"He's doing his own music, original stuff and playing gigs. I know he's going to be huge one day. He has a great voice. He's awesome. But he has doubts sometimes, and it has to do with his age. He Loses confidence. I tell him, " you have no idea, no understanding. There is no male singer in Australia who has a voice like you." He has got it!"
Hi-5 made BRW magazine's rich list last year with reported earnings of $6.9 million.
"My father rang me when the rich list came out and said " Isn't that a funny thing?". Im like, "Yes dad, it is funny. Now can I borrow some petrol money?"
So your not loaded?
"No"
How, Then do you treat that kind of publicity?
" Its hard to deal with because it fills peoples heads with ideas that we have massive amounts of money, and we do not. The show itself might produce that amount, but we are a kids' show with no commercials, therefore have to pay back and recoup the series before we get any revenue."
But are you getting Royalty cheques for Hi-5?
"We don't get many. The fact that they do come now and then reassures us, Its not that someone is cheating on us. It's the fact that the money system has to go along way before it gets to us."
How do you feel about that?
"A lot of people have a bigger cut than us, but I am glad we do have a cut. Sometimes, I'll sit there and go : He's just bought a house for a million dollars. Where did he get his money from? You get a little bitter about it. But its not up to us, In the end, its whoever made the deal. We're just fortunate we get some."
So no Lavish lifestyle?
"Not yet. But I've worked out in my own little brain that when we go to England ( Hi-5 will be screened 36 weeks a year in the UK next year), it's pure profit."
And Pounds sterling royalty cheques to treat yourself......
"Yes. I'm putting those cheques aside. I'm trying to accumulate them and put a deposit down for a place. I Was fortunate enough to take advantage of salary sacrifice through channel 9. O sacrificed some of my wage and got a new car. To me, that was like, wow, this is something I've actually achieved in this job. It gives me encouragement to keep financially going, because sometimes its hard."
