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History of the Wiggles
Pre-Wiggles
In 1982 Jeff Fatt and Anthony Field were members of a popular Australian band called 'The Cockroaches'. By 1986 they had a contract with the label 'Regular Records' and did quite well in Australia with 6 top 40 hits.
During this time, Anthony, Murray Cook, and Greg Page met while they were all studying teaching (Early Childhood Education) at Macquarie University in Australia. They combined to produce fun and creative musical projects for their studies.
Early Wiggles
So how did it all come together?
Jeff Fatt: I got this call from Anthony.
"Hello, Anthony. Go away, go away. I'm not interested," you know. He's always got these ideas for things. He said, "I've got this project… this project to make a children's album." And he said, "Come down to the studio." And I said…
Anthony Field:
You said, "How long will it take?"
In 1991, The Wiggles released their first album, and then they began to perform in day-care centers. Jeff and Murray already had their purple and red shirts, so Greg and Anthony went shopping to pick out bright colors for them to wear. The color of each Wiggle is now how each person is identified.
It was approximately 1995 when Anthony and Jeff left the Cockroaches to Wiggle full time. By this time the Wiggles were becoming better known, and the demands of The Wiggles schedule could no longer be met while still playing with The Cockroaches
The Wiggles got their start in America as the opening act for the former love of all preschoolers: Barney (1999). And once The Wiggles made their first appearance on the Disney Channel, (January 28, 2002), life as they knew it was over.
Anthony Field:
"… When we first went on Disney, the guy came in and said, "It's not one of the bigger stations. It's getting there. We've only got 80 million subscribers." And we all went, "Oh, right, OK. That'll do." So that many people saw us be… When we were in America when we first started with doing…we did Blockbuster car park, and four people turned up."
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