Archie Fisher

Archie Fisher MBE (born October 23, 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," which he recorded on the album, Windward Away. Several other groups and singers, including The Clancy Brothers, have also recorded it. 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 for almost three decades.

Archie Fisher was born in Glasgow 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 and appeared regularly at the "The Howff" folk club run by Roy Guest. In 1962 Ray and Archie released the single "Far Over the Forth" on the Topic Records label and appeared on the BBC Hootenanny programme. In 1965 the whole family released the album Traditional and New Songs from Scotland.

In 1963 Fisher ran a weekly folk club at the Crown Bar in Edinburgh, there he met acoustic musicians Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer who were performing together as a traditional folk duo. Mike Heron later auditioned to play rhythm guitar and the trio became The Incredible String Band.

By 1964 the Edinburgh Fringe could boast a folk festival in its own right. An album of the participants was released on Decca. 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 and Briggs performed together but this was never recorded. At an early stage Fisher recognised the power of Barbara Dickson'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. His song "Witch of the Westmorland" was recorded by Barbara Dickson in 1971 on her album From the Beggar's Mantle, by Fisher on The Man With a Rhyme in 1976, by Stan Rogers in 1979 and by Golden Bough in 1983.

...
Wikipedia