Saturday 10 August 2013

Eddie Fisher born 10 August 1928



Edwin John "Eddie" Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American entertainer. He was the most successful pop singles artist of the first half of the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show.

Eddie Fisher is the fourth of seven children born to Joseph Fisher

and Kate Winokur, who were Russian-Jewish immigrants. His father's surname was originally Fisch, but was anglicised to Fisher upon entry to the United States.

To his family, Fisher was always called "Sonny Boy" or "Sonny". It was known at an early age that he had talent as a vocalist and he started singing in numerous amateur contests, which he usually won. He sang on the radio in high school and was later on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a popular radio show which moved to television. By 1946, Fisher was crooning with the bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura. He was heard in 1949 by Eddie Cantor at Grossinger's Resort in the Borscht Belt. After performing on Cantor's radio show he was an 
instant hit and gained nationwide exposure. He was then signed to a contract with RCA Victor.

Fisher was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951, sent to Texas for
basic training, and served a year in Korea. From 1952 to 1953, he was the official vocal soloist for The United States Army Band and a tenor section member in the United States Army Band Chorus in Washington, D.C. After his discharge, he became even more popular singing in top nightclubs. He also had a variety television series, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher (NBC) (1953 - 1957), The Eddie Fisher Show (NBC) (1957 - 1959). A pre-Rock and Roll vocalist, Fisher's strong and melodious tenor made him a teen idol and one of the most popular singers of the 1950s. He had seventeen songs in the Top 10 on the music charts between 1950 and 1956 and thirty-five in the Top 40.




In 1956, Fisher costarred with then-wife Debbie Reynolds in the musical comedy Bundle of Joy. He played a serious role in the

1960 drama BUtterfield 8 with then-wife Elizabeth Taylor. His best friend was showman and producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958. Fisher's affair and subsequent marriage to Todd's famous widow caused a show business scandal because he and his first wife, also famous, had a very public divorce.

In 1960, he was dropped by RCA Victor and briefly recorded on his own label, Ramrod Records , then Dot Records. During this time,

he had the first commercial recording of "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof. He then returned to RCA Victor and had a minor single hit in 1966 with the song Games That Lovers Play, which became the title of his best selling album. His last album for RCA was an Al Jolson tribute, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet. Eddie Fisher's last album was recorded around 1984 under the Bainbridge record label. Fisher tried to stop the album from being released but it showed up on the record stores shelves entitled After All.

Fisher has had five wives: actress Debbie Reynolds (married 1955-divorced 1959), actress Elizabeth Taylor (married 1959-divorced 1964), actress Connie Stevens (married1967-divorced 1969), Terry Richard (married 1975- divorced 1976) and Betty Lin (married 1993). Betty Lin died on April 15, 2001. Fisher is the father of two children by Reynolds, actress Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher, and the father of two children by Stevens, actress Joely Fisher and actress Tricia Leigh Fisher.

Fisher suffered from knee, back, hearing, and eyesight problems in his later years, the last of which were worsened by a botched cataract removal operation, and so he rarely appeared in public. According to friends, he remained mentally vigorous and kept himself busy following news and politics, and singing his old songs while friend George Michalski played the piano.


  Michalski had worked on several occasions over the years to help Fisher get his name back on the music charts. He said "The '60s passed Eddie by; he missed that entire era of music. I'd play a Beatles song like Something for him and he'd think I wrote it."


Fisher broke his hip on September 9th, 2010 and died 13 days later on Seeptember 22, 2010 at his home in Berkeley, California, due to complications from hip surgery. He was 82 years old. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes were buried alongside the grave of his wife, Betty (who died on April 15, 2001), at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park. His second wife, Elizabeth Taylor, died six months and one day after Fisher, on March 23, 2011. (edited from Wikipedia) (record scan curtesy of Lord Of The Boot Sale blog).

