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SYDNEY - Popular children's entertainers The Wiggles will announce changes to their line-up tomorrow amid growing concerns over the health of Yellow Wiggle Greg Page.
The Wiggles have scheduled a "major announcement" in Perth tomorrow ahead of the start of their new national tour.
The announcement relates to "members of the group", said Australia's highest-earning entertainers, comprising Page, Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field and Murray Cook.
It follows reports of a mystery illness suffered by Page, 34, who has been undergoing medical examinations since June after experiencing bouts of fainting and lethargy.
Since a double hernia operation in December last year, Page has often been absent from the veteran children's supergroup, handing yellow skivvy-wearing duties to understudy Sam Moran.
Paul Field, the group's manager and brother of Blue Wiggle Anthony, recently told AAP that Page would be out of action indefinitely.
As well as missing scheduled shows, Page has also missed key Australian industry events, including the Seven Network's 50 Years of Television show and the 2006 Australian Recording Industry Awards.
"It is frustrating for Greg and his family," Field said early this month.
"It is not something that we can put a time limit on.
"Tests are ongoing but they have been for a while and we have to just be patient and wait until they find the root cause of these episodes."
While Page hasn't spoken to the media, the Wiggles singer released a statement to fans earlier this month explaining his absence from the group's US tour.
He said doctors were attempting to find the cause of his fainting bouts.
"I have had numerous bouts of this over the past eight months but they are getting more frequent, and more concerning," he said.
"So I have decided that I must go home, rest and seek further medical advice to assure myself that I will be OK for future tours."
The Wiggles are about to visit major Australian cities on their Racing To The Rainbow tour and Field said recently Page was not fit enough to perform the rigorous routines required for a stage show.
"It is a pretty full-on workout," he said recently.
"You need to be 100 per cent fit and he's not."
The Wiggles formed 15 years ago after Field, Cook and Page met while studying early childhood education at Sydney's Macquarie University.
They enlisted Fatt, who played with Field in popular 1980s group The Cockroaches, and The Wiggles were born.
The group has toured worldwide and in recent years has hit the big time in the United States.
The Sydney-based group has won five ARIA Awards and three APRA song writer awards and sold in excess of 17 million DVD/videos and five million CD/cassettes worldwide.
Last year they also took the number one spot among the Business Review Weekly's highest-earning entertainers for a second year in a row.
They have expanded their multi-million dollar empire by establishing spin-off Wiggles groups in Taiwan and Latin America.
- AAP
