Fred Fisher

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Fred Fisher (born September 30, 1875 as Alfred Breitenbach in Cologne , † January 14, 1942 in New York ) was a German composer of American popular music in the genre of Tin Pan Alley .

Life

Alfred Breitenbach, who was born in Cologne, grew up there in rather poor circumstances. His father was Max Breitenbach, a travel agent for "Eagle Gloves", his mother was Theodora Nassauer-Breitenbach, a journalist for the Kölnische Zeitung and co-founder of the Baron de Hirsch Institute . In 1898 he left his home and was initially hired in the imperial navy, which was rebuilt under Kaiser Wilhelm II ; then he went to the French Foreign Legion .

In 1900 he emigrated to the USA and came to Chicago , where he learned to play the piano in a South Street saloon. He eventually moved to New York, where he worked for the publishers Harms & Co. and Co. Leo Feist & worked. He discovered his talent as a composer of popular music, and his first composition was Every Little Bit Helps (text: George Whiting, 1904) for Ada Jones & Len Spencer, recorded on June 27, 1905. The year after, Let Me See You was released Smile and I've Said My Last Farewell for Billy Murray . Mostly he composed the music, the lyrics were often written by Alfred Bryan. Some of his songs were used for the Ziegfeld Follies vaudeville show program .

Million seller

Ben Selvin's Novelty Orchestra - Dardanella

In March 1907, he landed with If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon (Loon) , again sung by Ada Jones, his first million seller , which sold over 2.5 million times and reached third place in the pop hit parade. It was a combination of moon songs and coon songs (popular songs about the moon and about African Americans at the time ). Shortly afterwards he adopted the name Fred Fisher, but he had not been able to shed his strong Cologne dialect . In 1907 he founded the music publisher Fred Fisher Music Publishing Company on Broadway , of which he remained until his death. As a result, he received double royalties , namely as a composer and through his music publisher. His formula for success was: “Composition is a question of sounds, not of mind. When you create new sounds, you make money. If you can't make sounds, you have to try with passion ”.

In this way he developed a feeling for potential for success. In 1919 Dardanella came to his music publisher as an instrumental piano ragtime composed by Felix Bernard , to which he added a text and a repetitive ostinato bass. A total of 6.5 million copies were sold. In 1921 Jerome Kern composed the title Ka-lu-a with a text by Anne Caldwell for the Broadway show Good Morning, Dearie . Kern used almost the same ostinato as in Dardanella , whereupon he was sued by Fisher for plagiarism . Fisher got right and was awarded US $ 250 in damages.

Further career

Shep Fields - That's When Your Heartaches Begin
Frank Sinatra - Chicago

In 1914 he married Anna, daughter Doris was born on May 2, 1915 († January 15, 2003), son Marvin was born on September 26, 1916 († August 21, 1993) and son Daniel "Dan" followed on August 26 1920 († September 6, 2001). All three children became successful composers themselves. Doris wrote her first hit Tutti Frutti in March 1938. It was followed by Marvin with For Once in Your Life for the Pennsylvanians and You Don't Learn That in School for the King Cole Trio (May 1947), while Dan for Billie Holiday Good Morning, Heartache (1946) and No Good Man (1944) wrote. In 1918 he finally Anglicized his adapted surname Fischer to "Fisher".

In the 1920s, Fisher was one of the best known writers on Tin Pan Alley, with most of his songs being taken over by Victor Records . In addition, from 1925 in Hollywood he also composed the musical accompaniment for numerous silent films. In July 1922 he wrote a tribute to the first city in his adopted home, Chicago (That Toddling Town) , which Ben Selvin was the first to take over and which made it to number five on the pop hit parade after its publication in November 1922 . The song, which was later covered a lot, is about a moral preacher who tries in vain to enforce prohibition in fun-loving Chicago and finally fails due to the resistance of the residents. The most intense years began, in which Fisher delivered a large number of compositions per year. His That's When Your Heartaches Begin was written on June 3, 1937 in the original version by Shep Fields ; the Ink Spots covered the title in December 1940, before Elvis Presley recorded it as the B-side of All Shook Up on January 13, 1957 . Also in 1957, Frank Sinatra took on Chicago ; it was used in the motion picture The Joker Is Wild and is part of his permanent repertoire.

From 1939 Fred Fisher was suffering from an incurable disease for which he in 1942 on January 14 suicide committed and at his home in Manhattan died. He was buried in Maimonidas Cemetery in Queens .

Film and awards

Fisher's career also formed the basis of the Hollywood musical, Oh You Beautiful Doll , which formed the framework for many of his big hits and was released on November 11, 1949. Here Fisher was played by Eugene Gero Szakall (1884–1955), an actor from Hungary. A total of 187 compositions for Fred Fisher are copyright registered with ASCAP . His life's work brought Fisher posthumously into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 .

Discography (selection), in brackets artists with recording date

  • Every Little Bit Helps (Ada Jones & Len Spencer), June 27, 1905
  • Let Me See You Smile (Billy Murray), March 23, 1906
  • I've Said My Last Farewell (Billy Murray), May 31, 1906
  • And a Little Bit More (Arthur Collins), May 1, 1907
  • If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon (Ada Jones, Edison 9372), July 2, 1907
  • When the Moon Plays Peek-A-Boo (Will Rossiter), 1907
  • The Meanest Man in Town (Arthur Collins), 1908
  • Under the Matzo Tree (Ada Jones), 1908
  • My Brudda, Sylves' (Collins & Harlan), August 13, 1908
  • Come Josephine, in My Flying Machine (Blanche Ring) (Ada Jones & Billy Murray , November 1910)
  • Good-bye, Beckie Cohen (Fanny Brice), April 11, 1910
  • Any Little Girl That's a Nice Little Girl, Is the Right Little Girl for Me (Billy Murray), 1911
  • Make Me Love You Like You Never Loved Before (“That” Girl Quartet), September 11, 1911
  • When I Get You Alone Tonight (Walter van Brunt), September 17, 1912
  • Roll Me Around Like a Hoop, My Dear (Maud Tiffany), 1913
  • Peg o 'My Heart (Charles W. Harrison, July 24, 1913), (Bunny Berigan, November 28, 1939), (Harmonicats March 1947 No. 1; also the Three Suns June 1947), published March 15, 1913 for the Ziegfeld Follies
  • That Little German Band ( Al Jolson ), June 4, 1913
  • I'm on My Way to Mandalay ( Henry Burr / Albert Campbell / Will Oakland, Victor 17503), November 18, 1913
  • Who Paid the Rent for Mrs. Rip von Winkle (Al Jolson), 1914
  • Dancing the Blues Away (Al Jolson), 1914
  • When It's Moonlight on the Alamo (Peerless Quartet, Victor 17591), May 11, 1914
  • Over the Alpine Mountains (Henry Burr / Albert Campbell, Victor 17614), May 15, 1914
  • There's a Spark of Love Still Burning (Henry Burr, Victor 17697), October 19, 1914
  • I Want to Go to Tokyo (Lyric QT, Victor 17754), March 3, 1915
  • Norway, the Land of the Midnight Sun (Al Campbell / Henry Burr, Victor 17827), June 4, 1915
  • Ireland Must Be Heaven for My Mother Came from There (Charles Harrison, Victor 18111), July 19, 1916
  • There's a Bit of Bad in Every Good Little Girl (Billy Murray, Victor 18143; and Gladys Rice), September 5, 1916
  • In the Land of Yamo Yamo , 1917
  • Lorraine, My Beautiful Alsace Lorraine (Marion Sunshine), 1917
  • When It's Night Time in Little Italy , 1917
  • They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me ( Marion Harris , Victor 18343), July 12, 1917
  • Oui, Oui Marie (Wee Wee, Marie) (Yerkes Jazarimba Orchestra, Ray Benson Orchestra), 1918
  • Dardanella (Ben Selvin, Victor 18633), November 20, 1919, (music: Johnny S. Black / Felix Bernard, text: Fred Fisher)
  • Daddy, You've Been More Than a Mother to Me (Henry Burr, Victor 18656), November 1919
  • Dardanella Blues (Billy Murray / Ed Smalle, Victor 18688), June 1920 (composed with JS Black)
  • I Found a Rose in the Devil's Garden (Harry Radermans Orchestra, Carmen Cavallaro & His Piano, Sterling Trio Victor 18746: March 30, 1921)
  • When The Honeymoon Was Over (Henry Burr, Victor 18805), May 1921
  • Chicago (That Todd'ling Town) (Jazzbo´s Carolina Serenaders, Ben Selvin July 1922, Paul Whiteman Orchestra: 23 August 1922)
  • Savannah ( Ted Weems & Orchestra, Victor 19344), April 29, 1924
  • Hot Hot Hottentot ( Roger Wolfe Kahn & Orchestra, Victor 19616), March 10, 1925
  • That Red Head Girl ( Original Memphis Five ), 1925
  • If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies (BF Goodrich Silvertone Orchestra, Victor 20491), February 11, 1927
  • Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong ( Nat Shilkret & Victor Orchestra, Victor 20634), May 5, 1927
  • There Ain't No Sweet Man Worth the Salt in My Tears (Paul Whiteman, Victor 21464), February 8, 1928
  • The Dance of the Blue Danube ( Foxtrot , Vincent Lopez , Ampico ), 1928
  • Until the End (Nat Shilkret & Orchestra, Victor 22138), July 30, 1929
  • Bones and Tambourines (Hollywood Revue Choir), 1929
  • Strike Up the Band , 1929 ( Red Nichols and His Five Pennies, Merritt 18), Aug. 3, 1930
  • Tableaux of Jewels , 1929
  • Love song: I love you , 1929 (for the film Wonder of Women by Clarence Brown )
  • Blue Is the Night ( Nat Shilkret & Orchestra, Victor 22290), January 20, 1930
  • You're Feet's Too Big ( Fats Waller ), 1936
  • That's When Your Heartaches Begin ( Shep Fields , Bluebird 7015), June 3, 1937
  • There Must Be Paint In the Sky (George Hamilton, Victor 25611), June 25, 1937
  • It's Great to Meet a Friend From the Old Town ( Bunny Berrigan , Victor 25664), September 3, 1937
  • Ten Easy Lessons ( Bunny Berigan , Victor 25881), June 8, 1938, (comp.Doris Fisher / Harry Bailey)
  • Whispering Grass (Don't Tell the Trees) (Ink Spots), (music by Doris Fisher), July 1940

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Stanley Lemons, Black Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture , 1880–1920, in: American Quarterly 29/1977, p. 108
  2. ↑ Marvin Fisher , entry in Cafe Songbook, GreatAmericanSongbook.net, accessed Jan. August 2017
  3. ↑ Billboard Magazine of March 19, 1949, The Honor Roll of Popular Songwriters, Volume 13, Fred Fisher , pp. 46 ff.
  4. ↑ which later became the characteristic basis of "Boogie Woogie"
  5. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 17
  6. ^ ASCAP entry for Fred Fisher
personal data
SURNAME Fisher, Fred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Breitenbach, Alfred (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American music composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1942
Place of death New York , United States