Anthony Field

For his character in The Wiggles, see Anthony Wiggle.
Anthony Donald Joseph Field (born May 8, 1963) is an Australian musician who is best known as the Blue Wiggle in The Wiggles and a member of the the 1980s and 1990s rock band The Cockroaches with his brothers, Paul and John and another future Wiggle, Jeff Fatt. He plays many musical instruments including the guitar, drums, vocals, violin, didgeridoo, banjo, bagpipes, trumpet, and bass. In the very early days of The Wiggles, Anthony was the green Wiggle, but permanently changed to blue due to his body disappearing with the green screen technology. He is the sixth tallest Wiggle (he is slightly shorter than Lachlan Gillespie and Sam Moran, and shorter than Murray Cook, Greg Page and Simon Pryce). He is the senior member of the group, and the only original member to remain since 1991.
== Wiggles Media Credits ==
=== Albums ===
* The Wiggles - Tin Whistle, Didgeridoo, Vocals, Chief Kabasa Player, Producer, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* Here Comes a Song - Jaws Harp, Tin Whistle, Vocals, Tambourine, Bodhran, Didgeridoo, Guitar, Hand Claps, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* The Adventures Of Captain Feathersword, The Friendly Pirate - Vocals, Producer, Recording and Mixing Engineer, Songwriter
* Yummy Yummy - Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* Big Red Car - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Vibraslap co-ordinator, Producer, Recording and Mixing Engineer, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* Wake Up Jeff! - Producer, Backing Vocals, Guitar, Tin Whistle, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas - Producer, Backing Vocals, Guitars, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* The Wiggles Movie Soundtrack - Guitar, Songwriter
* Toot Toot! - Backing Vocals, Guitar, Musical Arranger, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* It's a Wiggly Wiggly World! - Backing Vocals, Musical Arranger, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* Wiggle Time!
* Yule Be Wiggling - Guitar, Backing Vocals, Musical Arranger, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* Hoop-Dee-Doo it's a Wiggly Party - Guitar, Backing Vocals, Musical Arranger, Songwriter, Song Arrangements
* Wiggly Safari - Guitar, Musical Arranger, Songwriter
* Wiggle Bay - Guitar, Backing Vocals, Musical Arranger, Songwriter, Co-Arranger of "Dance A Cachuca"
* Go To Sleep Jeff! - Vocals, Musical Arranger, Producer, Co-Arranger of "Maranoa Lullaby"
* Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins!
* Top of the Tots
* Cold Spaghetti Western
* Santa's Rockin'!
* LIVE Hot Potatoes!
* Sailing Around the World
* Here Comes the Big Red Car
* It's Time to Wake Up Jeff!
* Splish Splash Big Red Boat
* Racing to the Rainbow
* Dorothy the Dinosaur
* Getting Strong!
* Pop Go The Wiggles!
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Memory Book
* You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
* Sing a Song of Wiggles
* The Wiggles Go Bananas!
* The Kingdom Of Paramithi
* Hot Poppin' Popcorn
* Let's Eat!
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Rockin' Christmas
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Travelling Show!
* Ukulele Baby!
* The Wiggles' Big Birthday!
* It's Always Christmas With You!
* Surfer Jeff
* Celebration!
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Beach Party!
* Taking Off!
* Furry Tales
* Pumpkin Face
* Go Santa Go!
* Apples & Bananas
* Wiggle House
* Rock & Roll Preschool
* Emma!
* The Wiggles Meet The Orchestra!
* Wiggle Town!
* Dance Dance!
* Dial E for Emma!
* Lachy!
* Nursery Rhymes
* Och Aye the G'Nu!
* Duets
* Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas! (2017 album)
* Nursery Rhymes 2
* The Emma! & Lachy! Show
* Wiggle Pop!
* The Wiggles' Big Ballet Day!
* Party Time!
* Emma! 2
* Fun and Games
* Wiggly Barbershop
* Choo Choo Trains, Propeller Planes & Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car!
* Emma's Bowtiful Ballet Studio
* Le James Café
* We're All Fruit Salad!: The Wiggles' Greatest Hits
* Lullabies with Love
* Sweet Dreams: White Noise Sleep Aid for Baby
* Calm & Quiet: Soothing Sounds for Relaxing Baby
* Halloween Party
* Fruit Salad TV
* Fruit Salad TV Christmas
* ReWiggled
* Super Wiggles
* Wiggly Nursery Rhymes
* Ready, Steady, Wiggle!
* The Sound of Halloween
* The Sound of Christmas
==== Other ====
* Playhouse Disney 2 - Co-Writer of both the Character and Generic versions of "Playhouse Disney Theme"
=== Television and Video Releases ===
* Big Red Car
* Toot Toot!
* The Wiggly Big Show
* It's a Wiggly Wiggly World!
* Yule Be Wiggling
* Wiggly Safari
* Space Dancing!
* Top of the Tots
* Santa's Rockin'!
* LIVE Hot Potatoes!
* The Wiggles Show!
* Sailing Around the World
* Here Comes The Big Red Car
* It's Time to Wake Up Jeff!
* Splish Splash Big Red Boat
* Wiggledancing! Live In The U.S.A.
* The Wiggles Show! (Latin American TV Series)
* The Wiggles Show! (Taiwanese TV Series)
* Racing to the Rainbow
* Lights, Camera, Action! 好戲上場
* Wiggledancing! Live In Concert
* Getting Strong!
* Series 1 and 2 of Dorothy the Dinosaur
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Party
* Pop Go The Wiggles
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Memory Book
* Wiggle and Learn
* You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
* Sing a Song of Wiggles
* The Kingdom Of Paramithi
* Baby Antonio's Circus
* The Wiggles Go Bananas!
