Eddie Fisher

Edwin Jack Fisher was born on August 10, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fourth of seven children born to Gitte Kathrine and Joseph Fisher, both Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Joseph Fisher's original surname was Tisch, changed to Fisher by the time of the 1940 census. Fisher's siblings were Sidney, Nettie, Miriam, Janet, Alvin, and Eileen, and within the family he was known by the nickname "Sonny Boy," derived from a song featured in Al Jolson's 1928 film The Singing Fool. He attended Thomas Junior High School, South Philadelphia High School, and Simon Gratz High School, though he left in the middle of his senior year to pursue a singing career. His early vocal talent was evident through wins in amateur contests, a radio debut on local station WFIL, and an appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.

By 1946, Fisher was performing with the bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura. In 1949, he was heard by entertainer Eddie Cantor at Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel, an encounter later described by Milton Blackstone, Grossinger's publicity director, as a contrived arrangement. Appearances on Cantor's radio program brought Fisher national exposure, and he subsequently signed a recording contract with RCA Victor, becoming their best-selling pop artist. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951, he completed basic training at Fort Hood, Texas, and served a year in Korea. From 1952 to 1953, he served as the official vocal soloist for the United States Army Band and as a tenor section member in the United States Army Band Chorus, both elements of Pershing's Own, stationed at Fort Myer in the Washington, D.C. Military District. During that period he made occasional guest television appearances in uniform, billed as PFC Eddie Fisher.

Following his discharge, Fisher became one of the most commercially successful singers of the early 1950s, placing 17 songs in the Top 10 on the music charts between 1950 and 1956 and 35 in the Top 40. His 1953 recording "Any Time" was his first to sell a million copies, followed shortly by "I'm Walking Behind You." He hosted the television series Coke Time with Eddie Fisher on NBC from 1953 to 1957, and later starred in The Eddie Fisher Show on NBC from 1957 to 1959, alternating with The George Gobel Show. He also appeared on The Perry Como Show, Club Oasis, The Martha Raye Show, The Gisele MacKenzie Show, The Chesterfield Supper Club, and The George Gobel Show. In 1957, he signed a then-record one-million-dollar deal with the newly opened Tropicana Las Vegas to perform there for at least four weeks a year over five years. That same year, Betty Johnson's novelty record "I Want Eddie Fisher For Christmas" reached number 28 in the Music Vendor national survey during an eleven-week chart run.

Fisher's personal life drew significant public attention throughout the decade. His best friend was showman and producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958. Fisher's subsequent affair with Todd's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, and his divorce from first wife Debbie Reynolds generated a major show business scandal. NBC canceled his television series in March 1959 as a result of the unfavorable publicity. In 1956, Fisher had costarred with Reynolds in the musical comedy Bundle of Joy, and in 1960 he appeared alongside Taylor in the drama Butterfield 8. His marriages included unions with Reynolds, Taylor, and Connie Stevens; with Reynolds he fathered actress Carrie Fisher. Beginning in fall 1959, Fisher established two scholarships at Brandeis University, one for classical music and one for popular music, in the name of Eddie Cantor.

In 1960, RCA Victor dropped Fisher due to declining record sales, and he briefly recorded on his own imprint, Ramrod Records, which produced one modestly successful live album release. He signed with Dot Records in early 1965, and his first release on that label was the single "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof, which peaked at number 22 on the Easy Listening charts after heavy promotion that included an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The accompanying album Eddie Fisher Today! was his first charting studio album in ten years. A subsequent Dot album, Young and Foolish, appeared in December 1965. Fisher returned to RCA Victor and in 1966 released the single "Games That Lovers Play" with arranger Nelson Riddle, which sold 150,000 copies in its first ten days and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart. The follow-up single "People Like You" reached number 4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in early 1967. His final RCA Victor album, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet, an Al Jolson tribute, was released in 1968. His last charting single, "I'll Pick a Rose for My Rose," was released in 1969 on Musicor Records.

It was during the period of his recording resurgence that Fisher also maintained a presence on the Broadway stage. Between 1962 and 1967, he appeared in two Broadway engagements: Eddie Fisher and Buddy Hackett at the Palace and Eddie Fisher at the Winter Garden. In 1983, Fisher attempted a comeback tour that did not succeed. An album recorded around 1984 for the Bainbridge label, After All, produced by William J. O'Malley and arranged by Angelo DiPippo, was released despite Fisher's efforts to prevent it. His final unreleased recordings were made in 1995 with the London Philharmonic. Fisher died on September 22, 2010.