Murray Cook

"Murray Cook" (to some fans, Muzza Cook) is an Australian guitarist who is known as the red Wiggle of The Wiggles. He started playing the Guitar at age 11. As a teenager he performed in musicals and local bands. He is the second tallest Wiggle, slightly shorter than Greg Page.

Early Musical Projects

Cook played the guitar in the late '80s various bands "Transistor" and "Finger Guns" (who released three singles) before joining the Sydney-based band Bang Shang a Lang. (He continued to play for this band in Sydney, when not on tour with The Wiggles).

The Wiggles
When things did not work out in the music field for him, he returned to college and studied early childhood education at Macquarie University, where he met Anthony Field and Greg Page and formed The Wiggles in 1991. He has performed as a Wiggle since 1991 and has loved every minute of it. "Children are the best audiences!" He was a music teacher at Kegworth Public School in Leichhardt in 1991 and was a tutor in early education and taught at Macquarie University in 1992.

Cook's schtick in The Wiggles is an obsession with playing the guitar. He was conscious that he was probably the first guitarist children would see, and said, "I always think that if it inspires kids to play guitar later on that would be great. I think it would be really nice if in 15 years I read that somebody got into guitar playing because of the Wiggles. I know that would be fantastic." When asked what his favorite Wiggles song was, he stated, "'Play your guitar with Murray,' of course. When we play that song live I get to play like a rock 'n roll star." Cook's major musical influences are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Eric Clapton. In 2008, Cook was named "the sixth best guitarist in Australia".

Cook owns a collection of thirty vintage guitars. Onstage, he uses the Australian made Maton Mastersound 500 guitar. He also plays a '53 Gibson Les Paul gold top, '64 Fender Strat, James Burton Fender Telecaster, Maton Mastersound 500 and a more recent Les Paul at home or in the studio. The amplifiers he uses are the Marshall Head and Box Combo, the Fender Twin and a Bad Cat, which he bought while in the U.S. and said had a "great sound."

Cook, whose nickname is "Muzz", came up with The Wiggles' signature index finger-wagging move after watching professional bowlers do the move on television.

Murray will be leaving the group in 2013 and replaced by Simon Pryce, to spend more time with his family and friends.

Personal life
Cook was made a Member of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2010 for service to the arts, particularly children's entertainment, and to the community as a benefactor and supporter of a range of charities.