The Wiggles have also been called “the world’s biggest preschool band” and “your child’s first rock band.” In fact, The Wiggles are one of the most successful children’s bands in history that are beloved by families world-wide.
The Wiggles hail from Australia, and they first came together in 1991, when the founding musicians were working on becoming pre-school teachers. As a project during their education, the founding members of The Wiggles started writing music for children.
They called themselves The Wiggles because to the band, when children danced it looked like they were wiggling. One member of the band test marketed the music with his students, and they loved it (at least one kid could not stop listening to it). The Wiggles also developed their own color costumes for each member, yellow, red, purple and blue
The Wiggles did an inexpensive debut album ($4,000) that was a hit considering the cost, selling 100,000 copies, and they started to perform live. Like their first album, The Wiggles were a do-it- yourself operation for a number of years, doing their own merchandise, toys, and bookkeeping. They also created their own TV show, which eventually made its way to Australia’s ABC, and the Disney Channel.
The Wiggles also added a bunch of fun characters that kids could enjoy as well, including the pirate Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog.
The Wiggles kept releasing albums and DVDs and toured, and they kept growing and growing. In Australia they were a major hit, and they even did The Wiggles Movie, which was the #1 movie in Australia in 1998.
The Wiggles then started performing in the U.S., at first for small audiences, and during the intermissions of Barney the dinosaur concerts, but then they moved all the way up to arenas (they sold out twelve dates at Madison Square Garden).
Kids and families love The Wiggles, and its perfect entertainment for your young children. One parent wrote, “What personally impressed me about The Wiggles is that they really take the time to engage the children as much as possible. They read the signs in the audience, they go up and down the aisles and stop to take pictures with the kids, they perform parts of the show in the audience--they are really amazing and kind and FUN!”
Another reviewer wrote that at a recent concert it was clear why the group is so successful: “Their songs make children happy. From the first note of opener ‘Rock-A-Bye Your Bear,’ there were children literally dancing in the aisles. The band clearly plays for children, rather than at them, and their straightforward songs sound much better live than on record.
The Wiggles have been a major success world-wide, with 17 million DVDs and 4 million CDs sold. They also were ranked the #1 Australian entertainers for four straight years by Business Review Weekly, and earned a whopping $45 million last year.