Morgan Fisher
Encyclopedia
Morgan Fisher is an English
keyboard
player / composer
, and is most known for being a member of Mott the Hoople
in the early 1970s. However, his career has covered a wide range of musical activities, and he is still highly active in the music industry. In recent years he has expanded his creative work into the area of fine art photography.
with the soul / pop
band
, The Soul Survivors, who in 1967 renamed themselves The Love Affair. They had a number one hit
in 1968 with "Everlasting Love
", although this occurred while Fisher had taken a break from the band to complete his final year of grammar school. Between 1972 and 1973 he formed the progressive rock
band called Morgan
, with singer Tim Staffell
(the vocalist with the band Smile
, who later became Queen
).
From 1973 to 1976, after a brief liaison with Third Ear Band
, he joined seminal British rock band
, Mott the Hoople
, just after the period during which they were produced
by David Bowie
. While in Mott Fisher contributed keyboards to John Fiddler's Medicine Head, and when Mott folded, it was Fisher who invited Fiddler to join the remnants of Mott in what would become British Lions. From 1977 to 1979 the Lions would record two albums, and have three International hit singles, including Kim Fowley's "International Heroes", Garland Jeffries's "Wild in the Streets", and Fiddler's own "One More Chance to Run". In 1980 Fisher conceived and produced the unique Miniatures album (51 one-minute tracks by Robert Fripp
, Gavin Bryars
, Michael Nyman
, The Pretenders
, XTC
, Penguin Cafe Orchestra
, Robert Wyatt
, Ivor Cutler
, The Damned etc.). A sequel was released in 2000. In addition he played with Queen on their 1982 tour of Europe
and is introduced by Freddie Mercury
to the audience just before the band's performance of Crazy Little Thing Called Love
on the band's Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl
album.
In 1985 Fisher moved to Japan
, and started to make ambient and improvised music. He became a leading TV
commercial music
writers, including songs written or arranged
for Cat Power
, Karin Krog
, Jose Feliciano
, Zap Mama
and Swing Out Sister
. Japanese artists he has worked with include Yoko Ono
, Dip in the Pool, The Boom, Heat Wave, Shoukichi Kina
, Haruomi Hosono
and Kokoo. He also scored the Japanese anime
/live-action hybrid film Twilight of the Cockroaches
(1987) and the documentary "A Zen Life: D.T. Suzuki" (2006).
Since November 2003 Morgan has been performing monthly solo improvisation concerts at a club called Superdeluxe in Roppongi
, Tokyo
. He calls this concert series Morgan's Organ and has started to release live recordings of the series as downloads on iTunes, Amazon.com, etc. See the External Links below for the Morgan's Organ myspace website.
In 2005 he collaborated with German musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius (of Cluster and Harmonia) on the ambient
album Neverless
(on the Klanggalerie label).
Fisher has maintained a lifelong interest in photography
and in recent years has been holding an increasing number of solo exhibitions of his work. He has evolved a technique of abstract photography which he calls Light Painting, influenced by the photograms of Man Ray
and László Moholy-Nagy
, by pendulum-created harmonographs, and in particular by the abstract cinema of Len Lye
, Norman McLaren
and Oskar Fischinger
. Samples of his Light Paintings may be seen at his official website, and several were used in the booklet of his March 2009 album release Non Mon, a collection of his most well-known TV commercial compositions (Japan, DefSTAR/Sony Records). His light paintings are featured on the front cover and in a 7-page spread in the Winter 2010 edition of Artworks Magazine (Carmel, California).
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
player / composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and is most known for being a member of Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
in the early 1970s. However, his career has covered a wide range of musical activities, and he is still highly active in the music industry. In recent years he has expanded his creative work into the area of fine art photography.
Career
From 1966 to 1970 Fisher played the organOrgan (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
with the soul / pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
, The Soul Survivors, who in 1967 renamed themselves The Love Affair. They had a number one hit
Chart topper
Chart topper may refer to:*Record chart, a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time**Billboard charts, a ranking of the relative popularity of songs or albums in the United States...
in 1968 with "Everlasting Love
Everlasting Love
"Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden that has been a hit for various artists, including Robert Knight, Carl Carlton, Love Affair, and Gloria Estefan.- Overview :...
", although this occurred while Fisher had taken a break from the band to complete his final year of grammar school. Between 1972 and 1973 he formed the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band called Morgan
Morgan (band)
Morgan was an English progressive rock band, formed and disbanded in the early 1970s.-History:Featuring former Smile member Tim Staffell on vocals and guitar, Bob Sapsed of Springfield Park on bass, Maurice Bacon on drums and Morgan Fisher on keyboards, Morgan formed in 1971...
, with singer Tim Staffell
Tim Staffell
Timothy "Tim" Staffell is an English rock musician and visual artist. He was a member of blues-rock outfit 1984 and later Smile, a band which included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Upon Staffell's departure, Smile were joined by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon to form the band Queen...
(the vocalist with the band Smile
Smile (band)
Smile were a London-based blues rock band best known as the predecessor to renowned rock band Queen. The band was formed in 1968 by Brian May, who was to become Queen's guitarist. The group included Tim Staffell as singer and bassist, and, later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for...
, who later became Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
).
