Jeff Fatt is an Australian musician and actor known for being in a children’s band called the Wiggles.
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Background
Jeffrey Wayne Fatt, commonly known as Jeff Fatt was born in Casino, New South Wales in Australia at Casino Memorial Hospital. The versatile singer, musician and actor stepped into the world on July 21, 1953. His parents were of Chinese origin which is surprising to people because was born in Australia. Australia actually has a large Chinese population because of the many immigrants that migrate there.
His father was the owner of a major retail store in New South Wales, the city of Jeff’s birth. His mother Norma was brought up in Hong Kong. Jeff’s favorite shows as a kid were Sooty and The Mickey Mouse Club. Ray Charles is his favorite musician and role model. Jeff has four siblings, and he is the fourth youngest one among the five children. His younger sister name is Kristine. Meiling, Meiguin, and Hilton are Jeff’s older siblings.
Chinese Family in Australia
It was tough for Jeff and his siblings to grow up as Chinse kids living in Australia. Throughout the years, Chinse people in Australia have had to face racism from the white residents of Australia. Even in 2018, there has been tension between the Chinese immigrants and white residents in Australia. There have been a growing number of Asian politicians that want to try to run for the political offices in Australia. They feel that they have a large number of people that need proper representation. Since they contribute a lot to the economy and society of the country, they do not think that it is fair if laws are made without their input and consideration. They feel that they are as much Australian as any other person living in the country.
Unfortunately, there is still a lot of racism that is present in Australia. During the 2018 elections, there was racism vandalism on the campaign posters of Asian nominees. There was tagging and graffiti that read “No Chinks” on the faces of Asian politicians. They Asian residents were angry and disgusted with the cruel acts of racism. There were many white people that supported them and assured them not to worry because the negative and racist people were in the minority and didn’t speak for everyone in the country. The Asian politicians stood their ground and said that they would not back down and would fight for change as hard as they could.
Music Career
Jeff became an inspiring music artist and was famous for being a band member of the famous children’s band, The Wiggles. The talented and versatile musician had great expertise on the keyboard, accordion and vocals. Jeff started playing the keyboard first but he eventually picked up the other instruments because he wanted to expand his musical range.
He had established a store in Sydney along with his brother before his music career took off. His brother, Hilton Fatt is a music producer. It was then when he was contacted to join the music band, The Cockroaches. The Cockroaches were dissolved in the early '90s. He was associated with the band until he joined The Wiggles. He is one of the oldest Wiggle band members and was a purple Wiggle. The purple Wiggle was famous for always falling asleep. Fatt was associated and involved with the group until 2012. The purple wiggle was later substituted played by Lachlan Gillespie after Jeff had left the band.
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In 2013, Jeff starred in cameo roles for shows like Taking Off and for The Wiggles TV program, Ready Steady Wiggle.
The Man of Many Talents
On January 26, 2010, Fatt was honored with the Membership of the Order of Australia (AM) in because of his talents and contributions in the field of arts and entertainment, especially for children’s entertainment.
His filmography includes shows and movies like Yes Dear (2002), The Merrick & Rosso Show (2009), Rove Live (2000), The Bob Downe Show (2000), Today Tonight (2006), Knocked Up (2007) and several others. His work on soundtracks include Life As We Know It (2010), Beautiful Kate (2009), and Just Like Heaven (2005).
Jeff was also the voice of the octopus Henry in an animated cartoon. Jeff can be sighted playing piano in the music video, On A Very Extraordinary Monday Morning by the Field Brothers.
Health Scare
Jeff was forced to miss the Big Birthday Tour in the United States due to a heart surgery. He had a massive blackout and was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia. He never missed a show in twenty years for the Wiggles up until that point. Sydney's Mater Hospital performed the operation in which a pacemaker was fitted in Jeff’s body. Some websites distastefully reported news of his death but it was just a hoax.
Personal Life
Jeff was raised in the Christian by religion. His acquaintances suggest that he is not much of an outspoken and talkative personality. His ex-band partner termed him as someone whose keyboard does all the talking on his behalf. Even though he was in a band that had a target audience of children, Jeff wasn’t very extroverted in his personal life. He loved performing and making children happy but he wasn’t an approachable person behind the scenes.
Jeff has never been vocal about his romantic affairs and love life. However, Jeff is reported to be married to his wife Vanessa Fatt. They tied the knot with each other in 2010. There were some rumors that he was gay because of how he presents himself. Jeff is very silly and feminine so people speculated that he was a homosexual but those rumors were gone after there was news about his marriage to Vanessa.
What a lot of his fans don’t know about Jeff is that he wasn’t always destined to become a musician. As he grew up he was fascinated with how buildings were created. He wanted to create cool buildings and had a lot of concepts in his head as he was growing up. He holds a degree in industrial design as he aspired to become an architect. It was a twist of fate that he would end up designing music instead of structures.
Last Modified: Apr 6, 2020
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