The Wiggles for several years now have hovered around the top of the BRW's top 10 list of Australia's richest entertainers,with earnings of $45 million in 2009 and taking out third spot in 2010 with earnings of $33.5 million from live performances, merchandising and television endorsements.
Who would have thought? Throwing two former preschool teachers, a rock band keyboardist and a singer together, to create the world's most famous pop band for toddlers.
They have earned seventeen gold, twelve platinum, three double-platinum, and ten multi-platinum awards for sales of over 17 million DVDs and four million CDs.
2006 Australian export of the year award
The Wiggles are a children's group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Phillip Wilcher, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. Wilcher left the group after their first album. In 2006, Page was forced to retire from the group due to illness and was replaced by understudy Sam Moran.
Source: Peter Nicholson http://nicholsoncartoons.com.au/
Their debut performance was at a pre-school in Randwick. They busked at Circular Quay, performing for crowds disembarking from Manly Ferry, and toured in Westfield shopping centres. They performed at pre-schools, for small audiences of 300-400 people,and were promoted by local playgroups or nursing mothers' associations with whom they split their proceeds.
The Wiggles first album in Australia, cost approximately A$4,000 to produce and it sold 100,000 copies in 1991.
In 1993, Field, Cook, and Page, along with Fatt, decided to give up teaching for a year to focus on performing full-time to see if they could make a living out of it.
The Wiggles created thirteen episodes of a self-produced television series, which they funded from their tours and video sales. They sold the program to Australia's Channel Seven, and then moved it to the ABC in 1998 and to the Disney Channel in 1999. and the rest as they say is history.
Characters
Dorothy the Dinosaur
Dorothy is a rososaurus, a yellow-spotted herbivorous green dinosaur with surprisingly scary teeth.
Captain Feathersword
Captain Feathersword, "the friendly pirate", wears a hat, patch, and puffy shirt and wields a "feathery saber.
Henry the Octopus
Henry the Octopus, who directs an underwater band, likes to sing and to breakdance with his eight legs.
Wags the Dog
Wags is a tall, brown, furry dog with floppy ears and a happy face.
