By Josephine Agostino
The Wiggles are living out their rock ‘n’ roll dreams — albeit without the leather. With celebrity fans around the world and millions more young groupies hanging on their every word, Sam Moran, Anthony Field, Murray Cook and Jeff Fatt have become Australia’s highest-paid entertainers, with their own entourage and annual revenue of more than $50 million.
Despite their success, the guys — who range in age from 29 (Sam) to 54 (Jeff) — are as hardworking as ever and have become the faces of this year’s Red Nose Day.
Leo Sayer makes a guest appearance on your new DVD, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and sings the title song. How did that come about?
Sam: We met Leo by doing Carols in the Domain and we talked to him about doing a dancing album and he was kind enough to lend us the song and we asked him to be a part of it as well.
Murray: He fits in perfectly, he’s a really positive sort of guy.
Have you had offers from other artists wanting to appear on your albums?
Jeff: A couple of years ago, Jimmy Barnes said, “I should say, ‘Wake Up Jeff'”. And we took him up on the offer…
What’s your favourite song to dance to?
Anthony: The Mooch by Duke Ellington.
Sam: When I was growing up it was Nutbush City Limits.
Murray: When we were having parties in the ’80s it was Madonna — Like a Prayer and Vogue.
Jeff: And Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.
What is your most memorable performance?
Murray: For me it’s when we did our first own theatre show in New York. It was pretty amazing because Robert De Niro and Jerry Seinfeld were in the audience. We perform in New York at least once a year now.
You have quite the celebrity fan base, don’t you?
Jeff: Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Mick Fleetwood, Chris Rock, Shaquille O’Neal, we’ve met them all at the shows.
Sam: Nicholas Cage and his wife brought their little boy to a show in Melbourne. Apparently he called up our people saying he couldn’t get tickets because they were sold out!
Why did you choose the name, The Wiggles?
Murray: We had a song called Get Ready to Wiggle on the first album. It was just the way the kids danced.
Jeff: And we thought it would be an appropriate name.
Murray: We recorded that first album not thinking there would be another one but we thought if it we release it, we’d better have a name.
Who picked the skivvy colours?
Murray: Jeff and I pretty much had our own colours already.
Jeff: I used to wear quite a bit of purple.
Murray: And I used to wear a lot of red — but not so much now. [laughs] With Greg and Anthony there was a bit of a fight over who was going to be blue.
Jeff: The story is they had a race to the bargain bin at David Jones — and Anthony made it first. We just wore what we had at home.
How many of same colour skivvy do you own now?
Murray: Countless …
Anthony: Many, many and many more after that!
Jeff: Maybe about 20.
Murray: Yeah, about 25 when we’re on the road. We have wardrobe people for that now, which is nice.
Have you ever had a young fan try rip your shirt when they’re excited?
Murray: Kids are actually a really well-behaved audience. If you keep them entertained, they’re much better behaved than a pub audience. The worst they’ll do is lose interest and walk away. [laughs]
What sort of fan mail do you get?
Sam: I got a letter from an 8-year-old boy yesterday and he told me about his sister and then he said that I looked like his dog and sent me a photo to prove it. [laughs] And he included $5 so that I could write back to him. So I’ll be sending one back to him with the $5.
On this album you make lots of costume changes from the skivvies into a Beatles-esque band to folk dancers and farmers. Any favourites?
Jeff: I dressed up as a turkey [laughs] — that was a reflection of my upbringing. I grew up in [NSW country town] Casino — the town which just celebrated Beef Week!
Murray: [laughs] In a barn! Jeff, Sam and I are all country boys.
And you do the waltz on the DVD. Would you consider yourselves good enough for Dancing With the Stars?
Murray: I think Anthony would.
Sam: I’d love to do it but we’re never here long enough. We’re always overseas touring.
Murray: I’m sticking to Spicks and Specks. I’m usually on the winning team when I’m on, so I must have something to do with it. [laughs]
How do you prepare for a show?
Jeff: I sleep! [others laugh] I’m saving all my energy for the stage.
Sam: And he sleeps on stage, anywhere really.
Murray: The rest of us just stretch and warm up. We’re usually in a sports changing room or similar. I’m finding as I get older the jumping parts are getting harder on the knees than it used it. We have a massage therapist on tour with us when we go to the states because it’s a really energetic show.
Murray and Anthony, do you feel pressure to be the perfect fathers when you’re out in public with your children?
Anthony: No, and if my children have a tantrum in public, so be it, they are just like any children, they have a beautiful well balanced mum and a crazy dad!
