Peter Combe Celebrates 'Toffee Apple' Reaching Two Million Streams

"To celebrate, here I am on the sunny Gold Coast, wearing a bunch of Toffee Apple men on my feet," Combe shared.

Australian children’s entertainer and musician Peter Combe has looked back on the success and tribulations of his song Toffee Apple as it turns 40 and reaches 2 million streams on Spotify.

“40 years ago, I recorded a demo of the song Toffee Apple on a two-track recorder in Cheltenham, England in 1986,” he wrote on Facebook this week (21 June), sharing a peaceful photo from the Sunshine Coast.

He continued, “The full Toffee Apple album was recorded in 1987 and self-released on cassette. The ABC put it out on LP later that year, with a CD version coming around 1990.

“And now, 40 years after it was originally written, Toffee Apple has just reached 2 million streams on Spotify. To celebrate, here I am on the sunny Gold Coast, wearing a bunch of Toffee Apple men on my feet.”

Check out Combe’s post below.

Toffee Apple, featuring on the album of the same name, is one of Combe’s best-known songs.

While promoting the album, he met Diana Manson, the then-Head of ABC Music, where they came up with the first-ever children’s music video filmed in Australia for Toffee Apple.

With the release of the music video, which aired on ABC TV, Combe was established as Australia’s first children’s pop star, given the nickname “King of the Kids.” At the 1988 ARIA Awards, Toffee Apple won the first-ever ARIA Award for Best Children’s Album.

In a 2017 interview with The Music, Combe discussed the intergenerational impact of his music, even embarking on 18+ concerts to entertain adults who grew up with his joyous music.

“I did a gig in Adelaide about 10 years ago, to what was meant to be a children’s audience,” Combe told The Music.

He added, “But it turned out to be pretty much all adults and when they heard the songs they grew up on—Newspaper Mama, Mr Clicketty Cane, Juicy Juicy Green Grass, Toffee Apple, Spaghetti Bolognaise—it brought back lovely memories of their childhood and they sort of went crazy, singing every word of every song.

“It was an amazing experience for them and me! Having done over a hundred 18+ shows, this pretty much happens at all of them.”