Their success made them Australia's most profitable entertainers for four years in a row, outstripping Minogue, Keith Urban and rockers AC/DC, and made household names of characters Dorothy the Dinosaur and Wags the Dog.

Field knew they had stumbled on something special when he lent their first recording to parents at a pre-school and one mother returned it the next day because her son was playing it non-stop.

"How long will it take?" asked Fatt, who was renovating his house at the time.

SYDNEY (AFP) – They went from student project to global fame, out-selling Kylie Minogue, but Australian children's band The Wiggles say they're amazed by their success as they prepare to celebrate 20 years.

The Wiggles are now a global cultural force with CD, DVD, ticket and merchandise sales to match, and will be the subject of an exhibition at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum to celebrate their 20th year in 2011.

The success is hard-earned: The Wiggles spend between seven and eight months a year on the road. Cook,fake lyle scott jumper cheap, 50, says the time away from their partners and children is not easy, but the rewards are worth it.

"We hear a lot from families with children that have autism that we really make a connection with them, and they communicate much more in some cases after they've experienced The Wiggles. It's really rewarding and wonderful,clarks shoes outlet," he said.

His 13-year-old son doesn't always appreciate the fame ("mainly because it draws attention to me and by association to him") but Cook says most young Australians have an affectionate place in their heart for the group.

"It's kind of like nostalgia, they remember when they were little," he said.

Sam Moran,lacoste online shop deutschland, 32, replaced a chronically ill Page as the Yellow Wiggle in 2006, and he brought a new sound to the troupe, with classical training and a background in musical theatre.

He says simply taking off their signature long-sleeved shirts is the band's "best disguise".

"I wore a yellow T-shirt accidentally once, not thinking. I never wore it again," he says, remembering attracting intense attention.

And of the next 20 years?

"Aching bones!" exclaims Field. "No, we love it."

Among just a handful of men in their Macquarie University course of about 500 women, the trio bonded over their love of music, and decided to record an album for a class project.

The colourful quartet, dressed in their trademark blue, red, yellow and purple high-necked shirts,abercrombie clearance, are so beloved by children they can fill Madison Square Garden and reap tens of millions of US dollars in annual sales.

He named the band after a Cockroaches song, "Mr Wiggle's Back in Town" and dedicated their self-titled first album to his niece whose sudden cot-death in 1988 prompted his pre-school studies.

"Children really do think differently to adults and we've tried to accommodate that,ecko boys shoes, we haven't tried to make them think like us."

Field was in an established rock band called "The Cockroaches", and asked bandmate Jeff Fatt if he'd mind helping with the home-recorded album, which cost 4,000 dollars (3,jimmy choo shoes,700 US) to make but sold 100,000 copies.

"It's all been a great surprise for us,purple, how it's gone and where it's gone -- all over the world now. It's amazing for us," Field tells AFP.

The simple formula of catchy children's tunes with sing-along lyrics and entertaining dances was born in 1991,oakley razor blades, when Field, Murray Cook and Greg Page were studying to become pre-school teachers.

Twenty years later, and Fatt is still turning out as the famously sleepy Purple Wiggle,prada shop desert, who has excitable young audiences screaming,paul smith belt stores, "Wake up Jeff!" and laughing at his headstands.

"We've always tried to speak to children in a language that they understand and that they can relate to, we sing about things that are in their world, not the world of adults," said Field, 47.

"Just doing the shows is enough, because they're very physical and very demanding. You do have to watch what you eat," he says.

The keen surfer and cyclist, now greying at the temples and just past his 57th birthday, says "staying fit and healthy" is the secret to keeping up with the boisterous young audiences.

"All we wanted was to (make) really great theatre for children, great music for children," says Blue Wiggle Anthony Field. "But it wasn't a career, we didn't want to make money from it, we had no vision to travel."

Field, a one-time soldier and army medic, also has a strong following among mothers and was named Australia's 1999 Bachelor of the Year by Cleo Magazine.