The Wiggles

The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney, New South Wales in 1991. The group are currently composed of Anthony Field (blue Wiggle), Lachlan Gillespie (purple Wiggle), Simon Pryce (red Wiggle) and Tsehay Hawkins (yellow Wiggle). The Wiggles were founded in 1991 by Field, Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt, Greg Page and Phillip Wilcher. Wilcher left the group after their first album. Page retired in 2006 due to ill health and was replaced by understudy Sam Moran, but returned in 2012, replacing Moran. At the end of 2012, Cook, Fatt and Page retired and were replaced by Gillespie, Pryce and Emma Watkins. Cook and Fatt retained their shareholding in the group and all three continued to have input into its creative and production aspects. Watkins departed the group in 2021, with Hawkins taking her place, and that was the end of the quartet era and the start of the 8th member era.
Field and Fatt were members of the Australian pop band The Cockroaches in the 1980s, and Cook was a member of several bands before meeting Field and Page at Macquarie University, where they were studying to become pre-school teachers. In 1991, Field was inspired to create an album of children's music based upon concepts of early childhood education, and enlisted Cook, Page, and Fatt to assist him. They began touring to promote the album, and became so successful, they quit their teaching jobs to perform full-time. The group augmented their act with animal characters Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog, as well as the character Captain Feathersword, played by Paul Paddick since 1993. They travelled with a small group of dancers, which later grew into a larger troupe. The group's DVDs, CDs, and television programs have been produced independently since their inception. Their high point came in the early 2000s, after they broke into the American market.
The group was formally consolidated in 2005. They were listed at the top of Business Review Weekly's top-earning Australian entertainers four years in a row, and earned A$45 million in 2009. In 2011, the worldwide recession hit the Wiggles, as it had done for many Australian entertainers; they earned $28 million, but they still appeared second on BRW's list that year. The Wiggles have enjoyed almost universal approval throughout their history, and their music has been played in pre-schools all over the world. They have earned multiple Platinum, Double Platinum and Multi-Platinum records; have sold 23 million DVDs and 7 million CDs; and have performed, on average, to one million people per year. The Wiggles' music has also received over one billion streams, and over two billion views on YouTube. The band has also earned multiple Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) and Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards, and been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
The Wiggles released a career-spanning compilation album in March 2021, titled We're All Fruit Salad!: The Wiggles' Greatest Hits.
Current Members
Anthony Field (The only original member)
Lachlan Gillespie
Simon Pryce
Tsehay Hawkins
Past members and original members during the Reunions joining Field
Murray Cook
Jeff Fatt
Greg Page
Phillip Wilcher
Sam Moran
Emma Watkins
Characters
The original Wiggles
Greg Page (lead vocal): Greg is the lead singer, who loves to sing and dance. Greg drives The Big Red Car. He likes to do magic tricks. He is the yellow character.
Anthony Field (backing vocals and instrumentation): Anthony plays the guitar, drums, and sings and dances. He loves eating. His favourite food is fruit salad. He especially loves apples. When Anthony is happy he says "Wahoo!" Anthony wore green from the creation of The Wiggles in 1991 to 1995 and has worn blue since 1996 because he turned invisible in shots that were green-screened.
Murray Cook (backing vocals and instrumentation):Murray plays the guitar. He is the red character.
Jeff Fatt (keyboards and accordion): Jeff plays keyboards. His favourite colour is purple. Jeff loves sleeping. When he dreams he even dreams of being asleep. This leads to the others saying, "Wake up, Jeff!
Other characters
There are several other characters who are friends with the Wiggles.
Dorothy the Dinosaur is a large green dinosaur with yellow spots. She wears a floppy white hat and likes to eat roses. Dorothy is 5 years old. She is very wise for her age. Her birth is November 3,1991. She loves dancing, and is known to do ballet, Irish, Scottish, and line dancing. She loves her birthday as The Wiggles always make it a very special fun day for her. Dorothy has a heart of gold and is a very friendly dinosaur.
