Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. Popular during the 1950s, he sold millions of records and hosted his own TV show, The Eddie Fisher Show. Fisher had multiple high-profile marriages, including with Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, and Connie Stevens. With Reynolds, he fathered Carrie Fisher.
Early life
Fisher was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 10, 1928, the fourth of seven children born to Gitte Kathrine "Kate" ( Minicker; 1901–1991) and Joseph Fisher ( Tisch; 1900–1972), both Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. His father's surname was originally Tisch, but was changed to Fisher by the time of the 1940 census. To his family, Fisher was always called "Sonny Boy", a nickname derived from the song of the same name in Al Jolson's film The Singing Fool (1928). His siblings were Sidney, Nettie, Miriam, Janet, Alvin, and Eileen. Kate and Joseph divorced after 33 years of marriage when Fisher was an adult.
Fisher attended Thomas Junior High School, South Philadelphia High School, and Simon Gratz High School. It was known at an early age that he had talent as a vocalist, and he started singing in numerous amateur contests, which he usually won. He made his radio debut on WFIL, a local Philadelphia radio station. He also performed on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a popular radio show that later moved to television. Because he became a local star, Fisher dropped out of high school in the middle of his senior year to pursue his career.
Career
1946–1950: Early beginnings
By 1946, Fisher was crooning with the bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura. He was heard in 1949 by Eddie Cantor at Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel in the Borscht Belt. Cantor's so-called discovery of Fisher was later described as a totally contrived, "manipulated" arrangement by Milton Blackstone, Grossinger's publicity director.
After performing on Cantor's radio show he was an instant hit and gained nationwide exposure. He then signed a recording contract with RCA Victor and became their best-selling pop artist. In 1954, Fisher topped the US charts a third time with "I Need You Now", which also hit the UK top-15 at number 13. When Fisher was at the height of his popularity, in the mid-1950s, singles, rather than albums, were the primary medium for issuing recordings. However, Fisher had several top-10 albums as well. In 1957, he signed a then-record $1 million deal with the newly opened Tropicana Las Vegas to appear there for at least 4 weeks a year for 5 years.
thumb|left|Newspaper advertisement for Eddie Fisher's radio show on the [[Mutual Broadcasting System in 1954.]]
In his memoir "My Life, My Loves", Fisher recounted turning down a Copacabana engagement that a young tenor named Bill Shirley later accepted, whose successful debut he witnessed from backstage. Fisher recalled Monte Proser telling him, “That could have been you,” a moment he described with lingering regret. In 1954, following growing media attention on Shirley’s relationship with Debbie Reynolds, Fisher reentered Reynolds’ life with the support of his public relations team. His sudden proposal at the Cocoanut Grove shifted public attention and led to Reynolds’ engagement, effectively ending her relationship with Shirley. While Fisher did not reference Shirley directly, the timing and tone of his memoir suggest a desire to reassert presence both personally and professionally.
Fisher created interest as a pop culture icon. Betty Johnson's "I Want Eddie Fisher For Christmas", containing references to a number of hit songs, reached No. 28 in the Music Vendor national survey during an 11-week chart run in late 1954.
In 1956, Fisher costarred with then-wife Debbie Reynolds in the musical comedy Bundle of Joy. He played a dramatic role in the 1960 drama Butterfield 8 with second wife Elizabeth Taylor. His best friend was a showman and producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958. Fisher's affair, divorce from Reynolds, and subsequent marriage to Taylor, Todd's widow, caused a show business scandal. Due to the unfavorable publicity surrounding the affair and divorce, NBC canceled Fisher's television series in March 1959.
