Sam Moran

Samuel Alexander Moran (born 4 April 1978)[1] is an Australian entertainer best known for having been a member of the children's band the Wiggles from 2006 to 2012. He was born in Sydney[2] and raised in Wagga Wagga.[3] He is the host of the children's television series Play Along With Sam.

For the 19th-century baseball player, see Sam Moran (baseball).

Sam Moran
Moran in 2008
Background information
Birth nameSamuel Alexander Moran
Born (1978-04-04) 4 April 1978
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
GenresChildren's, pop
Occupation(s)Musician, dancer, actor, singer
InstrumentsVocals, trumpet, guitar, drums, ukulele
Years active1998–present
LabelsSony Music Australia
Associated actsThe Wiggles, Nick Jr.
WebsiteSamMoran.com

Career

Moran studied classical voice and music education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with the purpose of becoming a high school music teacher, and began performing in plays and musicals while still a student.

The Wiggles

Moran's involvement with the Wiggles began when he appeared in "Haste to the Wedding" and "Evie and the Birdman", both written by John Field, Anthony Field's brother and songwriter for the Wiggles.[2][4] Moran began performing with the Wiggles in 1998, hosting and touring with the "Dorothy the Dinosaur Show"[5] throughout Australia and New Zealand, in small venues the Wiggles "had grown too big for".[2] He played Professor Singalottasonga and Dapper Dave in the group's TV series.[3] In 2002, Moran became Greg Page's understudy 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 fall 2006 US tour. Moran reported that he was asked to permanently join the Wiggles "a couple of days"[2] before Page announced his retirement in November 2006. Moran's shtick on stage was losing things.[3][6]

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,"[2] was "smooth" for the young children of the Wiggles' audience, it was more difficult for their parents.[7] Bandmate Murray Cook 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 was different from those of his bandmates, 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".[8]

Along with the original members of the Wiggles, Moran was awarded an Honorary PhD in Children’s Education and Psychology from Macquarie University in 2009. [9][10] In 2011, Sam Moran and the original Wiggles were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame for the band's "20 year commitment to children’s music and entertainment." [11] During Moran's time as the lead singer of the Wiggles, the group never lost an ARIA Award.[12]

In January 2012, and amidst a great deal of controversy, the Wiggles announced that Greg Page had regained his health and was returning to his role as the Yellow Wiggle. As part of his severance package, he was given unconditional use of Hot Potato Studios, plus royalties for any of his songs.[13][14]

Solo projects

Moran released his first solo album, 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 Boys' "God Only Knows" with Australian jazz vocalist, Emma Pask.

Colour of Love track list

  1. You Make Loving Fun
  2. Unchained Melody
  3. Wonderful Tonight
  4. Fire and Rain
  5. God Only Knows (with Emma Pask)
  6. More Than Words
  7. Wonderful World
  8. Sara Smile
  9. Hello
  10. The Scientist
  11. Baby, Now That I've Found You
  12. She's Got a Way

Moran performed "Advance Australia Fair" at the first game of the 2010 NRL State of Origin.

Play Along with Sam
Play Along with Sam
GenrePre-School
Presented bySam Moran
Composer(s)Sam Moran
Country of originAustralia
Original language(s)English
No. of series5
Production
Camera setupSingle Camera
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)Nickelodeon Australia
Release
Original networkNick Jr.
First shown inAustralia
Original release6 May 2013 –
present
Chronology
Followed byUnited States

In May 2013, Moran returned to children's television hosting a new preschool series, Play Along with Sam, on Nickelodeon's sister channel Nick Jr. Play Along with Sam is an educational music block programme that airs every weekday morning until midday and also in the evening from 6:30PM to 8:00PM, wrapped around top rating programmes.[15]

Play Along with Sam also went to #1 in Australian and #5 in Canada on the iTunes Children's Music Charts.

Its companion album was nominated for an ARIA Music Award for Best Children's Album in 2013.[16] The show also received an ASTRA Awards nomination for Most Outstanding Children's Program or Event, while Moran was nominated for Best New Talent.[17] The show was also nominated for the TV Week Logie Award for Outstanding Children's Program.[18][19]

In 2015, Moran won the ARIA Music Award for Best Children's Album, beating his former bandmates, the Wiggles. In his acceptance speech he said "...I've often wondered what I might say, were I ever fortunate enough to be in this position. Standing here now... with this... I realise I no longer need to say those things..."[20] alluding to his unceremonious re-replacement in his former group.

In 2018, GQ Australia included Sam Moran on their list of the Best-dressed Gents at the 32nd ARIA Awards.[21] Moran was nominated for Best Children's Album that year.

