Spencer Wiggins was born in Memphis, in the same part of town as James Carr and Bobby Bland. He grew up singing Gospel music, forming a Gospel group whilst still at school, with his brother Percy and sister Maxine. After leaving Booker T. Washington High School, he formed a group to sing R&B songs, that included Percy once more and David Porter, who later went on to be a leading songwriter at Stax Records.
In the early sixties Wiggins joined Goldwax records but failed to find success. His first contact with Rick Hall came later in the sixties, when, like several of the Goldwax artists, he came to FAME Studios to record several singles, including a version of “I Never Loved A Woman (The Way I Loved You)”, featuring Duane Allman on guitar. When Goldwax closed down in 1969, Wiggins signed for FAME Records. Rick Hall bought several tracks that had been recorded but not yet released, including “Love Machine”/ “Love Me Tonight”, which failed to chart when issued by FAME. He had better luck in 1970, when his follow-up release “Double Lovin’”/ “I’d Rather Go Blind” reached number forty-four on the Billboard R&B chart.
With no more success on the horizon, Wiggins moved to Florida, where he became active in the Baptist church, releasing an album of Gospel songs in 2003.
Once more, the record companies involved stored all Wiggins’ recordings in their vaults for many years, until they were brought to light on a series of compilations put together by Japanese and UK companies, Vivid Sound and Ace Records (on the Kent label). All the tracks that Wiggins recorded at FAME are available on the Ace Records compilation “Feed The Flame: The FAME and XL Recordings”, released on the Kent label in 2010.
The 2010 album “Feed the Flame” on Kent Records
(used with permission of Ace Records UK)
