described as the ‘Master Coach’, Jaanz has mentored celebrities and winners of singing competitions The Voice, Australia’s Got Talent, X Factor and Australian Idol.
Jaanz, who has mentored stars including Delta Goodrem and Matt Corby, sexually assaulted a student linked to his now-closed music academy in Oakleigh, southeast of Melbourne.
He launched his attack under the pretext of teaching her a “relaxation” technique designed to help her with performance anxiety.
But text messages between the teacher and his victim have laid bare the horror of his actions.
Celebrity singing coach David Jaanz (pictured), 62, pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates Court in April to sexual offenses relating to an incident that took place in 2023.
Jaanz, who has mentored stars including Delta Goodrem and Matt Corby, sexually assaulted a student linked to his now-closed music academy in Oakleigh, south-east of Melbourne (pictured: text messages between Jaanz and the student he abused )
“You unbuttoned my pants and rubbed my legs too close to my private areas,” the woman wrote, according to messages she shared with him. Herald of the sun.
‘And you touched my chest and ignored me when I shivered clearly very uncomfortable.
“I’ve been frozen all week and pretended it didn’t happen, but it did.”
At one point, Jaanz allegedly ordered him to lie on the floor, telling him that the “exercise” was necessary to “break his limits” and improve his performance.
Jaanz only stopped when he learned that the student was on her period.
When confronted about her actions via text message, Jaanz attempted to deceive her.
‘Done in innocence I would never have hurt you or gone any further. Never. You know it. Never,’ she wrote.
He said his “heart is broken” and complained that he felt like he had lost someone he “loved very much.”
He stated that he had learned the “relaxation” technique at the National Theater and that it was about “trusting and crossing boundaries.”
“I would never have hurt you or broken your test,” he replied.
“I’m sorry you took it wrong and I’m sorry I bothered you.”
The woman, who had been trained by Jaanz from a young age, told the newspaper that she saw him as a father figure and trusted him.
Described as a ‘Master Coach’, Jaanz has mentored superstars such as Delta Goodrem and Matt Corby along with winners and contestants of TV shows The Voice, Australian Idol, Australia’s Got Talent and X Factor (pictured Delta Goodrem with David and Lynn Jaanz).
The Jaanz International Singing Academy, which trains hundreds of aspiring singers at studios in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, abruptly closed last month.
But she believes he groomed her for his own disgusting purposes.
“He knew how ambitious I was and set things up so that he was the key to our success in the music industry,” she told the newspaper.
‘He was so powerful. All of his students consistently win TV shows (The Voice, Australian Idol) and are sent to the US, that’s where all Australian singers want to go.
‘He used that power. That day, he knew what he wanted to do and he thought he had manipulated me enough to be able to do it.
The Jaanz International Singing Academy, which trains hundreds of aspiring singers, had studios in Sydney, Brisbane and seven in Melbourne, including Box Hill, Camberwell, Croydon, Keysborough, Oakleigh, Narre Warren and Mornington.
But the singing school abruptly closed last month in the wake of his conviction, leaving hundreds of students and several teachers in the lurch.
Jaanz was given a two-year good behavior bond and ordered to pay $5,000 to the court fund, a sentence his victim described as a “slap on the wrist.”