Personal life

Before he became a professional singer and performer, due to his "love of gadgets", Moran seriously considered going into information technology as a career.[22] He is a fan of the Australian Football League team the Sydney Swans. He is also "a keen cook".[23] He married American born Lyn Stuckey, a dancer with the Wiggles in 2006.[24] They met when appearing together on the "Dorothy the Dinosaur Show", when Stuckey played Dorothy the Dinosaur.[2] The couple's first child was born January 2010 in Sydney.[25] They separated in 2016.

In 2020, he announced on his official social media pages that he was expecting his second child with new partner, Jessica Vergara; due in late 2020.[26]

Discography
See also: The Wiggles discography

Studio albums

  • Colour of Love (2010)
  • Play Along with Sam (2013)
  • We're Gonna Dance! (2014)
  • BOO! (2015)
  • Best. Day. Ever! (2016)
  • Santa's Coming! (2017)

Filmography
See also: The Wiggles videography
  • Play Along with Sam (2013–present) – Host

Awards and nominations
Year Nominee / work Award Result
2007 Pop Go the Wiggles! ARIA Award for Best Children's Album Won
2008 You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
2009 Go Bananas!
2010 Let's Eat
2011 Ukulele Baby!
"The Wiggles" ARIA Hall of Fame
2013 Play Along with Sam ARIA Award for Best Children's Album Nominated[17]
2014 Sam Moran ASTRA Award: Best New Talent Nominated[17]
Play Along with Sam TV Week Logie Award: Outstanding Children's Program Nominated[18][19]
We're Gonna Dance ARIA Award for Best Children's Album Nominated[16]
2015 BOO! Won[16]
2016 Play Along with Sam TV Week Logie Award: Most Outstanding Children's Program Nominated
BEST. DAY. EVER! ARIA Award for Best Children's Album Nominated[16]
2018 Santa's Coming!
gollark: There was a buffer or something it needed which didn't seem to exist because of me hackily patching stuff together, so I just assumed 512 bytes was enough.
gollark: There are probably horrible issues in the code I hackily tweaked, but I can't see them and it doesn't cause immediate crashing, so I ignored it.
gollark: It leaks 28 bytes of memory once, because I thought it wasn't worth adding extra code to deallocate it on exit.
gollark: Although the current version, as far as I can tell, lacks any issues except a *minor* memory leak.
gollark: Sorry, happen.

References
  1. "Sam Moran". IMDb.
  2. "First Dorothy, then another yellow road". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 December 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  3. "Wagga's Wiggle". The Daily Advertiser. 26 January 2009. p. 16.
  4. "Sam". The Wiggles Official Website. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  5. "Wiggles Sam's family values". The Daily Telegraph. 16 December 2006. Retrieved 18 November 2007.
  6. Kirk, Laura Meade (14 August 2007). "A sunny new performer joins the Wiggles family". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  7. Steinberg, Jacques (4 December 2006). "Hush, Mama, don't you cry, a new yellow Wiggle will sing". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
  8. Wright, Anders (25 March 2008). "Baby's first rock band". San Diego Citybeat. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  9. "Honorary Doctorates for The Wiggles" (39). The Macquarie Globe. 1 October 2009.
  10. "Sam Moran". The Harbour Agency. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  11. "ABC Music takes out two more ARIA Awards and The Wiggles are inducted into ARIA Hall of Fame". www.abcmusic.com.au.
  12. https://www.ariaawards.com.au/history/award/best-children-s-album
  13. Kwek, Glenda (19 January 2012). "How 'Salaried' Sam Lost His Wiggle". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  14. Washington, Stuart; Erik Jensen and Glenda Kwek (21 January 2012). "Yellow Sub: Greg Resurfaces". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  15. "Home". sammoran.com.
  16. "Search Results – Sam Moran". Aria Awards. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  17. "2014 Finalists & Winners!". 12th ASTRA Awards. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  18. "2014 Logie Awards: full list of nominees". Sydney Morning Herald. 31 March 2014.
  19. Knox, David (27 April 2014). "Logie Awards 2014: Winners". TV Tonight. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  20. "Sam Moran ARIA Acceptance Speech". YouTube. 16 July 2015.
  21. Skoric, Nikolina. "All The Best Dressed Gents Who Graced The 2018 ARIA Awards Red Carpet". www.gq.com.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  22. Blake, Elissa (2 September 2007). "Unusual suspects". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2007.
  23. Critchley, Cheryl (8 October 2007). "New Wiggle Sam Moran shows true colours". Herald Sun. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
  24. Fouch, Robert L. (29 July 2007). "Fast chat: Sam Moran". Newsday. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  25. "Wagga Wiggle has a lot to sing about". The Daily Advertiser. 21 January 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2010."WHY SAM MORAN ISN'T BITTER ABOUT THE WIGGLES". Daily Telegraph. 13 July 2019.
  26. Moran, Sam (29 June 2020). "baby announcement". Instagram.
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