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Paul and Anthony Field have spoken out for the first time about how The Wiggles were formed.
Paul, the manager for the band, and Anthony, the ‘blue’ Wigggle’, were left heartbroken when Paul’s daughter Bernadette passed away at the age of eight months from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The brothers were on tour for their band The Cockroaches on September 2, 1988 when their family was rocked by the devastating news.
‘I felt like we had both been thrown off a cliff,’ Paul told The Weekend Australian Magazine. ‘We had a beautiful funeral for Bernadette, with music and singing. I’ve blocked a lot out but I do recall carrying her coffin from the hearse to the graveside. It was a devastating, wrong moment.’
The Cockroaches went on tour afterwards, but it wasn’t long before they went their separate ways.
In 1991, Anthony joined The Wiggles and dedicated the first album to Paul’s late daughter Bernadette.
A decade ago, Paul became the manager for the band. The Wiggles used their fame to raise money and awareness for SIDS.
‘Bernadette has a lot to do with where I am now,’ Anthony revealed. ‘The Wiggles would always have done charity work with children but if Bernadette hadn’t died there is no way I’d have the empathy that I do now.’
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