Miranda Cordelia Susan Josephine Wiggs (born 26 February 1965), simply known as Josephine Wiggs, is an English multi-instrumentalist rock musician, best known for her work as bassist in the alternative rock bands

The Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ( ...

and

The Perfect Disaster The Perfect Disaster were an English alternative rock band from Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire, England, formed in 1980. They released four albums before splitting up in 1991. The only constant member was singer/guitarist Phil Parfitt. History Th ...

. She has also formed multiple side-projects, including her own bands

Honey Tongue Honey Tongue were an alternative rock band formed by former member of The Perfect Disaster and The Breeders Josephine Wiggs (vocals, guitar, cello) and The Perfect Disaster/Spacemen 3/Spiritualized drummer Jon Mattock. The band later recorded ...

, The Josephine Wiggs Experience, and Dusty Trails.

Early career

Wiggs was born in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

, Hertfordshire.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books; , p. 318 Wiggs is the daughter of Richard Wiggs, a teacher of disabled children and founder of the

Anti-Concorde Project The Anti-Concorde Project, founded by environmental activist Richard Wiggs, challenged the idea of supersonic passenger transport, and curtailed Concorde's commercial prospects. When Concorde entered service in 1976, of the 74 options (non-bindin ...

. Wiggs studied philosophy at the University of London, earning a BA degree, going on to get an MA in

continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a group of philosophies prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantianism, Kantian tradition.Continental philosophers usually identify such conditions with the transcendental subject or ...

from the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

.''The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Routledge, 2002, , p. 542 She studied cello for ten years. She joined

in 1988 as bass guitarist, playing on the albums ''Asylum Road,'' (1988) ''Up'' (1989) and ''Heaven Scent'' (1990) before going on to form

with

Kim Deal Kimberley Ann Deal (born June 10, 1961) is an American musician. She was the original bassist and co-vocalist in the alternative rock band the Pixies (band), Pixies from 1986 to 1993 and again from 2004 to 2013. She is the frontwoman of the Bre ...

and

Tanya Donelly Tanya Donelly (born July 14, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England. She came to prominence as a co-founder of the band Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the altern ...

in 1990.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 452 Wiggs played cello on the

Spacemen 3 Spacemen 3 were an English rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, known respectively under their pseudonyms Sonic Boom and J Spaceman. Their music is known for its brand of "trance-like neo-psyched ...

album ''Playing with Fire''.

Career with The Breeders

In 1988, Wiggs met

when The Perfect Disaster supported the

Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...

in London. In 1989, Deal asked Wiggs to join her and

(of

Throwing Muses Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was original ...

) in making The Breeders' first album '' Pod''. Deal, Wiggs and

Slint Slint was an American Rock music, rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986 after the dissolution of two local bands, Squirrel Bait and Maurice. It initially consisted of guitarist-vocalist Brian McMahan, guitaris ...

drummer

Britt Walford Britt Walford (born March 16, 1970) is an American musician best known for being the drummer, co-founder, and occasional guitarist for the post-rock band Slint. Early life Walford grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and attended the J. Graham Bro ...

rehearsed for a week at Wiggs's house in Bedfordshire, and for a further week with Donelly in London, before driving to Edinburgh to record the album with engineer

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

. The album was released in 1990 on record label 4AD. In 1992, Deal visited Wiggs in Brighton during her time off from the Pixies, and they worked on the song "Safari", recording it in London with Wiggs's friend

Spiritualized Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centred on Pie ...

drummer

Jon Mattock Jonny Mattock is an English drummer and percussionist from Northampton, England, who was a member of, or played with, Massive Attack, Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, The Perfect Disaster, Slipstream, Lupine Howl, Cranes, Baxter Dury, The Breeders, ...

. This recording became the title track of The Breeders' second release, the ''

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

'' EP. From 1992, alongside Deal and Wiggs, The Breeders' second incarnation had Kim's twin sister

Kelley Deal Kelley Deal (born June 10, 1961) is an American musician and singer. She has been the lead guitarist and co-vocalist of the alternative rock band The Breeders since 1992, and has formed her own side-projects with bands such as R. Ring and the Ke ...

on lead guitar and

Jim Macpherson The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ( ...

on drums. This line-up recorded the album ''

Last Splash ''Last Splash'' is the second album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released on August 30, 1993. Originally formed as a side project for Pixies (band), Pixies bass guitar, bassist Kim Deal, the Breeders quickly became her primar ...