Captain Feathersword is a friendly pirate who wears a coat, hat, eye patch and a sword made of feathers. His birthday is on February 4, 1993
Wags the Dog is a tall, brown, furry dog with floppy ears and a happy face. He likes eating. Wags is said to keep The Wiggles up all night if he gets hungry. Wags also enjoys digging in his garden. Wags can only talk to the audience, but The Wiggles understand him when he barks. Wags is a good Tango dancer. He believes everyone is his friend and is said to love having a good time. His birthday is October 27, 1995.
Henry the Octopus is a fun-loving octopus with purple skin. He wears tartan clothes, a straw hat and black polished shoes on the end of every tentacle. Henry likes to wave to all his friends at the same time. This is easy for him to do since he has eight tentacles. Henry lives under the sea. He is the leader of the Underwater Big Band.
Discography
Studio albums
Each album is listed with the year it was first released. Source: National Library of Australia
The Wiggles (1991)
Here Comes a Song (1992)
Stories and Songs: The Adventures of Captain Feathersword the Friendly Pirate (1993)
Yummy Yummy (1994)
Big Red Car (1995)
Wake Up Jeff! (1996)
Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas (1996)
The Wiggles Movie Soundtrack (1997)
Toot Toot! (1998)
It's a Wiggly Wiggly World! (2000)
Wiggle Time! (2000)
Yule Be Wiggling (2000)
Hoop Dee Doo! It's a Wiggly Party (2001)
Wiggly Safari (2002)
Wiggle Bay (2002)
Go to Sleep Jeff! (2002)
Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins! (2002)
Top of the Tots (2003)
Cold Spaghetti Western (2004)
Santa's Rockin'! (2004)
Sailing Around the World (2005)
Here Comes the Big Red Car (2006)
It's Time To Wake Up Jeff! (2006)
Splish Splash Big Red Boat (2006)
Racing to the Rainbow (2006)
Christmas Classics (2006)
Getting Strong! Wiggle and Learn (2007)
Pop Go the Wiggles! (2007)
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (2008)
Sing a Song of Wiggles (2008)
Go Bananas! (2009)
Hot Poppin' Popcorn (2009)
Let's Eat (2010)
Ukulele Baby! (2011)
It's Always Christmas With You! (2011)
Surfer Jeff (2012)
Celebration! (2012)
Christmas Crackers! (2012)
Concert and compilation albums
Live: Hot Potatoes (2005)
Hot Potatoes: The Best of the Wiggles (2009)
Big Birthday! (2011)
Celebration (2012)
Hit Songs and Rarities (2012)
Dorothy the Dinosaur albums
Dorothy the Dinosaur (2007)
Dorothy the Dinosaur's Memory Book (2008)
Dorothy the Dinosaur Meets Santa Claus (2009)
Dorothy the Dinosaur's Rockin' Christmas (2010)
Dorothy the Dinosaur's Travelling Show! (2011)
Dorothy the Dinosaur's Beach Party (2012)
Videography
The Original Wiggles
Movies & Specials
The Wiggles Movie (December 18, 1997)
The Wiggles in Disneyland (December 17, 1998)
Music Video Compilations
The Wiggles Big Show (1998)
Videos
Wiggle Time (September 20, 1993)
Yummy Yummy (October 24, 1994)
Big Red Car (October 9, 1995)
Wake Up Jeff! (August 5, 1996)
Wiggledance (June 9, 1997)
Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas (October 13, 1997)
Yummy Yummy (April 28, 1998)
Wiggle Time! (April 28, 1998)
Toot Toot! (October 17, 1998)
Dorothy The Dinosaur And Friends Video (May 16, 1999)
The Wiggly Big Show (September 19, 1999)
Dorothy The Dinosaur Goes To Hospital (October 25, 1999)
