Paul Field (musician)
| Paul Field | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 May 1961 |
| Genres | Pop rock, children's music, pub rock |
| Occupation(s) | producer, director, musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | vocals |
| Associated acts | The Cockroaches, The Wiggles, The Field Brothers |
Paul Field (born 3 May 1961) is an Australian musician. He is best known as one of the founding members of the Sydney pub rock band The Cockroaches and The Field Brothers and as Managing Director for the children's music group The Wiggles.
Field was educated at St Joseph's College Hunters Hill, where he excelled as a rugby player and musician. Upon leaving school he attained his teaching qualification from Australian Catholic University and a diploma of religious education from Aquinas Academy in Sydney.
In the late 1970s, while still at boarding school he and his brothers John and Anthony formed the pop group The Cockroaches. Paul served as lead vocalist for the band and also booked their first live shows in pubs in the inner city of Sydney and Kings Cross.
The Cockroaches enjoyed some success in Australia, producing three albums, one of which, The Cockroaches, sold 100,000 copies and became platinum. The band consisted of the three Field brothers, who played guitar and vocals, fellow boarding-school student Tony Henry, who played drums, Phil Robinson on bass, and Jeff Fatt on keyboards. According to Anthony Field, Paul Field was "a picture of professional efficiency", whereas John Field was the showman of the group. John Field's performances on-stage built the Cockroaches' reputation for being a party-band, even through alcohol and drug use was never part of the band's culture. In the heyday of The Cockroaches, they played over 300 gigs a year all over Australia; according to Anthony Field, they were "one of the biggest crowd-drawing groups in Australia". Australian musicologist Ian McFarland called The Cockroaches "an in-demand pub band [that built] a sweaty, frenzied atmosphere with good old-fashioned showmanship and unpretentious, energetic rock'n'pop".
In September 1988, while The Cockroaches were on tour in Queensland, Field's eight-month-old daughter died of SIDS. Her death "had a devastating effect on everyone involved", but The Cockroaches went back on tour to "create a sense of normality" and because he "had bills to pay". By early 1989, however, "nothing was ever the same again"; Anthony Field left the band to study Early Childhood Education at Macquarie University, and The Cockroaches disbanded. Anthony formed The Wiggles in 1991, with Murray Cook, Greg Page, and fellow Cockroaches band member Jeff Fatt, and they dedicated their first album to his niece.
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