Sam Moran
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n entertainer best known for being a member of the children's band The Wiggles
The Wiggles
The Wiggles are a children's group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Phillip Wilcher, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. Wilcher left the group after their first album...
. He was born in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and raised in Wagga Wagga.
Career
Moran studied classical voice and music education at the Sydney Conservatorium of MusicSydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
with the purpose of becoming a high school music teacher, and began performing in plays and musicals while still a student. His involvement with The Wiggles began when he appeared in "Haste to the Wedding" and "Evie & The Birdman", both written by John Field
John Field (songwriter)
John William Michael Field born 15 May 1962 Darlinghurst, New South Wales, is an Australian composer/songwriter who has written a large number of songs for the internationally acclaimed Australian children's performers, The Wiggles...
, Anthony Field's
Anthony Field
Anthony Donald Field AM is an Australian musician and actor. He is best known as a member of the children's group The Wiggles and the 1980s and 90s band The Cockroaches with his brothers, Paul and John and another future Wiggle, Jeff Fatt.Field was the youngest of seven children, and grew up in...
brother and songwriter for The Wiggles. Moran began performing with The Wiggles in 1998, hosting and touring with the "Dorothy the Dinosaur Show" throughout Australia and New Zealand, in small venues The Wiggles "had grown too big for". He played Professor Singalottasonga and Dapper Dave in the group's TV series. In 2002, Moran became Greg Page's understudy
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
and filled in for Page over 150 times. Page was advised by his doctors not to travel, so Moran performed in his place during the group's 2006 US tour. Moran reported that he was asked to permanently join The Wiggles "a couple of days" before Page announced his retirement in November 2006. Moran's shtick on stage is losing things.
Although the transition from Page to Moran as the group's lead singer, which Moran has called "probably one of the most physically demanding roles in mainstream entertainment," was "smooth" for the young children of The Wiggles' audience, it was more difficult for their parents. Band mate Murray Cook
Murray Cook
Murray James Cook AM is an Australian vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as one of the founding members of the children's band The Wiggles...
reported that Moran did "amazingly well" as a Wiggle, and that the addition of Moran changed their sound, forced the group to "rethink things", and made the band stronger. Although Moran struggled with the spontaneity of The Wiggles' stage performances, Cook said, "We’ve never felt like we had to carry him or anything. He’s a smart guy. But it is a bit different, just having a different person on stage." Moran's background in musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
was different than his band mates, so The Wiggles had to change the way they recorded their music. At sound checks, their practice was to "kind of jam on things", but Moran often did not know the songs the other three used at those times. Cook reported that it took some time for Moran, but a year after Page's retirement stated, "We’re slowly educating each other".
Solo Projects
Sam released his first solo album, The Colour of Love, through Sony Music Australia in 2010. The album consisted of covers of well known love songs, including a duet of The Beach BoysThe Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
' "God Only Knows" with Australian jazz vocalist, Emma Pask
Emma Pask
Emma Pask is an Australian jazz vocalist. She is best known for her work with big bands and her continuing collaboration with noted Australian virtuoso James Morrison.-Background:...
.
Colour of Love Album
Track List- You Make Lovin' Fun
- Unchained Melody
- Wonderful Tonight
- Fire and Rain
- God Only Knows (with Emma Pask)
- More Than Words
- Wonderful World
- Sara Smile
- Hello
- The Scientist
- Baby, Now That I've Found You
- She's Got a Way
Moran performed Advance Australia Fair
Advance Australia Fair
"Advance Australia Fair" is the official national anthem of Australia. Created by the Scottish-born composer, Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, but did not gain its status as the official anthem until 1984. Until then, the song was sung in Australia as a patriotic song...
at the first game of the 2010 NRL State of Origin.
Personal life
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
as a career. Moran's musical influences include Puccini, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
, and John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
.
Moran is a fan of the Australian Football League team the Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
. He is also "a keen cook" when not touring with The Wiggles. He is married to American born Lyn Stuckey, a dancer with The Wiggles. They met when appearing together on the "Dorothy the Dinosaur Show", when Stuckey played Dorothy the Dinosaur.
The couple's first child was born January 2010 in Sydney.