Captain Feathersword The Friendly Pirate Video (May 8, 2000)
It's a Wiggly Wiggly World! (July 25, 2000)
Hoop Dee Doo! It's a Wiggly Party (June 19, 2001)
Yule Be Wiggling (October 16, 2001)
Wiggly Safari (July 8, 2002)
Wiggle Bay (September 30, 2002)
Space Dancing (2003)
Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins! (2003)
Top of the Tots (2004)
Cold Spaghetti Western (2004)
Santa's Rockin'! (2004)
Live Hot Potatoes! (2005)
Sailing Around the World (2005)
Here Comes the Big Red Car (2006)
It's Time To Wake Up Jeff! (2006)
Splish Splash Big Red Boat (2006)
Wiggledancing: Live In The U.S.A. (2006)
Racing to the Rainbow (2006)
Wiggledancing: Live In Concert (2007)
Getting Strong! Wiggle and Learn (2007)
Pop Go the Wiggles! (2007)
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (2008)
Sing a Song of Wiggles (2008)
Go Bananas! (2009)
The Wiggles Big Big Show (2009)
Hot Poppin' Popcorn (2009)
Hot Potatoes The Best Of The Wiggles (2010)
Let's Eat (2010)
Ukulele Baby! (2011)
Big Birthday (2011)
It's Always Christmas With You! (2011)
Surfer Jeff (2012)
Celebration! (2012)
The Wiggles Reunion Show (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022)
Ready Steady Wiggle!
Taking Off! (2013)
Furry Tales (2013)
Pumpkin Face (2013)
Go Santa Go! (2013)
Hot Potatoes! The Best of The Wiggles (2014)
Apples & Bananas (2014)
Wiggle House (2014)
Wake Up Lachy (2014)
Emma's Bowtiful Day! (2014)
Rock & Roll Preschool (2015)
Anthony's Fruity Feast! (2015)
Emma! (2015)
The Wiggles: Meet The Orchestra! (2015)
Simon Says (2016)
Wiggle Town! (2016)
Fun Fun Fun! (2016)
Dial E For Emma! (2016)
Dance Dance! (2016)
Lachy! (2017)
Wiggle Around Australia (2017)
Duets (2017)
Emma's Bowtiful Ballet Studio (2017)
Nursery Rhymes (2017)
Wiggly Wiggly Christmas (2017)
The Best of the Wiggles (2018)
The Wiggles Reunion Show (2018)
The Emma and Lachy Show
Nursery Rhymes 2
Wiggle Pop
The Big Ballet Day
Sing, Dance and Play
Party Time
Emma! 2: Emmatastic!
Eat, Sleep, Wiggle, Repeat
Emma! 2: Dance Spectacular
Fun and Games
Choo Choo Trains, Propeller Planes and Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car (2020)
We're All Fruit Salad: The Wiggles Greatest Hits (2021)
Lullabies With Love (2021)
Halloween Party (2021)
Super Wiggles (2022)
Fruit Salad Big Show (November 30, 2022)
TV Shows
The Wiggles TV Series 1 (Anthony's Friend, Foodman, Murray's Shirt, Building Blocks, Jeff The Mechanic, Lilly, Zardo Zap, The Party, Wiggly Opera, Anthony's Haircut, Muscleman Murray, Spooked Wiggles and Funny Greg.)
The Wiggles TV Series 2
The Wiggles TV Series 3 Lights Camera Action Wiggles
The Wiggles Show TV Series 4
The Wiggles Show TV Series 5
The Wiggles TV Series 6 Wiggle and Learn
Ready Steady Wiggle (2013 - present)
Other:
Emma!
Lachy
Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle
Emma! 2: Emmatastic!
Emma! 2: Dance Spectacular
The Wiggles World
Emma! Series 3
Fruit Salad TV
Wiggly Fruit Salad
References
Other websites
Official website
The Wiggles Discography at the Powerhouse Museum
Wiggles discography, Main Albums, at allmusic.com
1990s Australian television series
Musical groups established in 1991
Children's television series
Children's musical groups
Musical groups from Sydney
English-language television programs