Australian children’s entertainers the Wiggles have been pleasing young audiences for 21 years with their mix of music and madcap, innocent fun. But the time has come for three of the group’s members to hang up their trademark colored shirts.
After the conclusion of the outfit’s Celebration Tour, which comes to Anaheim on Monday, Jeff Fatt (Purple Wiggle) Murray Cook (Red Wiggle) and Greg Page (Yellow Wiggle) will retire to spend more time with their families. Anthony Field (Blue Wiggle) will remain with the group and mentor the three incoming members who will inherit the departing members’ shirt colors.
Emma Watkins, one of the group’s first female members, will be become the Yellow Wiggle. “Emma’s been working with The Wiggles for three years,” Page said “and in that time the guys have gotten to know her strengths and weaknesses. Emma is a vibrant, energetic young girl that the children will respond to really well to.”
Over the 21 years of being together, The Wiggles have accomplished many feats. The group has have been awarded with 17 gold, 12 platinum, 3 double platinum and 10 multi-platinum awards for sales of over 23 million DVDs and 7 million CDs worldwide and the Wiggles’ TV shows are broadcast in more than 100 countries.
Although the original group members will not be performing together on stage or TV, they will still be a big part of the group by helping write songs for the new generation. “The new Wiggles are still going to need some more training,” Field said, “so the guys will still be around to help teach them and they will also still be involved creatively backstage with helping with song writing”
But the feeling of not being onstage will be different for the three that are retiring. “It’s the right time to leave,” Cook said, “but having to play music almost every day and being in front of a live audience is something I’ll miss. Having such a reaction with an audience and it’s such a great image in an auditorium to see from a stage. Doing the last show (of the tour) is going to be really hard for all of us.”
