11-29-2006, 05:59 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Mine is an evil laugh
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Farewell Greg "Yellow" Wiggle
A sad day in children's entertainment today, when Greg Wiggle retired due to ill health. It doesn't seem life threatening but he just can't keep performing.
Quote:
GREG Page has officially handed over his yellow Wiggles skivvy after deciding to quit the kiddies' supergroup because of ill-health.
The singer announced he was standing down in order to better manage his health in Perth this morning.
In a taped address, he thanked his young fans before introducing his now permanent stand-in Sam Moran, who then faced the media with the other Wiggles.
Page said he was suffering from a chronic condition called orthostatic intolerance.
When he stands up his heart doesn't pump enough blood around his body.
"It's not a life threatening condition by any means, but it is one that's going to be with me for the rest of my life," Page, 34, said.
"It means I'll no longer be able to sing and dance the way that I want to and as a result I've decided to stop performing with The Wiggles."
The group has performed without Page for some months, because of his ill-health.
The remaining members of the group, Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field and Murray Cook, said it was an emotional time.
"It's very surreal that Greg's not going to be with us, very sad," said Field.
"The thing about The Wiggles is we love doing it. I know Greg loved doing the shows, it's just that he can't physically do it anymore.
"We love touring, meeting all the families, the children.
"Myself, Murray and Jeff. We actually said to each other, 'do you want to keep going?' and we said 'yes, we'd love to keep going'."
Page's illness became public following a double hernia operation in December last year, and Moran has performed in his place for an estimated 150 shows.
He has been with The Wiggles as a dancer, performer and understudy for 12 years.
For months Page's condition was a mystery.
Page said earlier this month doctors were trying to find the cause of his fainting bouts, which were becoming more frequent.
Today's announcement came as The Wiggles, Australia's highest-earning entertainers for the last two years, launched a new national tour in Perth.
The group was formed 15 years ago after Field, Cook and Page met while studying early childhood education at Sydney's Macquarie University.
They enlisted Fatt, who played with Field in popular 1980s' group The Cockroaches, and The Wiggles were born.
The Sydney-based group has won five ARIA Awards and three APRA songwriter awards and sold in excess of 17 million DVD/videos and five million CD/cassettes worldwide.
They have expanded their multimillion-dollar empire by establishing spin-off Wiggles groups in Taiwan and Latin America.
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My 2.5 yo son knows who Greg is and will probably notice that he is missing, but I guess it is business as usual...
How will your kids handle the replacement of Greg?
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who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?
Last edited by spindles; 11-29-2006 at 05:59 PM..
Reason: fixed title
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