'' in 1993, which featured the hit song "

Cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

", which opens with Wiggs' highly-recognisable bass riff. The video for "Cannonball", much-played on MTV, was directed by

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

and

Spike Jonze Adam Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze (), is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze ...

. The Breeders supported

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

on their ''

In Utero The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', : uteri or uteruses) or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans, that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more fertilized eggs until bir ...

'' tour, and ''Last Splash'' achieved platinum sales. Wiggs' last record with the band (before rejoining in 2013) was the EP, ''Head to Toe'' whose title track was written by Wiggs. After playing the 1994 Lollapolooza Tour, The Breeders went on indefinite hiatus following the well-publicized drug problems of guitarist Kelley Deal. Kim Deal released a solo album, the Amps, '' Pacer'' in 1995, and she resurrected the Breeders' name in the late 1990s, but neither Wiggs nor Macpherson were members of this line-up. In November 2005, Wiggs played two shows with The Breeders in London, at an event commemorating the 25th anniversary of record label 4AD. On 21 August 2009, with one day's notice and no rehearsal, Wiggs played three shows with The Breeders after then-bassist Mando Lopez had to fly home because his girlfriend had gone into labor. These shows were at the

Black Cat A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...

in Washington, DC, Diesel in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, and at

Newport Music Hall Newport Music Hall is a music venue located in the University District of Columbus, Ohio, across the street from the Ohio Union of the Ohio State University. It is "America's Longest Continually Running Rock Club". History The venue opened i ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. In 2013, Wiggs had officially re-joined The Breeders for the bands' "Last Splash" 20th Anniversary World Tour, to coincide with 4AD's release of LSXX, a limited-edition seven-disc vinyl box set, and three-CD package of the band's 1993 hit album ''Last Splash''. Since then, Wiggs and

have returned to The Breeders full-time for the tour and release of the 2018 album ''

All Nerve ''All Nerve'' is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released on March 2, 2018, 10 years after their previous album '' Mountain Battles''. A ''Stereogum'' article in June 2016 reported that the band was recordin ...

'', the band's fifth album overall, and the first album to reunite the "Last Splash" line-up (Kim, Kelley, Josephine, and Jim) since 1993.

Other work

In 1992, Wiggs had collaborated with

and released an album, ''Nude Nudes,'' under the name

. In 1995, Wiggs and

Luscious Jackson Luscious Jackson is an alternative rock/rap-rock group formed in 1991. The band's name is a reference to former American basketball player Lucious Jackson. The original band consisted of Jill Cunniff (lead vocals, bass), Gabby Glaser (vocals, ...

(and original

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

) drummer

Kate Schellenbach Katherine A. Schellenbach (born January 5, 1966) is an American musician and television producer. She is the drummer of Luscious Jackson and was a founding drummer of Beastie Boys. Career Born in New York City, she played with Beastie Boys from 1 ...

formed

Ladies Who Lunch Ladies who lunch is a phrase often used to describe well-off, well-dressed women who meet for social luncheons, usually during the working time, working week. Typically, the women involved are marriage, married and non-working. Normally the lunch ...

, releasing the 7-inch vinyl ''Kims We Love'' (an homage to Kim Deal and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

, played entirely on Casio keyboards) on the

' label,

Grand Royal Grand Royal was a vanity record label founded in 1992 by rap group Beastie Boys in conjunction with Capitol Records after the group left Def Jam Recordings. It was based in Los Angeles, California. ''Grand Royal'' was also the name of a maga ...

. This was followed by the 7-inch vinyl cover of the

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. The ...

song "Everybody's Happy Nowadays". In 1995, Wiggs recorded and co-produced the album ''Klassics with a K'' for the Kostars, featuring Luscious Jackson's

Jill Cunniff Jill Cunniff (born August 17, 1966) is an American musician and artist, best known as the lead singer of the band Luscious Jackson. Cunniff was born and raised in New York City and attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School where she studied visua ...

and

Vivian Trimble Vivian Elizabeth Trimble (May 24, 1963 – April 4, 2023) was an American musician, best known as the keyboardist in the band Luscious Jackson from 1991 to 1998. She also joined bandmate Jill Cunniff under the name Kostars and recorded an album r ...

