Archie Macdonald Fisher (born 23 October 1939) is a Scottish folk singer and songwriter. He has released several solo albums since his first, eponymous album, in 1968. Fisher composed the song "The Final Trawl", recorded on the album ''Windward Away'', that several other groups and singers, including

The Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with popu ...

, have also recorded. Starting in the mid-1970s, he produced four folk albums with Makem and Clancy. He also performed with them and other groups as a backup singer and guitarist. He hosted his own radio show on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

for almost three decades.

Early life

Archie Fisher was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

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 Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

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 Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken, ...

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 The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

could boast a

folk festival A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods. Handicra ...

in its own right. An album of the participants was released on

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

. It was called ''Edinburgh Folk Festival vol 2'' and contained tracks by Ray Fisher, Archie Fisher,

Anne Briggs Anne Patricia Briggs (born 29 September 1944) is an English folk singer. Although she travelled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in England and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achie ...

and the Ian Campbell Folk Group (including

Dave Swarbrick David Cyril Eric Swarbrick (5 April 1941 – 3 June 2016) was an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. His style has been copied or developed by almost every British and many world folk violin players who have followed him. He was ...

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

and Briggs performed together but this was never recorded. At an early stage Fisher recognised the power of

Barbara Dickson Barbara Ruth Dickson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include 'I Know Him So Well', 'Answer Me' and ' January February'. Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a ...

'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 ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...

in 1983.

Comeback

In 1983 Fisher started hosting the long-running

folk programme
Travelling Folk
'. He retired in April 2010, handing over presenting duties to fiddler

Bruce MacGregor Bruce MacGregor (born April 26, 1941) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played for the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (W ...

. He appeared as the lead guitarist on

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than fifty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

's 1986 album, ''The Very Best of Tom Paxton'', and performed with

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banj ...

and

Liam Clancy Liam Clancy ( ga, Liam Mac Fhlannchadha; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's ...

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 Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

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 Garnet Rogers (born May 1955) is a Canadian folk musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario with roots in Nova Scotia. He began his professional career working with his older brother, folk musician Stan Rogers, an ...

and with

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

. His style of singing is very gentle and he avoids all electronic instruments. "Dark-Eyed Molly" has been recorded by Fairport Convention (who also recorded "The Wounded Whale"),

Eva Cassidy Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first album ...

, Stan Rogers and

Sheena Wellington Sheena Wellington (born 29 August 1944, in Dundee, Scotland) is a traditional Scottish singer. She is best known for performing the Robert Burns song '' A Man's A Man For A' That'' at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. We ...

. "Lindsay" has been recorded by

and has been a highlight at his live shows for years, while "Mountain Rain" has been recorded by

Wizz Jones Raymond Ronald Jones (born 25 April 1939), better-known as Wizz Jones, is an English acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, England and has been performing since the late 1950s and recording from 19 ...

(along with John Renbourn on guitar). Fisher now lives in the south of Scotland. He was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List in 2006.

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 ''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a paper ...

'' 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)

With Frightened Rabbit

*"The Work", which he co-wrote, on '' A Frightened Rabbit EP'' (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Archie 1939 births Scottish folk singers Scottish radio personalities Members of the Order of the British Empire Living people Musicians from Glasgow Scottish songwriters Red House Records artists Topic Records artists