*** Welcome to piglix ***

Jeff Fatt

Jeff Fatt
AM
Jeff Fatt110807.jpg
Jeff Fatt of The Wiggles, 2007
Background information
Birth name Jeffrey Wayne Fatt
Born (1953-07-21) 21 July 1953 (age 63)
Casino, New South Wales, Australia
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician, actor
Instruments Keyboard, accordion , vocals
Years active 1981-2012
Associated acts The Cockroaches, The Wiggles
Notable instruments
Hammond organ

Jeffrey Wayne Fatt AM (born 21 July 1953 in Casino, New South Wales, Australia), is an Australian musician and actor. He is best known as a member of the children's band The Wiggles and the 1980s and 90s band The Cockroaches. As part of the Wiggles, Fatt became one of the "most popular Asian performers in the world".

The son of Chinese parents who owned a large retail store in Casino, New South Wales, Fatt had aspirations to become an architect, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in industrial design. Anthony Field described him as a "bush kid" who "first learned to let his keyboard do most of the talking". He opened a public address equipment business with his brother in Sydney when he began playing keyboard for the rockabilly band The Roadmasters, and was recruited by Anthony and Paul Field to join The Cockroaches.

After The Cockroaches disbanded in the early 1990s, Anthony Field asked Fatt, who was renovating his house at the time, to help them record The Wiggles' first album in 1991. Fatt reported, "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 idea, come down to the studio.'" Fatt's response to Field's request was, "Sure but how long will it take?" Field reported that as Fatt had done for The Cockroaches, he was "a musical backbone for The Wiggles".

As a Wiggle, Fatt wore a purple skivvy. He originated the Wiggles character Henry the Octopus, and performed his voice when other actors took over the role. Fatt reported that it took twelve months to "learn the language of preschool", including addressing children using the inclusive "everybody", instead of "boys and girls", and that The Wiggles' first performances were traumatic for him because he was not used to being around children.

Fatt's schtick was sleeping at odd times, which led to a Wiggles' catch-phrase and the title of one of their songs, "Wake Up, Jeff!" Fatt was the oldest Wiggle and was well known for his "laid-back personality", which according to Field, made him "invaluable company on the road". As Sam Moran has said, when referring to the development of The Wiggles' shticks, "Jeff really does fall asleep", and Fatt reported, "The irony is I'm a very light sleeper in the nighttime. I will invariably have a snooze before the show". Fatt was the only member of The Wiggles without a background in early childhood education; he stated that was the reason falling asleep was chosen as his shtick, "because it was a way of getting me involved in the shows without actually having to do anything". Field claimed Fatt's shtick endeared Fatt to their audiences and called it "a simple audience participation and interaction gag we've done since the start of the group". Kathleen Warren, the group's former professor at Macquarie University and their consultant for their shows and DVDs, believed that the shtick empowered children, and Paul Field reported that children in The Wiggles' audience felt "great excitement" and were disappointed if not given the opportunity to help Jeff in this way. Anthony Field reported that although in the early days of the group, they took turns falling asleep, it became Fatt's shtick because "it was a perfect fit".


...
Wikipedia

...