, and toured with them playing drums. In 1996, Wiggs collaborated again with

releasing ''Bon Bon Lifestyle'' on Grand Royal as ''The Josephine Wiggs Experience''. Wiggs sang vocals, played guitar and electric and acoustic bass, and recorded and mixed the album. Jon Mattock played drums, other percussion, and keyboards. Audu Obaje played guitar and helped Josephine record and mix the album. In 1997, Wiggs started a writing and recording collaboration with

keyboardist

under the name Dusty Trails. Their eponymous 2000 album on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

included a track written for, and sung by,

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...

. They also wrote music for '' Happy Accidents'', a movie by Brad Anderson starring

Marisa Tomei Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She gained prominence for her comedic performance in '' My Cousin Vinny'' (1992), which earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received further nominations ...

and

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leona ...

. In addition, they collaborated with internationally acclaimed New York-based Brazilian choreographers chameckilerner, writing and recording full-length scores for ''Poor Reality (''2001) and ''Exit'' (2007). They also provided the soundtrack for chameckilerner's short film ''Flying Lesson,'' (which premiered at Lincoln Center, 2008) and for their short film ''The Collection'' (2011). In 2009, Wiggs recorded the soundtrack for chameckilerner's ''Conversation with Boxing Gloves,'' one of eleven short films that make up ''Vita Futurista Redux,'' a re-imagining of the lost 1916 film ''Vita Futurista,'' commissioned by Performa 09 and which premiered at

SFMOMA The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...

. In 2012, she wrote and recorded a piano-based score for the documentary ''Built on Narrow Land,'' a film about Bauhaus-inspired modern houses in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, which premiered at

Provincetown International Film Festival The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents American and international narrative features, documentaries and short film ...

and was included in the Architecture and Design Film Festival, New York City, 2013. In 2013, she wrote and recorded the score for the first feature film by writer-director Desiree Akhavan, ''Appropriate Behavior'', which premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, in 2014. Her first solo album "We Fall" was released on 17 May 2019. All tracks were composed, performed and recorded by Wiggs, with additional drums/electronics by her former

bandmate

. She released the music video for the album's first single "Time Does Not Bring Relief" on 20 March 2019.

Personal life

According to a 1994 ''Rolling Stone'' profile of The Breeders, Wiggs is a lifelong

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

who has never eaten a piece of meat in her life. Wiggs is a lesbian. During a relationship with drummer

, the two were featured in an article in ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'', a national LGBT magazine published in the United States. They formed the short-lived band Ladies Who Lunch, and Wiggs recorded and co-produced Schellenbach's side-project Kostars.

Discography

The Perfect Disaster

* ''Asylum Road'' (1988 album), Fire Records * '' Up'' (1989 album), Fire Records * ''Heaven Scent'' (1990 album), Fire Records

The Breeders

* '' Pod'' (1990 album), 4AD * ''

'' (1992 EP), 4AD * ''

'' (1993 album), 4AD * ''

Head to Toe Head to Toe may refer to: * ''Head to Toe'' (EP), a 1994 EP by the Breeders * "Head to Toe" (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam song), 1987 * "Head to Toe" (Bill Anderson song), 1977 {{dab ...

'' (1994 EP), 4AD * ''

'' (2018 album), 4AD

Honey Tongue

* ''Nude Nudes'' (1992 album), Playtime Records

Ladies Who Lunch

* ''Kim's We Love'' (1995 7" vinyl), Grand Royal * ''Everybody's Happy Nowadays'' (1996 7" vinyl), Grand Royal

Dusty Trails

* '' Dusty Trails'' (2000 album), Atlantic Records

Solo

* ''Bon Bon Lifestyle'' (1996 album), Grand Royal (as The Josephine Wiggs Experience) * ''We Fall'' (2019 album), Sound of Sinners

References

External links

*
Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine at VH1

No Aloha transcript of Kurt St Thomas interview with The Breeders
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggs, Josephine 1963 births 4AD artists Alternative rock bass guitarists British alternative rock singers Alumni of the University of Sussex English rock bass guitarists British women bass guitarists Living people Lesbian singers English lesbian musicians English LGBTQ singers The Breeders members People from Letchworth Musicians from Hertfordshire The Perfect Disaster members Honey Tongue members Dusty Trails members 20th-century English women singers 21st-century English women singers 20th-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English LGBTQ people