From 1973 to 1976, after a brief liaison with Third Ear Band
Third Ear Band
Third Ear Band evolved within the London alternative and free-music scene of the mid 1960s.-History:Members came from The Giant Sun Trolley and The People Band to create an improvised music drawing on Eastern raga forms, European folk, experimental and medieval influences...
, he joined seminal British rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
, Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
, just after the period during which they were produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. While in Mott Fisher contributed keyboards to John Fiddler's Medicine Head, and when Mott folded, it was Fisher who invited Fiddler to join the remnants of Mott in what would become British Lions. From 1977 to 1979 the Lions would record two albums, and have three International hit singles, including Kim Fowley's "International Heroes", Garland Jeffries's "Wild in the Streets", and Fiddler's own "One More Chance to Run". In 1980 Fisher conceived and produced the unique Miniatures album (51 one-minute tracks by Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
, Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
, Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
, The Pretenders
The Pretenders
The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...
, XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
, Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra was a collective of performing musicians created by classically trained British guitarist, composer and arranger Simon Jeffes...
, Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
, Ivor Cutler
Ivor Cutler
Ivor Cutler was a Scottish poet, songwriter and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions recorded for John Peel's influential radio programme, and later for Andy Kershaw's programme...
, The Damned etc.). A sequel was released in 2000. In addition he played with Queen on their 1982 tour of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and is introduced by Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
to the audience just before the band's performance of Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track featured on their 1980 album The Game, and also appears on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits...
on the band's Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl
Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl
Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl is a double compact disc live album by English band Queen released on October 25, 2004 in Europe and on November 9, 2004 in the US....
album.
In 1985 Fisher moved to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and started to make ambient and improvised music. He became a leading TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
commercial music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
writers, including songs written or arranged
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
for Cat Power
Cat Power
Charlyn Marie Marshall , also known as Chan Marshall or by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actress and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has come to refer to her musical projects with various backing bands...
, Karin Krog
Karin Krog
Karin Krog is a Norwegian jazz vocalist.- Life and career :She started to sing at an early age and in 1955 she was hired by the pianist Kjell Karlsen to sing in his sextet.Her great grandfather is Anders Heyerdahl...
, Jose Feliciano
José Feliciano
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
, Zap Mama
Zap Mama
Zap Mama is a Belgian musical group founded and led by Marie Daulne. Daulne says her mission is to be a bridge between the European and the African and bring the two cultures together with her music...
and Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister are a British "sophisti-pop" group best known worldwide for their 1986 song "Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", "Twilight World", "Waiting Game" and a remake of "Am I the Same Girl?" Though album sales in the U.S. and Europe have levelled off since the early 1990s, the...
. Japanese artists he has worked with include Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
, Dip in the Pool, The Boom, Heat Wave, Shoukichi Kina
Shoukichi Kina
, born June 10, 1948 in Koza , Okinawa, is an Okinawan rock musician who, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Japanese home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 70s and 80s. His first big hit was "Haisai Ojisan" in 1972, which he wrote when he was in high school...
, Haruomi Hosono
Haruomi Hosono
, also known as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese popular musician, best known internationally as a key member of the rock band Happy End and the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra.-Biography:...
and Kokoo. He also scored the Japanese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
/live-action hybrid film Twilight of the Cockroaches
Twilight of the Cockroaches
is a 1987 anime/live-action film written and directed by Hiroaki Yoshida that combines live-action footage with animation. The plot concerns a society of cockroaches who live peacefully in the apartment of a bachelor named Seito until a woman moves in and the humans begin to exterminate the...
(1987) and the documentary "A Zen Life: D.T. Suzuki" (2006).
Since November 2003 Morgan has been performing monthly solo improvisation concerts at a club called Superdeluxe in Roppongi
Roppongi
is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous as home to the rich Roppongi Hills area and an active night club scene. Many foreign embassies are located in Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. He calls this concert series Morgan's Organ and has started to release live recordings of the series as downloads on iTunes, Amazon.com, etc. See the External Links below for the Morgan's Organ myspace website.
In 2005 he collaborated with German musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius (of Cluster and Harmonia) on the ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
album Neverless
Neverless
Neverless is a collaboration between ambient composers and musicians Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Morgan Fisher. Basic tracks were recorded at Roedelius Studio in Austria and The Handmade Studio in Tokyo. Tracks were overdubbed and mixed by Morgan Fisher at The Handmade Studio between July, 2002...
(on the Klanggalerie label).
Fisher has maintained a lifelong interest in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
and in recent years has been holding an increasing number of solo exhibitions of his work. He has evolved a technique of abstract photography which he calls Light Painting, influenced by the photograms of Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
and László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.-Early life:...
, by pendulum-created harmonographs, and in particular by the abstract cinema of Len Lye
Len Lye
Len Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye , was a Christchurch, New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific...
, Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...
and Oskar Fischinger
Oskar Fischinger
Oskar Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter. He made over 50 short animated films, and painted c. 800 canvases, many of which are in museums, galleries and collections worldwide. Among his film works is Motion Painting No. 1 , which is now listed on the...
. Samples of his Light Paintings may be seen at his official website, and several were used in the booklet of his March 2009 album release Non Mon, a collection of his most well-known TV commercial compositions (Japan, DefSTAR/Sony Records). His light paintings are featured on the front cover and in a 7-page spread in the Winter 2010 edition of Artworks Magazine (Carmel, California).