Jeff Fatt

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Jeffrey Wayne Jeff Fatt AM born 21 July 1953 in Casino New South Wales Australia is a Chinese Australian musician and actor He is best known as a member of the childrens 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 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 90s 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 Im not interested you know Hes always got these ideas for things He said Ive got this idea come down to the studio Fatts response to Fields request was How long will it take As a Wiggle Fatt wears a purple shirt He originated the Wiggles character Henry the Octopus and performed his voice when other actors took over the role His schtick was sleeping at odd times which led to a Wiggles catchphrase and the title of one of their songs Wake Up Jeff Fatt is the oldest Wiggle and is wellknown for his laidback personality 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 Im 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 Fatt reports 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 Since 1990 Jeff has taken a photo a day documenting the most eventful thing that has happened to him He is a keen surfer Fatt was made a Member of the Order of Australia AM on 26 January 2010 for service to the arts particularly childrens entertainment and to the community as a benefactor and supporter of a range of charities Description above from the Wikipedia article Jeff Fattlicensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia