Archie Macdonald Fisher (born 23 October 1939) is a Scottish folk singer and songwriter.
Early life
Archie Fisher was born in
Glasgow on 23 October 1939 into a large singing family. His sister Cilla Fisher is also a professional singer, as was his late sister Ray. In 1960 he moved to
Edinburgh and appeared regularly at "The Howff" folk club run by Roy Guest. In 1962 Ray and Archie released the single "Far Over the Forth" on the
Topic Records label and appeared on the BBC
Hootenanny programme. In 1965 the whole family released the album
Traditional and New Songs from Scotland.
Edinburgh Folk Festival
By 1964 the
Edinburgh Fringe could boast a
folk festival in its own right. An album of the participants was released on
Decca Records. It was called
Edinburgh Folk Festival vol 2 and contained tracks by Ray Fisher, Archie Fisher,
Anne Briggs and the Ian Campbell Folk Group (including
Dave Swarbrick).
Bert Jansch and Briggs performed together but this was never recorded. At an early stage Fisher recognised the power of
Barbara Dickson's singing and in 1969 invited her to guest on his albums. His live act included 'All Around My Hat', later to become a hit for
Steeleye Span. His song "Witch of the Westmorland" was recorded by Dickson in 1971 on her album
From the Beggar's Mantle, by Fisher himself on
The Man With a Rhyme in 1976, by
Stan Rogers in 1979 and by Golden Bough in 1983.
Comeback
In 1983 Fisher started hosting the long-running BBC Radio Scotland folk programme
Travelling Folk. He retired in April 2010, handing over presenting duties to fiddler Bruce MacGregor. He appeared as the lead guitarist on
Tom Paxton's 1986 album,
The Very Best of Tom Paxton, and performed with
Tommy Makem and
Liam Clancy on television, recordings and concert tours. He also produced the Irish duo's first four albums,
Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy (1976),
The Makem & Clancy Concert (1977),
Two for the Early Dew (1978) and
The Makem & Clancy Collection (1980). After Barbara Dickson achieved fame as an
easy listening singer, it was many years before she sang folk songs again. When she did, Fisher was invited back to join her.
Fisher has toured Canada and the US as a solo act as well as appearing with Garnet Rogers and with John Renbourn. His style of singing is very gentle and he generally avoids all electronic instruments, an exception is the recording of 'The last time I saw Esau Shaw' from the album 'Orfeo'. "Dark-Eyed Molly" has been recorded by Fairport Convention (who also recorded "The Wounded Whale"), Eva Cassidy, Stan Rogers and Sheena Wellington. "Lindsay" has been recorded by John Renbourn and has been a highlight at his live shows for years, while "Mountain Rain" has been recorded by Wizz Jones (along with John Renbourn on guitar).
Fisher now lives in the south of Scotland. He was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours in 2006, for services to Traditional Scottish Music.[United Kingdom list: ]
Discography
Fisher Family
-
Traditional and New Songs From Scotland (1965)
-
The Fisher Family Topic (1966)
In 2009 Come All ye Fisher Lasses from The Fisher family was included in Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as track two on the fourth CD.
Solo recordings
-
Archie Fisher (1968)
-
Orfeo (1970)
-
Will Ye Gang, Love? (1976)
-
The Man with a Rhyme (1976)
-
Sunsets I've Galloped Into (1988)
-
Windward Away (2008)
-
A Silent Song (2015)
With Barbara Dickson
-
The Fate o' Charlie (1969)
-
Thro' The Recent Years (1970)
With Garnet Rogers
-
Off the Map (1986)
-
The Best Times After All (2019)
With Frightened Rabbit
-
"The Work", which he co-wrote, on A Frightened Rabbit EP (2011)