1960–1969: Decline and eventual comeback with "Games That Lovers Play"
In 1960, RCA Victor dropped him due to declining sales, and he briefly recorded on his own label, Ramrod Records. It had seen only one modestly successful release with a live album. In early 1965, he signed Dot Records, with whom his first release was scheduled to be the single "Sunrise, Sunset", from Fiddler on the Roof. The song was heavily promoted, with Dot buying out advertisements and Fisher performing it on multiple shows, notably The Ed Sullivan Show. It had bubbled under the pop charts and also peaked at number 22 on the Easy Listening charts. This technically counts as the biggest standard Fisher can claim credit for introducing, although it is rarely associated with him. The Dot album Eddie Fisher Today! saw Fisher return to recording a full LP for the first time in three years. It became his first charting studio album in 10 years, peaking at number 52 nationally. Aside from Eddie Fisher Today!, the Dot contract was not successful in record sales terms. The only other recording by Fisher to get any traction during this time was "Young and Foolish", which became the title track for his next Dot album in December 1965.
He returned to RCA Victor and had a single hit in 1966 with the song "Games That Lovers Play" with Nelson Riddle, which became the title of his best-selling album. The single had already sold 150,000 copies in ten days, and eventually peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Easy Listening while also coming close to the reaching the pop top-40. The follow-up single "People Like You" became his final big hit, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in early 1967. His last album for RCA Victor was an Al Jolson tribute, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet, released in 1968. Fisher dissatisfied with RCA Victor's lack of promotion of the album, left the label. His final single came in 1969 with Marv Johnson's pop hit "I'll Pick a Rose for My Rose", released by Musicor Records. The song was noted by critics as to giving Fisher a "younger pop sound" than in his previous releases.
1970–2005: Later career and performances
In 1983, he attempted a comeback tour, but it was unsuccessful. Fisher's last released album was recorded around 1984 on the Bainbridge record label. Fisher tried to stop the album from being released, but it turned up as After All. The album was produced by William J. O'Malley and arranged by Angelo DiPippo. DiPippo, a world-renowned arranger, worked with Eddie for countless hours to better his vocals, but it became futile. Fisher's final recordings (never released) were made in 1995 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. According to arranger-conductor Vincent Falcone, writing in his 2005 autobiography, Frankly: Just Between Us, these tracks were "the best singing of his life".
Fisher performed in top concert halls all over the United States and headlined in major Las Vegas showrooms. He headlined at the Palace Theater in New York City, as well as London's Palladium. In the culmination of his return to the concert stage in 1962, Fisher headlined a five-week Broadway show at the Winter Garden, calling it a dream of his since his youth to perform in the venue Al Jolson had made famous.
Fisher has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for recording, at 6241 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for television, at 1724 Vine Street.
While performing at The Tropicana Hotel in 1957, Fisher had numerous affairs with women, which contributed to his turbulent marriage to Debbie Reynolds. One of his notable affairs was with model Pat Sheehan, who was eighteen years old at the time. They eventually parted ways after Fisher refused to divorce Reynolds. He would divorce Reynolds two years later in a brief proceeding reportedly lasting ten minutes and costing ten dollars, before marrying actress Elizabeth Taylor. Fisher did not have the money at hand, so he borrowed it from his TV show producer Bernie Rich, saying that it was "worth every penny of his money".
thumb|left|Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor in November 1961
When she was interviewed, Debbie Reynolds said that she could understand being dumped "for the world's most beautiful woman", referring to Taylor, who was previously a close friend. Taylor and Reynolds later resumed their friendship and mocked Fisher in a TV movie written by Carrie Fisher, These Old Broads, in which their characters ridiculed the ex-husband they shared, named "Freddie Hunter".
In his memoirs, Fisher admitted to addictions to drugs and gambling, which aggravated his career problems. Phillips categorically denied Fisher's claim that they had an affair.
Beginning in fall 1959, Fisher established two scholarships at Brandeis University, one for classical and one for popular music, in the name of Eddie Cantor.
Fisher supported Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 United States presidential election.
Death
Fisher fell and broke his hip on September 9, 2010, and died 13 days later on September 22, 2010, at his home in Berkeley, California, from complications from hip surgery, at the age of 82. His ashes were interred at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park next to his wife Betty Lin, who died in 2001.