They went from student project to global fame, out-selling Kylie Minogue, but Australian children’s band The Wiggles say they’re amazed by their success as they prepare to celebrate 20 years.
“All we wanted was to [make] really great theater for children, great music for children,” Blue Wiggle Anthony Field said. “But it wasn’t a career, we didn’t want to make money from it, we had no vision to travel.”
The colorful quartet, dressed in their trademark blue, red, yellow and purple high-necked shirts, are so beloved by children they can fill Madison Square Garden and reap tens of millions of US dollars in annual sales.
PHOTO: AFP
Their success made them Australia’s most profitable entertainers for four years in a row, outstripping Minogue, Keith Urban and rockers AC/DC, and made household names of characters Dorothy the Dinosaur and Wags the Dog.
“It’s all been a great surprise for us, how it’s gone and where it’s gone — all over the world now. It’s amazing for us,” Field told reporters.
The simple formula of catchy children’s tunes with sing-along lyrics and entertaining dances was born in 1991, when Field, Murray Cook and Greg Page were studying to become pre-school teachers.
Among just a handful of men in their Macquarie University course of about 500 women, the trio bonded over their love of music and decided to record an album for a class project.
Field was in an established rock band called “The Cockroaches,” and asked bandmate Jeff Fatt if he’d mind helping with the home-recorded album, which cost A$4,000 (US$3,700) to make, but sold 100,000 copies.
“How long will it take?” asked Fatt, who was renovating his house at the time.
Twenty years later, and Fatt is still turning out as the famously sleepy Purple Wiggle, who has excitable young audiences screaming, “Wake up Jeff!” and laughing at his headstands.
The keen surfer and cyclist, now graying at the temples and just past his 57th birthday, said “staying fit and healthy” was the secret to keeping up with the boisterous young audiences.
“Just doing the shows is enough, because they’re very physical and very demanding. You do have to watch what you eat,” he said.
Field knew they had stumbled on something special when he lent their first recording to parents at a pre-school and one mother returned it the next day because her son was playing it non-stop.
“We’ve always tried to speak to children in a language that they understand and that they can relate to, we sing about things that are in their world, not the world of adults,” said Field, 47. “Children really do think differently to adults and we’ve tried to accommodate that; we haven’t tried to make them think like us.”
Field, a one-time soldier and army medic, also has a strong following among mothers and was named Australia’s 1999 Bachelor of the Year by Cleo Magazine.
He named the band after a Cockroaches song, Mr Wiggle’s Back in Town, and dedicated their self-titled first album to his niece whose sudden cot-death in 1988 prompted his pre-school studies.
The Wiggles are now a global cultural force with CD, DVD, ticket and merchandise sales to match, and will be the subject of an exhibition at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum to celebrate their 20th year next year.
The success is hard-earned: The Wiggles spend between seven and eight months a year on the road. Cook, 50, said the time away from their partners and children was not easy, but the rewards were worth it.
“We hear a lot from families with children that have autism that we really make a connection with them, and they communicate much more in some cases after they’ve experienced The Wiggles. It’s really rewarding and wonderful,” he said.
His 13-year-old son doesn’t always appreciate the fame (“mainly because it draws attention to me and by association to him”), but Cook said most young Australians have an affectionate place in their heart for the group.
Sam Moran, 32, replaced a chronically ill Page as the Yellow Wiggle in 2006, and he brought a new sound to the troupe, with classical training and a background in musical theater.
He said simply taking off their signature long-sleeved shirts was the band’s “best disguise.”
“I wore a yellow T-shirt accidentally once, not thinking. I never wore it again,” he said, remembering attracting intense attention.
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS