Throughout the rest of 1949 and all of 1950, Fisher's career grew at a rapid pace. Finally, Cantor and Blackstone arranged for Fisher to sign with RCA Victor, one of the biggest recording companies. A star was born in one hour of conniving, where four years of talented and honest effort had achieved nothing.Ĭantor then took Eddie Fisher under his wing, giving him a place on his current national tour and television show, and even wrangling invitations for the young singer on other major television programs. Several reporters, who had been alerted by Milton Blackstone of a breaking show-business story, covered the "discovery" for major newspapers. Cantor set up the audience to love Eddie Fisher, and Fisher performed very well. Now 21, he was more mature and his stage presence had greatly improved, so Blackstone decided to manufacture a groundswell of popularity for Fisher, and persuaded the famous comedian Eddie Cantor to "discover" Fisher during a performance at Grossinger's.īlackstone paid for "fans" to sit throughout the hall, and to cheer wildly during Fisher's act. Frustrated with his progress, in 1949 Fisher put himself fully under the control of Blackstone, and made one last effort at establishing himself as a singing sensation. In the fall of 1946 Fisher returned to the Copacabana, where he was given a small job, and the ambitious young singer spent the next three years in a vain effort at becoming a star. There Fisher set about learning as much as possible, not only by honing his own skills, but also by studying the behavior of the famous acts that performed at Grossinger's. Fortunately, the nightclub owner put Fisher in touch with publicist and celebrity manager, Milton Blackstone, who in turn found the youthful entertainer a summer job at Grossinger's resort hotel in the Catskills. In an audition at the Copacabana, Fisher impressed the owner with his voice, but his immature looks and manner detracted from his talent. Calling himself Sonny Edwards, Fisher haunted the city's nightclubs for months, searching for work. Two years later, the seventeen-year-old Fisher obtained a tryout with the Buddy Morrow band in New York, but he was only employed for a few weeks. He sought a singing career from an early age, and became a regular performer on Philadelphia radio by the age of fifteen. One of seven children of a Jewish grocer in South Philadelphia, Edward Fisher had a Depression-era childhood of poverty and frequent moves. Of a highly-publicized series of romantic entanglements, involving some of the most famous celebrities of his generation. Get ReMIND magazine at 70% off the cover price, call 84 or visit remindmagazine.For a brief time, Eddie Fisher was the most popular male vocalist in America, but for a longer period, the affable crooner was the center He was 82.īrought to you by the publishers of ReMIND magazine, a monthly magazine filled with over 95 puzzles, retro features, trivia and comics. 22, 2010, when Fisher passed away at his Berkeley, Calif., home following complications from hip surgery. “Everything that has happened in my life … everything I owe to the fact that when I opened my mouth this sound, this music, came out.” The music was silenced on Sept. Still, at the heart of it all was that glorious tenor. Fisher courted further controversy with two tell-all books, the second of which, Been There, Done That: An Autobiography, so infuriated daughter Carrie that she threatened to change her surname to Reynolds. The rise of rock ‘n’ roll helped to end his reign on the popular music charts, and much of the $20 million earned in his peak years was swallowed by drug and gambling addictions. Two of Fisher’s next three trips to the altar also ended in divorce (fifth wife Betty Lin predeceased him in 2001). His first marriage, to American sweetheart Debbie Reynolds, ended after a scandalous affair with the recently widowed Elizabeth Taylor, who in turn succumbed to the charms of Richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra. Hotter than Sinatra.” But life offstage was largely a head-spinning series of disasters. With multiple chart-topping hits, TV and nightclub appearances and two variety series, the dapper teen idol would later remark, “I was bigger than the Beatles. “I didn’t even have to practice.” After her 4-year-old took top prize in his first children’s talent show, mom Kate Fisher entered Eddie in “every amateur contest she heard about and I usually won.” His professional debut came at age 12 with a spot on the Philadelphia radio program When I Grow Up, and five years later he was a local star, dropping out of high school to pursue music full time. “I didn’t have to work at it,” he recalled.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |