The Wiggles

Anthony Field and Jeff Fatt were members of the Cockroaches, a Sydney pop band known for their "good-time R&B material"[4] and several singles recorded by independent labels during the 1980s.[5] In 1988, Field's infant niece, who was the daughter of Cockroaches founder and band member Paul Field, died of SIDS, and the group disbanded.[6] Anthony Field enrolled at Macquarie University in Sydney to complete his degree in early childhood education,[2] and later stated that his niece's death "ultimately led to the formation of [The] Wiggles".[6] Murray Cook, also "a mature-aged student",[7] was the guitarist in the pub rock band Bang Shang a Lang before enrolling at Macquarie.[7][8] Greg Page, who had been a roadie for and sang with the Cockroaches during their final years, had enrolled in Macquarie to study early childhood education on Field's recommendation.[7][9] Field, Cook, and Page were among approximately 10 men in a program with 200 students.[10][note 1]

In 1991, while still a student, Field became motivated to use concepts in the field of early childhood education to record an album of music for children.[2][11] The album was dedicated to Field's niece.[6] A song he wrote for the Cockroaches, "Get Ready to Wiggle", inspired the band's name because they thought that wiggling described the way children dance.[2][9] Like a university assignment, they produced a folder of essays that explained the educational value of each song on the album.[11] They needed a keyboardist "to bolster the rock'n'roll feel of the project",[7] so Field asked his old bandmate Fatt for his assistance in what they thought would be a temporary project.[12][note 2]

The group received songwriting help from John Field, Anthony's brother and former bandmate, and from Phillip Wilcher, who was working with the early childhood music program at Macquarie.[14][note 3] After contributing to their first album, hosting the group's first recording sessions in his Sydney home, and appearing in a couple of the group's first videos, Wilcher left the group and went into classical music.[14][15][note 4] The group reworked a few Cockroaches tunes to better fit the genre of children's music; for example, the Cockroaches song "Hot Tamale", written by John Field, was changed to "Hot Potato".[16] Anthony Field gave copies of their album to his young students to test out the effect of the group's music on children; one mother returned it the next day because her child would not stop listening to it.[17]

To promote their first album, the Wiggles filmed two music videos with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and created a self-produced, forty-minute-long video version. Finances were limited, so there was no post-production editing of the video project. They used Field's nieces and nephews as additional cast, and hired the band's girlfriends to perform in character costumes. Cook's wife made their first costumes.[9] They used two cameras and visually checked the performance of each song; that way, according to Paul Field, it took them less time to complete a forty-minute video than it took other production companies to complete a three-minute music video.[11]

The Cockroaches' former manager, Jeremy Fabinyi, became the group's first manager. Using their previous connections, he negotiated with the ABC to air their TV show and to help them promote their first recording.[18] The album cost approximately A$4,000 to produce and it sold 100,000 copies in 1991. Field and Cook got teaching jobs, while Page finished his degree, so they could only perform during school holidays; finding time to do so was, as Field reported, "challenging".[2][9] Fabinyi advised them to tour in unusual settings throughout Sydney and New South Wales.[2][12] The Wiggles' debut performance was at a friend's daycare facility in Randwick, for about a dozen children.[19] They played for crowds at shopping centres like Westfield in Sydney and at small pre-school events and parties, and busked at Circular Quay, then moved on to regional tours and shows for playgroup associations, averaging about 300 people in the audience.[7][9][12] They were promoted by local playgroups or nursing mothers' associations with whom they split their proceeds.[20] They performed at pre-schools with other ABC children's performers;[9] when 500 people attended these concerts just to see the Wiggles, they started doing their own shows, and according to Field, "Suddenly people started rolling up to performances in astonishing numbers".[18]

In 1993, Field, Cook, and Page decided to give up teaching for a year to focus on performing full-time, along with Fatt, to see if they could make a living out of it.[9][21] As Fatt reported, "it was very much a cottage industry".[20] They used many of the business techniques developed by the Cockroaches, choosing to remain as independent and self-contained as possible.[22] John Field, Mike Conway, who later became the Wiggles' general manager, trumpeter Dominic Lindsay, and Cockroaches saxophonist Daniel Fallon performed with them.[20][23][note 5] Anthony Field, with input from the other members, did most of the production of their music, DVDs, and live shows.[24] Their act was later augmented with supporting characters: the "friendly pirate" Captain Feathersword and the animal characters Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog. These characters were initially performed by the band members themselves: Field played Captain Feathersword and Wags; Cook played Dorothy; and Fatt played Henry. In 1993, actor Paul Paddick, who became known as "the fifth Wiggle" and was as popular as the bandmembers, permanently joined the group to play Captain Feathersword.[25] At first, the group travelled with a small group of dancers hired from a local dance studio to perform with them.[26][note 6]

After the production of their second album, the Wiggles, who were called by their first names when they performed, began to wear costumes on stage as Fabinyi suggested and as the Cockroaches had done, and adopted colour-coded shirts: Greg in yellow, Murray in red, Jeff in purple, and Anthony in blue. The coloured shirts also made it easier for their young audience to identify them.[28] As Field reported, the decision to emphasise colour was "a no-brainer, considering our pre-school-age audience".[18] Cook (red) and Fatt (purple) already owned shirts in their colours, but Field (blue) and Page (yellow) "met in a Sydney department store and literally raced to see who got the blue shirt".[18]

Through the rest of the 1990s, the Wiggles maintained a busy recording and touring schedule, becoming as Field reported and despite his strong dislike of touring, "the hardest-working touring act in the country".[22] They released multiple albums and home videos and, depending upon the word of mouth of their audience, performed to increasingly large audiences in Australia and New Zealand despite having to re-introduce themselves to a new audience of children every three years.[9][29] They produced a new album and video each year and toured to promote them. By late 1993, they "grew bigger than anyone had thought", and hundreds attended their concerts; by 1995 they had set records for music and video sales.[30][31] In 1997, Twentieth Century Fox produced a feature-length film, The Wiggles Movie, which became the fifth-highest grossing Australian film of 1998, earning over a million-and-a-half dollars.[32]

In spite of their early success in Australia, Paul Field reported that the band was unable to produce a television program on the ABC, where they felt they would receive the most exposure to the pre-school market.[31] "Around 1996–1997",[9] they filmed a television pilot for the ABC, but as The Sydney Morning Herald reported in 2002, "the project never got off the ground due to irreconcilable artistic differences".[17] As a result, the Wiggles financed a TV program of 13 episodes themselves and sold it to the Disney Channel in Australia and to Channel Seven, where it became a hit.[2][31] By 1998, the Wiggles were ready to move on to international markets, despite its members' health issues, especially Field's. The reaction of producers in the UK was less positive than the group would have liked, although they were eventually able to make inroads there, but their real success came in the US.[33][note 7] Disney arranged for them to perform at Disneyland in California, where they were discovered by Lyrick Studios, the producers of Barney & Friends. Both Anthony and Paul Field reported that Lyrick, despite their initial misgivings about whether American audiences would accept the band's Australian accents, came to understand the Wiggles and their goals, and after successful tests with American children, enthusiastically promoted them.[31][35]

The Wiggles used many of the same promotion techniques in the US that they had used in Australia, and chose to keep their concerts simple and maintain the same values that were successful in Australia.[36] The Wiggles performed during the intermission of Barney Live stage shows, which The New York Times likened to "getting the warm-up slot for the Stones" in the pre-school entertainment world.[2][31][note 8] In 2000, when video sales took off in the US, Lyrick began to distribute Wiggles videos and advertised them by including Wiggles shorts as trailers in their Barney videos, which, as Anthony Field stated, "pushed us over the edge".[37] At first, the group's videos were distributed in boutique stores such as FAO Schwarz and Zany Brainy, and on-line. According to Paul Field, they entered the mass media market when their videos became top-sellers at Amazon.com, and their first two videos, Yummy Yummy and Wiggle Time, landed in the top ten at Amazon.com.[27] Stores such as Wal-Mart began to take notice, and began to sell Wiggles videos. The band released nine DVDs in the next three years to keep up with the demand.[2]

As they had done in Australia, the Wiggles chose to tour, but start off small, with simple props and sets instead of hiring a touring company.[27] Some of their first appearances in America were at Blockbuster Video parking lots to small audiences—as Fatt said, "a dozen people".[9] They performed at small venues such as church halls and 500-seat theatres in Brooklyn and New Jersey, and upgraded to larger venues as ticket sales increased.[27] Anthony Field reported that one week they would perform to 8,000 in Sydney and to 20 people the following week at a parking lot in a small town in the US. One time, they performed for a dozen people at the Mall of America in Minnesota, but half of the audience were hired by Lyrick. Eventually, they moved to larger arenas such as the Beacon Theatre and Madison Square Garden.[27][38] They performed at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, for six weeks.[34] Their audiences began to increase, and they toured Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the US, and the UK.[37]

The Wiggles' popularity in the US increased "in the shell-shocked weeks after the terrorist attacks on New York City in 2001",[20] when the group performed there, even when other acts cancelled their tours, a decision that earned them loyalty and respect.[20] According to Cook, the press proclaimed that they were braver than many Australian sports teams that had cancelled their appearances.[9] Paul Field stated, "New York has really embraced them. It was a kind of watershed."[20] [note 9] Strong sales of the Wiggles videos eventually caught the attention of the Disney Channel in the US, who was impressed by their "strong pro-social message".[39] In January 2002, Disney began showing Wiggles video clips between their programs. By June of that year, the popularity of the clips prompted the Disney Channel to add both seasons of "The Wiggles" series to their schedule and showed full episodes multiple times per day.[20][40] Field reported that despite their "modest production values",[41] the shows were popular with pre-schoolers.

Beginning in 2002, the Wiggles filmed four seasons' worth of shows exclusively with the ABC. The network called them "the most successful property that the ABC has represented in the pre-school genre".[17] By the end of 2002, according to Field, "we knew we were involved in something extraordinary in the US".[42] Their concert schedule in North America doubled, seemingly overnight; they began performing up to 520 shows per year all over the world.[29][41][note 10] They also began to produce other stage shows in places the Wiggles themselves were unable to visit, in Australia, the UK, and US, that featured their characters, a host, and a few dancers.[43][note 11] The Age called this time period (about the mid-2000s) the group's "high point"; they earned A$45 million a year in revenues, and had several licensing deals and an international distribution agreement with Disney.[47]

Four of the original Wiggles (and a fan) in 2004 (seated from left to right: Greg Page, Jeff Fatt, Murray Cook, and Anthony Field)

Despite their success, founding member Anthony Field almost left the group in 2004, shortly after his marriage and the birth of his first child, due to his serious medical issues, which were worsened by the Wiggles' demanding tour schedule. After meeting chiropractor James Stoxen in Chicago, Field improved his health to the point that he was able to continue. He began to hire teams of chiropractors for himself, his fellow bandmembers, and cast members in every city they performed, which he credited with making it possible for them to fulfill their touring requirements.[48]

In December 2005, lead singer and founding member Page, at age 33, underwent a double hernia operation. He withdrew from the Wiggles' US tour in August 2006, after suffering fainting spells, lethargy, nausea, and loss of balance. He returned to Australia, where doctors diagnosed his condition as orthostatic intolerance, a chronic but not life-threatening condition.[49][note 12] Page's final performance with the Wiggles was in Kingston, Rhode Island.[50]

On 30 November 2006, the Wiggles announced Page's retirement from the group. "I'll miss being a part of the Wiggles very much, but this is the right decision because it will allow me to focus on managing my health", Page said in a video message, which The Sydney Morning Herald called "unsettling",[51] posted on the group's web page.[49] Page was replaced by Sam Moran, who had served as an understudy for the Wiggles for five years and had already stood in for Page for 150 shows. Initially, the Wiggles struggled over their decision to replace Page, but after their audience's positive response to Moran, they decided to continue as a group because they thought that was what their young audience would want.[50] According to Fatt, who called it "a huge decision" and "a teachable moment" for them,[52] they chose to be honest with their young audience as they made the transition from Page to Moran. As part owner of the Wiggles, Page received a payout of about $20 million.[51]

The Wiggles' line up in 2007, riding in the Big Red Car during a concert

Although Moran's transition as the Wiggles' lead singer was "smooth" for the young children of their audience, it was more difficult for their parents.[52] Moran said that "most children understood".[9] Field reported that by the group's 20th anniversary in 2011, due to the ever-changing nature of their audience, most of their young fans were unfamiliar with Page.[29] Cook stated that Moran's transition was challenging for the group because since he replaced their lead singer, it changed their sound.[28] Fatt characterised Moran's singing style as more operatic, so they chose different keys to sing and perform.[53] The Wiggles never publicly disclosed how much Moran was paid, but it was reported that he earned $200,000 per year.[54] Moran was featured in his first DVD and CD as a member of the group in early 2008, and a sixth season of the Wiggles' television series featuring Moran was filmed and began airing in Australia.[55]

At the end of 2007, the Wiggles donated their complete back catalogue of 27 master tapes to Australia's National Film and Sound Archive.[56] Their business ventures during these years included opening up "Wiggles World" sections in theme parks in North America and the Arab World,[57][58] internet offerings,[59] the creation of new television shows,[9] and a five-year-long partnership with the digital cable channel Sprout in 2009.[60] In December 2010, Cinemalive beamed a Wiggles concert live from Acer Arena into movie theatres all over Australia, for children and their families unable to attend their shows.[29]

In early July 2011, founding member Fatt developed arrhythmia and underwent "urgent but routine"[61] heart surgery, when he was fitted with a pacemaker after feeling unwell for several weeks and blacking out. He missed the group's US tour as a result, after not missing a show in 20 years.[62] Also in mid-2011, the Wiggles celebrated their 20th anniversary with circus-themed shows and performances throughout Australia and the outback in a circus tent,[29] as well as a "physically grueling"[63] birthday-themed tour of 90 shows throughout Australia, which Paul Field called "one of the biggest of their careers".[63] Sydney's Powerhouse Museum commemorated the group's anniversary with an exhibit that displayed Wiggles memorabilia.[64]

In 2011, the worldwide financial crisis hit the group, and they recorded their first drop in revenues in 10 years, at approximately $2.5 million, a total decrease of 28 percent. Royalties partially offset the difference between their 2010 and 2011 revenues. Their managing director Mike Conway called 2011 their toughest year financially. For the first time, they had negative equity, with more liabilities than assets, and the owners had to provide the funds for them to continue operations. Conway stated that their losses were due to less touring time in the US, difficulties in placing their DVDs in Walmart, and their required investment in a new digital platform.[65]

In January 2012, and amidst a great deal of controversy, the Wiggles announced that Page had regained his health and was returning to the Wiggles. He returned as an employee "exactly on the same level as Sam", rather than a co-owner, having relinquished his business interest in the group after he left in 2006.[51] According to The Sydney Morning Herald, interest in Page's return was sparked when they met during the group's induction in the ARIA Hall of Fame in November 2011.[54] After it was decided that Moran would no longer continue on as the Yellow Wiggle, the group asked Page to return, only until August 2012, "to help transition from Sam [Moran] to a new Yellow Wiggle."[66][67] Business Review Weekly reported that the presentation of Moran's departure had been mishandled and had potentially damaged their brand image. Paul Field agreed, stating that they "could have handled the communication and management of the transition better".[68] Cook later admitted that they were shocked by the backlash in the press and among the parents of their audience.[47]

As part of his severance package, Moran continued to collect song royalties and was granted use of the Wiggles' studios.[51][54]

In mid-2012, the Wiggles announced that Page, Fatt, and Cook would be retiring from touring with the group; Emma Watkins, the first female member of the Wiggles, replaced Page, Lachlan Gillespie replaced Fatt, and Simon Pryce, who was initially supposed to replace Page in August, replaced Cook.[1][67] Anthony Field remained in the group because he found it too difficult to give up and because he still had a passion for educating children. According to Paul Field, his brother staying in the band "was a vital decision to placate American, British and Canadian business partners".[24] Page, Fatt, and Cook remained involved with the creative and production aspects of the group.[47] Fatt and Cook had been talking about quitting touring for many years; Cook announced his intention to retire first, citing a desire to spend more time with his family, and then Fatt announced his own retirement shortly thereafter. Page, who was still struggling with his health issues and had stated that his interest was in working with the group's original line-up, was subsequently asked to extend his stay until the end of the year so he would leave alongside Cook and Fatt, to which he agreed.[1][24][66][67] Cook reported that the original members were confident that the new group would be accepted by the fans because they passed on their founding concepts of early childhood education to Watkins, Gillespie, and Pryce.[47] The new members, like Moran, who was not approached to return, were salaried employees.[1][47]

The group, for their farewell tour, visited 8 countries and 141 cities, for a total of almost 250 shows in over 200 days for 640,000 people.[69] Watkins, Gillespie, and Pryce wore "In Training" T-shirts, and debuted the song "Do the Propeller!" during these concerts.[70] The final televised performance of the original band members, along with the new members, was on 22 December 2012, during the annual Carols in the Domain in Sydney.[71] Their final performance, after over 7000 shows over the years, was on 23 December at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.[72]

Also by 2012, the Wiggles performed to audiences whose parents attended their shows in their early years, and they were hiring performers who were part of their audience as young children.[73][note 13] The Wiggles began airing a show on Sirius XM satellite radio in late 2012, featuring the original members and their replacements, and stories and games for young listeners.[75] In December, the group auctioned their famous "Big Red Car" (called the "iconic Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet") for charity for almost A$36,000 on the auction site eBay. The money was donated to the Melbourne-based charity SIDS and Kids.[76]

The "New Wiggles": Simon Pryce, Emma Watkins, and Lachlan Gillespie

The new iteration of the Wiggles, with Field and its new members, began touring in early 2013. Cook became the group's road manager in mid-2013. Pryce reported that since the Wiggles' audience changed every few years, the transition to the new group was easier for their young audience than it was for their parents. One of their challenges, especially for their early tours, was learning the Wiggles' catalogue of 1400 songs.[77] In early 2016, Pryce described the Wiggles' competitive culture of fitness, especially among the male cast, by citing the group's grueling performance schedule, saying, "Sometimes it feels like it's an extreme sport".[78]

After a seven-year absence from Australian television, they filmed a new show, called Ready, Steady, Wiggle, in their spare time at their studio in Sydney between tours and on the road. Watkins, who had a film-making degree, played an important role in its production.[79] The series was picked up by the online streaming service Hulu in 2015.[80] Anthony Field admitted that they found it "hard going" until they returned to television. Merchandise featuring the original group outsold the new group's products, and they failed to sell-out their concerts.[81]

In 2014, the Wiggles doubled their ticket sales from the year before and played in sold-out venues all over Australia and the world for 250,000 fans. Hyde Park in Sydney had to be closed on Australia Day because fans filled it to see the group perform. Their album Apples & Bananas won the 2014 ARIA Award for Best Children's Album.[82]

By 2015, Paul Field called the new group "an amazing success".[83] By that time, they had produced 8 CDs and DVDs, and 3 new television series. Field reported that the new group went through the same process as the original group in terms of audience acceptance and "benchmarks of success". They performed to sell-out audiences throughout Australia, had high sales of their DVDs and CDs, and won an ARIA in 2014. According to Kathy McCabe of News Corp Australia, it took 18 months for the new group to be accepted by their audience. McCabe credited their success to Watkins, who became the group's stand-out member.[81][83] According to Field, an American journalist called her young fans, who came to concerts dressed in yellow and wearing bows like her, the "mini Emma army". She was so popular, she starred in her own TV show, called "Emma", without the other Wiggles, in 2015.[74][84] Field called her "an aspirational role model" for their young audience and reported that she had increased their fan base of girls. Field stated that the audience emulated her fashion choices, opening up new merchandising possibilities for the group.[74]

The band continued to sell-out concerts throughout 2015.[85] Also in 2015, it was announced that the Wiggles would produce their second feature film; comedian Ben Elton was slated to write the script and co-write the soundtrack.[85][86] In early 2015, Gillespie and Watkins revealed that they had been dating for two years; they announced their engagement in May 2015.[87] They were married on 9 April 2016 at Hopewood House in Bowral in New South Wales, Australia.[88] In August 2018, Gillespie and Watkins announced their separation.[89]

The Wiggles celebrated their 25th anniversary with a performance by the new members, published as a free podcast on iTunes, in front of the Apple Store in Sydney in January 2016. In February, the original group members were to perform a charity concert for their fans over the age of 18, who were part of their first audiences, at the Dee Why RSL club in Sydney.[90] The band also a 25th anniversary 'Best Of' album, containing songs from across The Wiggles' entire career, recorded by the new lineup. The album was certified with Platinum sales status in Australia.[91]

In February 2016, The Wiggles released the new studio album Wiggle Town!, which was named Best Children's Album at the 2016 ARIA Awards.[92]

In 2017, The Wiggles collaborated with renowned Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes, on a children's album entitled Och Aye the G'Nu!. The album won the Best Children's Album award at that year's 2017 ARIA Awards.[93]

The Original Wiggles performed reunion charity concerts on 17 and 18 January 2020[94] to raise funds for the Australian bush fires with proceeds going to the Australian Red Cross and the WIRES Wildlife Rescue Service. Onstage on 17 January, Greg Page suffered a cardiac arrest.[95][96] He stopped breathing and required CPR and three jolts from a defibrillator.[97][98] The Wiggles’ Twitter account posted that Page underwent a medical procedure and was recovering in hospital.[99]

The Wiggles commenced their 30th-anniversary celebrations in January 2021, with the release of a new single titled We're All Fruit Salad!, which features cameos from James Harkness, Jawan M. Jackson, Robert Rakete, Victor Valdez, Taylor Symone Jackson, Paul Knobloch and Lou Diamond Phillips.[100]

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. They commenced in 2006. The award for Best Independent Children's Album or EP commenced in 2020.

The APRA Music Awards are award ceremonies that recognise songwriting skills, sales, and airplay performance by its members annually. The Wiggles have won six APRAs and have been nominated for four others.[136][137][138][139][140] In 2007, the group's members, along with John Field, were awarded APRA's International Achievement Award.[141]

The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The Wiggles have been nominated for Best Children's Album 26 times, and have won the award 14 times.[142] In 2003, the group was awarded ARIA's Award for Outstanding Achievement, and in 2011, they were inducted into ARIA's Hall of Fame.[143][144]