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, 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 Scottish national 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 name from 23 N ...

for almost three decades.

Early life

Archie Fisher was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

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 is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. 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 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 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, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

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

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" (a chart-topping duet with Elaine Paige), " Answer Me" and " January February". Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK ...

'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 Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, ...

. 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

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 Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty 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 Irish folk music, 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 banjo, tin whistle, l ...

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

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 Maritime roots. Early life Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ontario to Nathan Allison Rogers and Valerie (née Bushell) ...

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 Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

(who also recorded "The Wounded Whale"),

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

, 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 The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

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)

References

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