The Wiggles
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. 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, "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 shirt. 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". Scholar 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".
Since 1990, Fatt (whose nickname is "Fatty") has taken a photo a day documenting the most eventful thing that has happened to him. He was "a keen surfer".
On 17 May 2012 it was announced that Fatt along with Greg Page and Murray Cook, would be retiring at the end of the year. He is to be replaced by Wiggles cast member Lachlan Gillespie. Fatt and the others expected to remain involved with the creative and production aspects of the group.
Read more about this topic: Jeff Fatt