NOT a week goes by when Murray Cook isn't stopped in the street by someone wanting to express how much The Wiggles meant to their childhood.
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Songs like Fruit Salad and Hot Potato are arguably as ingrained in the Australian psyche as Khe Sahn and You're The Voice, particularly with Millennials who knew the tunes before they could speak.
The enduring appeal of The Wiggles was on full display earlier this month when Cook reunited with former bandmates Jeff Fatt and Anthony Field and newer Wiggles Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce and Emma Watkins to perform Tame Impala's Elephant on triple j's Like A Version.
In two weeks the performance has been viewed 1.4 million times on YouTube.
"It was quite challenging as it's a deceptive song with the timing of it," Cook said. "We had to work hard, but it was great fun and the response has been mind-blowing.
"I normally get stopped in the street a few times a week, but it's been like every day with people going, 'I loved Elephant, that was great'."
While it's been almost a decade since Cook retired his red skivvy, he's arguably been more musically active than ever.
On Friday he'll release his third album Evolution with relaunched Sydney soul-rock band The Soul Movers.
Across the albums Testify (2017) and Bona Fide (2019) there's been a rotating roster of musicians, but at the shaking heart of The Soul Movers is Cook and statuesque frontwoman Lizzie Mack.
Bona Fide - which was recorded at the famed American studios FAME, Royal, Muscle Shoals and Sun - naturally carried a typical '60s soul-rock flavour.
On Evolution The Soul Movers channelled '70s disco and the pop sheen of the '80s, resulting in the infectious singles Hot Sauce and Circles Baby.
"It probably took us a while to settle in with how that's gonna be," Cook said. "It just seemed to click and there seemed like enough of our past in there to make it feel like not a total leap."
Cook said producer and co-writer Garth Porter, of Sherbet fame, played a major role in the sonic shift as "he's a pop man at heart."
Ex-Sherbet bassist Tony Mitchell also plays on Evolution. The appearance of Porter and Mitchell on the album bought Cook full circle. He was 13 when he watched his first live gig, Sherbet at Orange's Amaco Hall.
"It's what got me into the idea of playing music live," he said. "I was already into music but it seemed so remote. It was all over there in America and the UK, but seeing a band like that up close made it feel like it was something I could do."
These days The Soul Movers have become Cook's main priority. COVID-19 and then open heart surgery in December to replace a faulty aortic valve did stall the band's momentum but Cook is back performing live and "fighting fit."
"The way I treat music in general, and it's what we did in The Wiggles as well, is it's kind of an adventure," he said. "We didn't set out to conquer the world and it's the same with The Soul Movers.
"Our success is much more modest of course than The Wiggles, but I didn't set out to have hits necessarily. We just wanted to build an audience and play to them."
The Soul Movers play the Gum Ball at Dashville on April 16-18.
