Gary Wiggins (musician)

Biography

While he was still an infant his family moved to the west side of Detroit, on Oregon Street, where he was raised. His late mother, Ruth Russell Wiggins (1920-1999), reared him in the church where he began to perform on the saxophone with Brother Lawhorn in 1962. He attended Northwestern High School until 1970, and played in a jazz band while attending community college.

At age 14 he played in Bobo Jenkins Blues Band, Detroit. Wiggins made his first recorded release That good old Funky Feeling on 45rpm at the age of 17 with his band The Impacs.

The Impacs were a backing band for several of the Detroit R&B vocal groups like The Dramatics. After touring with The Dramatics and performing in such places as the Apollo in Harlem, the T.P. Warner Theater in Washington D.C. and tours through Panama, and the eastern coast of North America, he headed west and camped in California for five years. During this time he performed with musicians such as Eddie Shaw, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Johnny Heartsman, Roy Brown, Big Mama Thornton, and many other musicians on the West Coast music scene.

In 1982, he spent a year in the Chicago blues scene where he played in the bands of the late Lefty Dizz, Sunnyland Slim, Johnny Littlejohn and Sugar Blue. and they released three vinyls.

Since moving to Europe in 1983 and in addition to producing several music concerts for Jazz Clubs and Festivals, he has toured with Charlie Musselwhite, Arnett Cobb, Screaming Jay Hawkins Jimmy Rogers, Johnny Copeland, Big Jay McNeely (Saxomania Tour, Europe), Katie Webster, Scott Hamilton, Louisiana Red and Carey Bell.

He joined the Ray Charles show in Germany twice, and went to Japan. In Osnabrueck, Germany, Rannenberg and Wiggins founded the Pink Piano Jam Sessions (where Arnett Cobb's last performance was recorded) and, after moving to Berlin, he continued inviting international stars to the Berlin Blues Café.

Wiggins plays in the A-Trane International Jazz Club Berlin - that announced him as "one of the most important american Saxophonists living in Europe" – since more than 20 years, as well as Europe's Oldest Jazzclub in Paris Le Caveau de las Huchette.

The International Blues Duo produced and released three albums, and Wiggins has recorded with, among others, Bobby McFerrin,Robert Covington, and Roy Gaines.

Wiggins won the Berlin Jazz & Blues Award in 2002 and the German Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 1994 for Acoustic Soul, as well as the Gong Show in 1977 with Rick Murphy and David Winans as The Show Bizz Kids.

Discography

As a side-person