Here's an episode of Eddie Fisher's TV series "Coke Time" from 1954, featuring him singing "Anytime", "Bring Back the Thrill", "Downhearted", "Tell Me Why", and "I Need You Now".

2 comments:

boppinbob said...

Managed to find Eddie Fisher Every Song I have Is Yours (Disc 1) here:

https://mega.co.nz/#!YgpgEQoI!AVDuYSiqRFyOSiPax7kdZCPtIO8C7rs00ymjZ_9jxxg



1. EVERYTHING I HAVE IS YOURS
2. ANY TIME
3. BRING BACK THE THRILL
4. LADY OF SPAIN
5. EVEN NOW
6. MAYBE
7. TELL ME WHY
8. I'LL HOLD YOU IN MY HEART ('Till I Can Hold You In My Arms)
9. I REMEMBER WHEN
10. THAT'S THE CHANCE YOU TAKE
11. JUST A LITTLE LOVIN' (Will Go A Long Way)
12. UNLESS
13. TURN BACK THE HANDS OF TIME
14. OUTSIDE OF HEAVEN
15. WATERMELON WEATHER
16. I'M YOURS
17. THINKING OF YOU
18. WISH YOU WERE HERE
19. THAT OLD FEELING
20. TRUST IN ME
21. FORGIVE ME
22. YOU'LL NEVER KNOW
23. THE HAND OF FATE
24. YOU'RE ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
25. CHRISTMAS DAY

boppinbob said...

Here's some comments from my 2007 post....

Christine Bassett said...
Of course I remember him well, but you add a lot I did not know. I liked his voice but sadly remember him also from the scandal of his affair with Liz and unhappy divorce from Debbie. Do you know why he tried to stop his last album?

10 August 2007 04:32

I haven't a clue Christine. I did an extensive search on the web but no luck as to why he tried to stop the album. I did find out that the album was produced by William J. O'Malley and arranged by Angelo DiPippo.
So if anyone can put us the wiser, please feel free to reply.

10 August 2007 13:19 Betty Racine said...

Hi, just found this site. I am a member of the Eddie Fisher fan club. I think you are talking about the album After All. Eddie did record another album in 1996 but has not been released. The After All album was released although Eddie did not want it to be released since he thought he could do a better job on the songs.
I just joined this site, so I am not sure if I am doing the right thing. Anyway, I last saw Eddie perform in 1995. He appeared on Larry King in 1996 and sang some songs from the album, Love's Been Good to Me, and also sang a duet with his daughter Tricia Leigh.

17 August 2007 07:07 Mark Austin said...

Point to note, always was a big Star Wars fan. Remember the rather 'pushy' princess in the first one. If she's anything like her mother probably explains the divorce. Just a thought from a divorcee.

17 August 2007 07:28 Jacqueline Knight said...

Hi I too have just joined, I think Eddie is one of the best singers of all time, It is too bad that he got caught up in the messy Debbie/Liz business, I believe he got the raw end of the deal. I don't have all his records but I am working on it thanks to a very good friend. I live in Ontario and have managed to find only one cd and that was imported from Britain.Wish all the fans could get together for his 80th birthday,

17 August 2007 11:45 Mary Anne Wilson said...

Hi, I think of myself as the No. 1 Eddie Fisher fan, but there is another lady that shares the title with me, and she is Bettanne, who you heard from above. I have the After All album on cassette and record. It demonstrates Eddie's voice as he aged. There are some good original songs on it, such as After All, which is similar to Frank Sinatra's I Did It My Way. Unfortunately this album was not Eddie at his best, and for that reason he did not want the album released, but they did it anyway, against his wishes. Eddie is a perfectionist when it comes to his work and has made at least one other album that I know of in the 90's that he did not release. He talks about the album and sings a couple of songs from it on the Larry King show that Bettanne talks about above. Bettanne told me about this sight and I just signed on. I haven't figured everything out yet, but please email me with any information or questions about Eddie.