The Wiggles are set to introduce American-born music legend Dolly Parton to their young audience.
The children’s group have collaborated with Parton, 79, on their upcoming country album Wiggle Up Giddy Up, which is set to drop on March 7.
Fans will get to hear two completely new songs from the 9 to 5 hitmaker.
In an interview with Woman’s Day, Wiggle Tsehay Hawkins raved about working with the icon, revealing the group were ‘stoked’ when she agreed to appear on their latest recording.
‘Oh, it was pretty amazing’, the 19-year-old Yellow Wiggle said about Parton, who has sold over 100 million records in a career spanning 60 years.
‘So she sent through a few tracks, and we Wiggle-fied them and she absolutely loved them. It was so surreal to know that we were working with a country icon.’
The Wiggles are set to introduce American-born music legend Dolly Parton to their young audience
The children’s group have collaborated with Parton, 79, on their upcoming country album Wiggle Up Giddy Up, which is set to drop on March 7
Meanwhile, Blue Wiggle Lachy Gillespie revealed the group never actually got meet Parton.
‘There weren’t any Skypes or anything; everything was done through her management. As you can imagine she’s a pretty busy lady, but for her to just have trust in The Wiggles,’ he said.
Lachy, 39, described Parton’s tunes as ‘brand new’ and said they were about ‘friendship’, adding they were: ‘awesome’.
‘Whenever we heard her vocal, there’s always so much energy to it. She’s still so impressive,’ he said.
The Wiggles have been working on the album for about three years.
Also included on the album is a ‘reworking’ of a song by the late Slim Dusty, who died in 2003.
The tune, I Love to Dance with Dorothy, was originally written as the song Duncan which Slim first released in 1980.
Also featured on the album is singer Dasha, known for her 2024 hit Austin, as well as another US-born country music hitmaker Lainey Wilson, who topped the charts with her tune Things a Man Oughta Know in 2020.
In an interview with Woman’s Day , Wiggle Tsehay Hawkins raved about working with the icon, revealing the group were ‘stoked’ when she agreed to appear on their latest recording
There also tunes from South African country artist Orville Peck and Nashville star Jackson Dean.
It comes after former Wiggles star Emma Watkins recently revealed how she ‘burned through’ her savings after leaving the iconic kids group in 2021.
The 35-year-old became the first female Wiggle after putting on the yellow skivvy in 2012 and replacing founding member Greg Page.
Speaking to Osher Günsberg on his Better Than Yesterday podcast in December, Emma said that her decision to leave the Wiggles to create her new Emma Memma character came at quite the cost.
Osher asked Emma if she did ‘a financial inventory’ before embarking on her solo venture.
‘I feel like the inventory has only happened more recently to see how much money we have burned through,’ Emma said.
According to Woman’s Day, Emma was paid a reported $750,000 per year for her role as the Yellow Wiggle.
She went on to explain that after leaving the group in October 2021, she set about creating the Emma Memma character as well as going back to full-time study, which proved to be a drain on her finances.
It comes after former Wiggles star Emma Watkins recently revealed how she ‘burned through’ her savings after leaving the iconic kids group in 2021
‘When I left The Wiggles I actually went back to full time study,’ Emma explained.
‘The whole premise was I was going to finish my PHD, that became the whole focus – but of course that wasn’t bringing in any revenue.’
Emma debuted her own children’s entertainment character Emma Memma in 2022, winning an ARIA for Best Children’s album in 2023.
Emma has also branched out of the children’s entertainment space to appear on the likes of The Masked Singer, The Amazing Race Australia, Lego Masters Australia and the ABC series Teenage Boss: Next Level.
Her turn on the 2023 season of The Amazing Race, competing alongside sister Hayley netted Emma an equal first place alongside former Voice host Darren McMullen and singer Alli Simpson’s teams.
She also tied the knot with husband Oliver Brian in 2022.
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