WHEN it comes to early childhood musical entertainment, it's fair to say Paul Field knows his product.
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He spent 25 years serving as The Wiggles manager, which saw the coloured skivvy-wearing foursome become a global TV, music, touring and merchandising juggernaut, selling 30 million records and DVDs and being named Australia's highest-earning entertainers for four straight years in the mid-2000s.
Two years on from leaving The Wiggles organisation, the 61-year-old is hoping lightning strikes twice with his new children's musical project, Peachy Keen.
Last week Peachy Keen released its first album, Animal Songs. It'll be followed by the albums Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes in the next two months. Another three albums are expected by the end of the year.
Peachy Keen features tracks written by Paul's younger brother John, who penned more than 300 songs for The Wiggles, including Hot Potato.
After more than 40 years in the music industry, beginning with rock-pop band The Cockroaches with his brothers John and Blue Wiggle Anthony, Paul says he's excited by the prospect of starting another new project from scratch.
"I have absolutely no problem with that," he says. "It's actually quite exciting to see where it takes me. This is just the beginning, dare I say, it's baby steps at the moment. We'll see where it goes."
Whereas The Wiggles' members - whether it be the original group or the 2010s line-up - have distinct and visual identities, Peachy Keen features a ever-changing list of performers.
These include Golden Guitar-winner Shane Nicholson, jazz singer Emma Pask, veteran musician Pat Powell and renown keyboardist Clayton Dooley, among others.
Animated content will become part of the Peachy Keen brand, but at the moment there's no live performance or touring plans.
"It's a carousel of singers and musicians that I've got, which when I was originally creating this there was a choice of either being like The Wiggles where it's 'x' number of people," Paul says.
"The universe was probably speaking to me as it was deep COVID when I first started talking about this when we couldn't go to the shops, little alone tour.
"I thought we'll make this so it's not actual people known as the group and then it's easier to move ahead and be here in 10 or 20 years from now, for even 10 months from now."
The idea for Peachy Keen came after the birth of Paul's two grandchildren over the past two years and discussions with his daughter Clare, a former Wiggles dancer and social media chief.
Paul says Peachy Keen is not about competing with The Wiggles, but rather adding to the wealth of children's music.
"I think parents and carers these days are overwhelmed with choice and there's so much out there, we just want to be one of the really good quality, if not, the best quality [ones]," he says.
"Anthony has been doing it with The Wiggles for 30 years, they're on a planet of their own. A planet of success. We won't be crowding them at all.
"We just want to be adding to the good quality that's out there."
Peachy Keen's Animal Songs is available now.