Eddie Fisher

In the first half of the 1950s, only Patti Page and Perry Como outsold Eddie Fisher among pop singles artists, as he secured 35 Billboard chart entries from 1950 to 1954. Twenty-two of those reached the Top Ten, seven earned gold certification, and four ascended to number one. He belonged to a fresh wave of male vocalists who rejected the subdued crooning manner of Perry Como, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, opting instead for a more expansive, theatrical delivery that at times evoked Al Jolson. During his commercial zenith, the singer functioned as a teen idol whose discs moved millions of copies, while he commanded top fees for stage engagements and fronted his own television program.

Edwin Jack Fisher entered the world on August 10, 1928, in a sizable, low-income household in Philadelphia, PA. Local radio programs featured him while he was still in his early teens, and he completed a long period of training that encompassed short engagements with big bands. His debut on disc occurred with the Marlin Sisters’ “You Can’t Be True, Dear,” which entered the charts in June 1948. The following year his manager arranged an opening with Eddie Cantor, which produced a recording contract at RCA Victor Records. A 1920s revival titled “Thinking of You” climbed into the Top Five by December 1950. Five singles appeared on the charts in 1951 even though he entered the U.S. Army early that year; his first gold record arrived late in 1951 with another 1920s revival, “Any Time,” followed at once by a second million-seller, “Tell Me Why.” Seven more singles charted in 1952, among them the number-one gold-certified title song from the Broadway musical Wish You Were Here and a million-selling 1930s revival, “Lady of Spain.” Those achievements made him the year’s leading pop singles artist. Three LPs also charted, two of them—I’m in the Mood for Love and Christmas with Eddie Fisher—reaching number one.

After finishing his military service, Fisher introduced his own television series, the twice-weekly, fifteen-minute Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, on April 29, 1953. Six additional singles appeared that year, including the gold-certified number ones “I’m Walking Behind You” and “Oh! My Pa-Pa” (O Mein Papa). Four more singles charted in 1954, among them the number-one million-seller “I Need You Now,” and he again finished as the year’s top pop singles artist. He dropped to sixth place for 1955 despite five charted singles, one of which was a Top Ten version of “Heart” from the Broadway musical Damn Yankees, and a Top Five LP, I Love You. Several influences may explain the decline, among them the ascent of rock & roll and his widely reported courtship of Debbie Reynolds, which ended in their marriage on September 26, 1955 and distanced him from his most ardent female admirers. The couple later had two children, the elder being Carrie Fisher.

Fisher gradually shifted toward an adult-oriented middle-of-the-road presentation through engagements in Las Vegas and a tentative film career that began with an appearance alongside his wife in the musical Bundle of Joy. Two further Top Ten hits arrived in 1956 and revealed new stylistic directions: “Dungaree Doll” moved toward rock while “Cindy, Oh Cindy” gestured toward the emerging folk revival. In 1957 he began another television program, The Eddie Fisher Show.

Public perception deteriorated after his separation from Reynolds and involvement with Elizabeth Taylor; he divorced Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959, having already canceled his television series. He established Ramrod Records in 1960 and issued the LP Tonight with Eddie Fisher. The album attracted little notice until 7 Arts Records licensed the track “Tonight” (from West Side Story) in 1961 and turned it into a hit. Any momentum was halted by fresh negative coverage once Taylor left Fisher for Richard Burton.

Ramrod released Eddie Fisher at the Winter Garden in 1963 and returned him to the charts. He moved to Dot Records in 1965 and issued several albums, the first of which, the charting Eddie Fisher Today!, appeared that year. A return to RCA in 1966 produced hits with “Games That Lovers Play” and “People Like You,” along with LPs titled after the singles. Another prominent marriage, this time to Connie Stevens, took place in 1967 and yielded two children, Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher, before the union dissolved in 1969.

Following You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet! (1968), Fisher issued no further albums until Bainbridge Records brought out After All in 1984. In the interim he worked the oldies circuit and contended with a drug dependency that he later recounted in two autobiographies, eventually achieving sobriety. He fractured his hip in September 2010 and died at his Berkeley, CA residence on the twenty-second of that month from complications after surgery.