* The Wiggles Big, Big Show!
* Hot Poppin' Popcorn
* Dorothy the Dinosaur Meets Santa Claus
* Hot Potatoes! The Best of The Wiggles (2010 video)
* Let's Eat!
* Series 3 of Dorothy the Dinosaur
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Rockin' Christmas
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Travelling Show!
* Ukulele Baby!
* The Wiggles' Big Birthday!
* It's Always Christmas With You!
* Surfer Jeff
* Celebration!
* Dorothy the Dinosaur's Beach Party!
* Taking Off!
* Furry Tales
* Series 1 and 2 of Ready, Steady, Wiggle!
* Pumpkin Face
* Go Santa Go!
* Hot Potatoes! The Best of The Wiggles (2014 video)
* Apples & Bananas
* Wiggle House
* Rock & Roll Preschool
* Emma! (TV Series 1)
* The Wiggles Meet The Orchestra!
* Wiggle Town!
* Wiggle Town! (TV Series)
* Lachy! (TV Series)
* Dial E For Emma!
* Dance Dance!
* Nursery Rhymes
* Wiggle Around Australia
* Duets
* Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas! (2017)
* Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle!
* The Best of The Wiggles
* The Emma! & Lachy! Show
* Nursery Rhymes 2
* Wiggle Pop!
* The Wiggles' Big Ballet Day!
* Emma! (TV Series 2)
* Party Time!
* The Wiggles' World
* Fun and Games
* Choo Choo Trains, Propeller Planes & Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car!
* Series 3 of Ready, Steady, Wiggle!
* Lullabies with Love
* Fruit Salad TV
* Halloween Party
* Super Wiggles
* Fruit Salad Big Show
* Series 4 and Series 5 of Ready, Steady, Wiggle!
* The Sound of Halloween
* The Sound of Christmas
* Series 6 of Ready, Steady, Wiggle!
== Trivia ==
* Anthony wrote songs for other bands such as Radio Ink.
* He went bald during the Wiggle Fun Tour!.
* His new nickname came from Celeste Barber.
* He had a voice appearance in three episodes of an Australian animated television series called Bluey, Dance Mode (as Postie) and Army and Cricket (as Rusty's Dad)
* He is, by far, the longest-serving member of the Wiggles group.
** This is particularly because Anthony is also the only Wiggles member to never retire from the group since Greg, Murray, Sam, and Jeff did.
== Other Information ==
Anthony is the youngest of 7 children, and grew up in the suburbs of Sydney. He came from a long line of musicians, especially the women in his family. His great-great aunt was "Queenie Paul", known for performing at the Tivoli theatre in Sydney, and his grandmother Kathleen accompanied silent movies in the mining town of Cobar. Field's mother Marie made sure that all of her seven children learned how to play at least one musical instrument. In 1979, while still in secondary school (St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, a prestigious boarding school), he and his brothers formed the pop culture rock band, "The Cockroaches" in which he was their guitarist.
He took a short break from music to serve in the 5th/7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Australia's regular army from 1982 to 1985, as an infantry soldier, medic, and rifleman. He played the bagpipes in parades and on training missions. When The Cockroaches disbanded in the early 90s, Field enrolled in Macquarie University to study Early Childhood Education. There he met the other members of The Wiggles, guitarist Murray Cook, vocalist Greg Page, and pianist Phillip Wilcher. He recruited keyboardist Jeff Fatt to record their first CD in 1991. Anthony worked as a preschool teacher for two years before the success of The Wiggles forced him to quit.
In the early years, Anthony occasionally wore a green shirt. He volunteered to switch to blue, as his body was invisible in videos that were green-screened. Anthony created and played the original Captain Feathersword; the role was taken over by Paul Paddick in 1996. He plays several instruments, including the tin whistle, bagpipes, guitar, drums, trumpet, violin, and didgeridoo. Anthony's act is eating a lot.
In spite of being named as "Bachelor of the Year" in Cleo Magazine, Field married Michaela Patisteas, a former dancer whose family owns a coffee joint, in 2003. They have three children, who have joined the Field family tradition of involvement in The Wiggles by appearing in several of their TV shows and videos. In the Wiggly Safari tour in 2003 in the US, Anthony had to go into a hernia operation, so that means he had to miss the tour, so he was filled in by Brett Clarke. In April 2007, Field cut short his US tour by ten days to return home for the birth of his youngest child; his fellow bandmembers appeared on the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal without him. Beginning in 2007, Anthony did some voiceover work for the TV show "RSPCA Animal Rescue," for Channel 7 in Australia.
Anthony is a registered breeder of miniature fox terriers. He is a fan of the Australian rugby league club the Wests Tigers, as well as of singer Julio Iglesias. Field went public about his experience with clinical depression in mid 2007 to draw more attention to the condition. He has stated that "being on the road is a dangerous job for someone with depression," but has dealt with it through diet, exercise, talking about it, and having a good support system (including his wife, and his friend Murray Cook).
Anthony is a devout Catholic. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2010 for service to the arts, particularly children's entertainment, and to the community as a benefactor and supporter of a range of charities.
According to Surfer Jeff, Anthony and Antonio is allergic to peanut butter. But in Taking Off!, Anthony is seen eating peanut butter in the music video for its self titled song. People aren't really sure if Anthony is actually allergic to peanut butter, or if the allergy is just a made up characteristic for the Blue Wiggle.
Murray, Anthony, Greg and Phillip at Macquarie University used to get together in the music room jam on songs like Polly Put The Kettle On.
== Anthony's near departure ==
Despite his band's success, founding member Anthony Field almost quit 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 fulfil their touring requirements.