Early life and career Wiggins was born Ivan Leroy Wiggins on June 27, 1926, in
Nashville, Tennessee. At the age of six, Wiggins became fascinated with the
Hawaiian guitars he heard on
Grand Ole Opry broadcasts, and particularly the playing of
Burt Hutcherson, who was also a family friend. When King's regular guitarist, Clell Summey, returned from participation in
World War II, Wiggins was out of a job. Arnold's sound, built around Wiggins' steel guitar playing, became enormously successful to the point that Arnold held the number-one position on
Billboards country chart for forty weeks in 1948. As a result, Wiggins became one of the most-heard instrumentalists in country music, but he was considerably younger than most of his co-performers. Wiggins did not appear at all on 1954's "
I Really Don't Want to Know", and by 1955 Arnold had determined that his future was directly tied to popular music; thus Wiggins was utilized less and less as the 1950s progressed. Arnold would have kept Wiggins on his payroll, honoring the lifetime contract, but Wiggins desired a more active role in the music world. In 1973 Morgan recorded a tribute to Wiggins,
"Mr. Ting-a-Ling (Steel Guitar Man)" which featured Wiggins' playing. Wiggins shut down his music store in 1974 when the Opry moved out of Ryman. ==Style==