VALE BOB WELCH

The untimely passing of highly respected American singer-songwriter Bob Welch has come as a shock to his many fans around the globe.

Welch, who took his own life in his Nashville home on 7 June, was rumoured to have been suffering from a series of undisclosed medical problems. His body was discovered by his wife, and it is alleged that Welch left a note at the scene of his passing.

It is often overlooked that Bob Welch was a contributing member of Fleetwood Mac in the 1^st half of the 1970’s, and his departure saw the recruitment of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks assist in taking the British-American band to enormous success, primarily on the back of 1977’s multi-platinum LP “Rumours”.

Whilst Welch may be viewed as having missed out on the financial rewards of Fleetwood Mac’s stellar commercial years, he himself enjoyed critical & commercial solo success in the late 1970’s. His 1977 LP “French Kiss” achieved platinum sales in the USA, and the singles “Ebony Eyes” and “Sentimental Lady” were both Top Ten chart hits. In fact, “Sentimental Lady” was a Fleetwood Mac album track from the early 1970’s. The 1977 version featured musical contributions from most of the “golden era” Fleetwood Mac group members, and is widely recognised as his finest work.

As is all too common in the entertainment world, Welch’s life took a downwards turn when the adulation died down in the 1980’s, with some well publicised substance abuse problems interrupting his creative output. Welch wasn’t invited to partake in any of the lucrative Fleetwood Mac reunion tours from the late 1980’s onwards, thus one can only assume that he may have felt that his departure from the band was a career-changing mistake.

It goes without saying that Bob Welch will be missed. It can never be denied that he was an extremely talented songwriter and guitarist, and his body of work will live on.

THE WIGGLES VERSION 2.0 – A SENSIBLE STRATEGY

The recent media announcement of The Wiggles’ member change at the end of 2012 has the doomsayers talking about “poor career choices”, however this may just be a very sensible strategy for Australia’s most lucrative children’s entertainment brand.

Come 2013, Jeff Fatt [the purple “Wiggle”], Murray Cook [red] and Greg Page [yellow] will step away from playing a public role in the group, and Emma Watkins, Simon Pryce and Lachlan Gillespie will join founding member Anthony Field as the ongoing faces of The Wiggles. Fatt and Cook will maintain their equity in The Wiggles corporation [allegedly worth tens of millions of dollars], whilst Page will join the aforementioned Fatt and Cook and continue with song writing and production duties for the supergroup.

So, why is the personnel change in The Wiggles a sensible strategy?

Age – let’s face it; the original members of The Wiggles are all on the cloudy side of 40 years old, and being a Wiggle is a very draining vocation. The group tours the world for 9 months of the year, whilst the balance of time is spent “being creative” – writing and recording news songs, designing new stage sets, et al. Greg Page and Jeff Fatt have both experienced very public health problems in recent years, and Murray Cook simply wishes to spend more time with his family. Anthony Field is passionate about The Wiggles; he focuses on maintaining peak physical & mental fitness in order to fulfil his ambitions for the group.

New faces – the unique factor of The Wiggles’ “brand” revolves around their ever-changing fan base. Once a child reaches 5 years of age and begins to lose interest in the group’s appeal, there is a steady supply of new fans being born to replace them! Whilst it is important to maintain some continuity by way of Anthony Field, the attraction of 3 new personalities [including a first time female Wiggle] will be a breath of fresh air for the group’s audience.

Public Relations – the replacement of recent yellow Wiggle Sam Moran by founding member Greg Page in early 2012 was terribly handled, and the media pounced upon the apparent “disharmony” within the Group. Further reports about The Wiggles’ financial losses in the past 2 years did nothing to quell the storm of controversy about the group’s future. In short, “something different” was required in order for The Wiggles to regain public favour.

Whilst the announcement of the personnel changes may appear to be contrived and rather hasty on the back of the early 2012 “controversy”, the change in strategy is most likely to prolong The Wiggles’ brand. Time will tell as to whether the group will remain as popular as the world-famous quartet of Field, Page/ Moran, Fatt & Cook; I’m supportive of their progression.