Jerry Donald Fisher (born March 1, 1942,
DeKalb, Texas
De Kalb ( ) is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States; it is part of the Texarkana metropolitan statistical area. Its two area codes are 430 and 903. Its ZIP code is 75559. It is in the Central Time Zone, and its population was 1,527 at th ...
, United States) is an American
R&B singer – Texas-born and Oklahoma-reared – known internationally for being the lead vocal with
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
from 1971 to 1975. He is known to Dallas music fans for his R&B gigs from 1964 to 1972, and known in
Bay Saint Louis as one-half of the husband–wife proprietorship of "Dock of the Bay," a restaurant and nightclub owned and operated by the two from 1976 to the spring of 2005, when they sold it a few months before
Hurricane Katrina blew it away.
Pre-BS&T groups
1964–1970: "Jerry Fisher and the Night Beats"
: Beginning around 1964, Jerry Fisher formed "Jerry Fisher and the Nightbeats," a R&B band that performed in popular nightspots around Dallas, such as The Music Box on Cedar Springs, Club Village, Gringos on Oak Lawn, and the Loser's Club on Mockingbird. The band also performed nightclub circuits in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
(
Caesars Palace & the
Thunderbird
Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to:
* Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture
* Ford Thunderbird, a car
Birds
* Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...
),
Lake Tahoe (
Harveys), and Oklahoma.
1970–1971: The Jerry Fisher Group, "Cherokee"
: In 1970, Fisher formed a group composed of members of the
North Texas Lab Bands. This 10 piece group opened at the Dunes on Ross ave. In Dallas. Fisher had been performing at Sammy Ventura's, "Gringo's Club Village when a pre-Christmas fire (1970) forced the club to close temporarily close, ending the gig. Fisher, who had been wanting to have his own club, was able to obtained the lease of Nero's Nook located at 3118 Oak Lawn. Fisher restored it, named it "Fisher's, and opened it January 8, 1971." In the early 1970s, Fisher approached
Earl Lon Price (born 1946), a saxophonist studying at
North Texas
North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...
, about being the musical director of a new band he was putting together in Dallas. Price agreed and recruited the players, mostly from
North Texas
North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...
, which included
Steve Turré, who played not trombone, but bass. The band's instrumentation was: guitar (Kenneth Ray "Catfish" Renfro; 1948–1976), keyboards, bass, drums (Wilford Dahrell Norris, born 1946), and four horns (trumpet, two tenor saxes and trombone), and Fisher. Price arranged most of the music and wrote two songs for Fisher. The group worked mostly in the Dallas area with occasional trips to Oklahoma (Fisher's home state), and a month in Lake Tahoe. While we were in Tahoe, Jerry and Price flew to Los Angeles to play their demo for composer and producer
Mike Post
Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil, September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his TV theme music for various shows, including ''Law & Order''; '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''; ''The A-Team''; ''NYPD Blue''; ''Renegad ...
, whom Fisher had met earlier. After hearing the demo, Post said that the group sounded too much like
Blood, Sweat and Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
. Price disagreed, but Post said that audiences wouldn't understand the subtleties that he was talking about. Post said that they'd hear a band with a lot of horns and a white singer who sounded like
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
and they'd think "
Blood, Sweat and Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
." Price then grew discouraged about the band ever making it big, despite the fact that the band had a permanent gig at Jerry's in Dallas. Price also harbored artistic differences with the drummer, which led to Fisher firing the only two horn players left – Price and Fletch Wiley (trumpet), adding a female vocalist, and keeping the drummer who, one month later, joined
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector.
The pair f ...
.
1971–1972: Recording in New York
: When BS&T decided to replace David Clayton Thomas,
Bobby Doyle went to New York and spent a few weeks playing and recording with the band. For one reason or the other, things didn't work out with Bobby, and Fisher was chosen as the new singer. Two of the tracks with Doyle on keyboards were recorded by Fisher at Columbia studios, and are on the ''New Blood'' album. Fisher, at the time, had a great blues band and was playing at his place in Oklahoma City. He was also recording singles with New Design, a subsidiary of
Columbia Records, BS&T’s label.
Transition from solo performer to BS&T
Fisher had a sizable following and was considered by one Texas music critic as "probably the greatest white blues singer in the business." When Fisher joined BS&T, he didn’t want to sing all the old material sung by
David Clayton-Thomas
David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducte ...
. He wanted to join the band as a new singer singing new songs. The other members were pleased about that, wanting to move on with new material. But audiences wanted to hear the big hits, so BS&T picked the most requested ones and performed them in concert along with their current tunes. After Fisher joined BS&T, he was offered the opportunity to record a solo album for New Design; but he decided instead to focus on the BS&T. Yet, for him, for everyone, all these changes meant time spent rehearsing and reorganizing instead of recording. In 1971 The band, through
Columbia Records, released ''
New Blood'', from which two songs climbed to the top 20.
Post BS&T
After leaving BS&T, Jerry and his wife, Melva, spent the next couple of years biking and backpacking their way across the country. Planning on staying on the Mississippi Coast for about six weeks to produce an album, Jerry and Melva never left. On September 30, 1976, they bought the "Dock of the Bay" Restaurant and Nightclub in
Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi
Bay St. Louis is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Mississippi, in the United States. Located on the Gulf Coast on the west side of the Bay of St. Louis, it is part of the Gulfport– Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. As o ...
. He performed there with his band "Jerry Fisher and The Music Company." Jerry and Melva sold the restaurant to a
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
entrepreneur in the Spring of 2005.
Hurricane Katrina hit August 29, 2005, and there now is no visible sign of the restaurant. Jerry and Melva were in Colorado at the time of the hurricane.
Selected discography
As leader of The Jerry Fisher Group
* The Jerry Fisher Group, ''Annual Spring Combo Concert of the North Texas Lab Bands,'' April 21, 1970,
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...
, April 21, 1970, 38141 Century Records (
Convover Collection)
: Fred Sherman (tp) Frank Hutto (trombone) Lon Price,
Ken Maslak (reeds) George Beatty (piano) Kenny Renfro (guitar)
Steve Turre (bass) Dahrell Norris (drums) Jerry Fisher (vocal)
As vocalist with
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
* ''
New Blood'' (1972)
* ''
No Sweat'' (1973)
* ''
Mirror Image'' (1974)
As leader of Jerry Fisher and The Music Company
* ''In an' Outta Da Blues'' Jerry Fisher and The Music Company, Ramblin' Records (1992)
Family
Jerry was born to Virgil A. Fisher and Fay Lucas (maiden). He was married to Barbara Ross (born 1944) in 1962. They divorced and he later married Melva Lee Luke (maiden; born 1947) who had graduated in 1965 from Bay High School,
Bay Saint Louis. Barbara and Jerry had a son, Anthony J. (Tony) Fisher (born 1964). Melva and Jerry had no children. They currently spend their summers in Colorado hiking and exploring the high country near their summer place on the western slope of the Rockies. When winter comes, they are back enjoying the islands and the excellent saltwater fishing on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.
Notable sidemen with The Music Company
* Eric N. Watkins, bass (17 January 1952 – 25 March 2012)
Video samples
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Jerry
1942 births
Living people
Singers from Texas
American blues singers
University of North Texas College of Music alumni
Blood, Sweat & Tears members
People from DeKalb, Texas