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Wiggle me this

CHILDREN’S MUSICAL GROUP The Wiggles have lived in the heart and homes of millions of pre-school aged children around the world. Some of their biggest fans include Hollywood royalty: Coldplay’s Chris Martin and wife Gywneth Paltrow, Jerry Seinfield and Sarah Jessica Parker.

But it’s their charity work that remains a focal point for this Aussie quartet.

For 20 years they have entertained and supported charities around the world. Their huge success (the group have sold 30 million CDs and DVDs worldwide) also earned them the prestigious Order of Australia honour in their homeland last year.

The four original members – Anthony Field, Gregory Page (who later left due to illness and was replaced by Sam Moran), Murray Cook and Jeffery Fatt were honoured for service to the arts, particularly children’s entertainment, and to the community as benefactors and supporters of a range of charities.

Each member of the group has been a patron of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation since 2005 and they have supported charities including the Starlight Children’s Foundation, St Vincent de Paul, SIDS and Kids, Variety Australia and the Bonnie Babes Foundation. Since 1995, The Wiggles have visited patients and performed at The Sydney Children’s Hospital on Christmas morning.

“We’ve always cared for our audience, which is children, and we’ve taken a lot of time to help with their education and their entertainment,” Field said in an interview last year.

“Over the years we’ve visited as many hospitals as we can and given as much as we can to charity, but mainly I think for 20 years we’ve been entertaining and trying to do our best for the children of Australia.

“It’s been very rewarding for us, it’s been an amazing 20 years.”

The Wiggles are also Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF, and have joined the charity organisation in its work towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe water and basic sanitation by 2015.

But it’s the work with the organisation SIDS and Kids – (SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) – that remains close to the heart of The Wiggles.

The tragic and sudden death of Anthony Field’s eight-month-old niece Bernadette in 1988 ultimately led to the formation of arguably the most popular children’s group in the world. The group’s first album, which was released in 1991, was dedicated to her memory.

In an interview with an Australian newspaper, the ‘Blue Wiggle’ said Bernadette’s death had a profound effect on the formation of The Wiggles. Not being married himself at the time, at first he could not fully relate to his brother Paul’s grief.

“Bernadette has a lot to do with where I am now,” he said. “The Wiggles would always have done charity work with children but if Bernadette hadn’t died there is no way I’d have the empathy that I do now.”

Shortly after her death, Field returned to university to study early childhood.

In 1991 he formed The Wiggles with long-time friend and university classmate Fatt, Page and Cook. They decided to wear coloured skivvies – Anthony (blue), Jeff (purple), Greg (yellow) and Murray (red). Several years ago Greg announced his retirement due to illness, with Sam Moran taking over his yellow jersey.

The Wiggles return to the UAE for the second time after performing at The Palladium in Dubai last June. This time the quartet will perform a series of popular characters Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus and Wags the Dog.

The shows will take place at 11am and 2pm on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14. Tickets, which begin at Dhs200, are on sale through www.thinkflash.ae or by calling 800 FLASH (35274).