Murray: You are conscious of it. If you lose your temper or something, you kind of check yourself because someone there might think that because I’m a Wiggle I know all about kids. But sometimes you are just a parent. I have a background in early childhood education so I know a lot about kids but sometimes you’re just tired. Fortunately my children are older now, so they don’t have temper tantrums.
Jeff: It’s Murray that has them. [laughs]
Do your kids know what you are to so many children around the world?
Murray: My daughter is pretty perceptive and she doesn’t make a big deal out of it. She doesn’t name-drop, which I’m proud of. They go to public school and we’ve been conscious to have as normal a life as possible. My son, on the other hand, is 11 and he just ignores The Wiggles [laughs], whereas my daughter and her friends have been through it and loved The Wiggles when they were little it so now they think it’s a bit cool and nostalgic.
Who do you love to go see in concert?
Sam: We’ve had a chance to see the Rolling Stones, U2, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, John Mayer, Elton John.
Murray: I’m a huge Beatles fan and I saw Paul McCartney play in Los Angeles.
What would you be doing if you weren’t a Wiggle?
Anthony: I would be a stay at home dad or a deep-sea fisherman.
Jeff: Building houses probably. I’ve done renovating and I’m very hands-on. I studied industrial design too.
Murray: If The Wiggles hadn’t happened I would have been a teacher for the rest of my life.
Sam: I’ve worked in IT for a while and came back to entertainment so I think I’d still be in entertainment.
Murray: Yeah he went and got a real job for a while and didn’t like it! [laughs]
How long do you plan to keep being a Wiggle for?
Murray: I guess there must be an end point…
Jeff: But we don’t know where that is.
Murray: If Mick Jagger can do it in his 60s and he’s moving more than he ever has, there’s still a long road ahead for us. We’ve always said as long as we’re enjoying it and the audience is enjoying it then we’ll keep going. When someone leaves like Greg you think, do we want to keep doing it? Will it still be The Wiggles with someone else there and Jeff and Anthony and I just thought we were loving it and it’s been invigorating having Sam on board.
Sam, do children notice that you’re a new Wiggle?
Sam: We’ve been pretty up front with them and they’ve been really accepting. They’re open to change as their whole lives are something new every day.
Murray: We don’t like him! [laughs] We give him all the bad jobs…
Is it true you once travelled in separate planes?
Murray: Yeah, it was all about risk management then it all got too hard.
And now you travel in two different buses on tour?
Murray: Sam and I are on the same bus with Captain Feathersword and some of the dancers.
Sam: It’s laid-back, we just try get a good mix of boys and girls and different personalities because you’re with each other like 24/7.
Murray: Our bus isn’t so much rock ‘n’ roll but it can get pretty noisy. Whereas the other one is a bit quieter.
You’re Australia’s top-earning entertainers with reported earnings of $50 million. Do you have indulgent lifestyles?
Murray: Sometimes we play in some pretty big arenas in America but there’s the occasional one where the backstage is a toilet and that’s it. That’s where we say, “Welcome to the glamorous world of showbusiness.”
Sam: The success just helps us make better quality videos.
Murray: Yes, all the money does go back into production and we employ a lot of people. We do quite well but I don’t think any of are extravagant. I collect a few guitars but that’s all.
Jeff: I collect nice objects of design, chairs and things like that.
Sam: I’m a gadgets man. But we live out of a suitcase so much that you can’t take anything with you so you don’t need a lot of stuff.
Have you ever done a private jet?
Murray: Last year we opened Wiggles World at some American theme parks and they flew us between them in a private jet.
Jeff: I equate it to riding in a stretch-limo. They are not that comfortable!
Sam: We had so much luggage that they had to drive them after us because you couldn’t take any on.
Murray: So one of our own would be great, we’d just need a big one! [laughs]
Do you appear in non-English speaking countries too?
Sam: We are dubbed in Italy and Japan.
Murray: We’ve performed in China which was amazing. We just kept the speaking to a minimum and they got up and danced with us.
What do you have coming up for the second half of 2008?
Sam: We have a UK tour, then two American tours and some filming. Then we have an arena tour around Australia at the end of the year.
What would you like to be remembered for?
Anthony: Being part of a wonderful circus for children that is The Wiggles, and my gorgeous children. Actually, change the order there!
**The Wiggles’ DVD You Make Me Feel Like Dancing is out now.
Red Nose Day is on Friday, June 27. To learn more, visit** www.rednoseday.com.au
For more of this interview, see this week’s issue of Woman’s Day (on sale June 23, 2008).
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