R.I.P. Dave Fisher, of The Highwaymen ("Michael, Row The Boat Ashore" fame)
ordina...@gmail.com
remembrance of Dave Fisher, their lead singer and arranger, who died
earlier this week:
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/national/93753369.html#axzz0nvKXneHi
[Open quote as follows of article in Philadelphia Daily News obit.
pages today:]
............................................................................................................................
Dave Fisher dies at 69; a mainstay of Highwaymen
By ULA ILNYTZKY
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Dave Fisher, the lead singer of the Highwaymen, the popular
1960s folk group whose hit song "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" soared
to the top of the music charts, has died. He was 69.
Fisher died Friday at his home in Rye, N.Y., of a bone marrow disease,
his wife, Dr. Elaine K. Haagen, said yesterday.
Fisher was a freshman at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1958
when he and four other students formed the band. United Artists
released Fisher's arrangement of the spiritual "Michael, Row the Boat
Ashore" while they were still in school. It soared to the top of the
best-seller chart under the title "Michael," earning the group a gold
record.
Other hits followed, including "Cotton Fields" and "The Gypsy Rover,"
as did appearances on Ed Sullivan's and Johnny Carson's shows.
The group began to frequently play the Gaslight Cafe in New York
City's Greenwich Village and came into contact with such greats as Bob
Dylan, Tom Paxton and Buffy Sainte Marie.
They disbanded in 1964 but came together again in 1987 for a concert
for their 25th college reunion.
Since then, they have performed 10-12 concerts a year, said Ken
Greengrass, the group's longtime manager. The band last performed
together in August in Massachusetts.
Fisher "was writing 99 percent of the music and doing the vocal
arrangements" for the band, Greengrass said, in addition to being its
lead singer. Fisher was the only member of the band to make music his
profession, working as a songwriter, arranger and producer for movies
and television shows such as the "Fall Guy."
"The sound of the Highwaymen was Fisher," said Greengrass, who has
managed Art Garfunkel and other artists. "His tenor made the group
very recognizable."
Band member Steve Butts, a retired university administrator who was
the group's banjo player, said he and the other two surviving members
were at Fisher's bedside the day before he died.
Band member Bob Burnett had a career as a trusts lawyer and Chan
Daniels, who died in 1975, had been an executive for Capitol Records.
Fisher is "the guy responsible for one of the seminal folk groups of
1960s," said Steve Trott, who played mandolin and guitar for the group
and made a career as a federal appeals court judge and worked in the
Justice Department under Ronald Reagan. "He's the guy who arranged the
biggest folk hit of all time, 'Michael, Row the Boat Ashore.' "
Trott called Fisher a musical genius who knew opera, classical, folk
music and every other kind of music like the back of his hand.
"He was able to put it all together and meld it into the Highwaymen
sound," he said.
The rock 'n' roll magazine Blitz has called the Highwaymen's recording
of their 1963 concert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the
best reissue or compilation of 2009. It also called its album "When
the Village Was Green" one of the best releases of 2007.
The reason "Michael" was such a big hit, Trott said, was because
Fisher "put a couple of minor chords into it that hadn't been there
before . . . and that made all the difference."
He told Butts to whistle "and that was it. It took about 15 minutes,"
Trott said.
"He did that all the time. He had this touch for folk music that was
remarkable."
[end quote of article]
...............................................................................................................................
- N. Kosloff
On May 13, 7:18 am, "A" <a...@att.net> wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> Of all the songs I had sung in the summer camps in '61 / '62, this one I
> remember most strongly.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b1uGEYuSC8
> This version is how most people remember it from The Highwaymen.
>
> The original members were: Dave Fisher, Steve Trott, Chan Daniels, Steve
> Butts, and Bob Burnett.
>
> R.I.P. Dave Fisher, 70 (d. May 7, 2010), and previously, Chan Daniels (d.
> 1975).