Home / Clare Fischer

Clare Fischer

Special thanks 2 Clare Fischer 4 making brighter the colors black and white.
Prince and The Revolution ’86

Douglas Clare Fischer was born in Michigan in 1928, graduating from Michigan State University in 1946 to major in music. He developed a multi-genre style of music composition and found work making orchestral arrangements for Dizzy Gillespie, earning him acclaim. In 1975, he branched into the more lucrative world of pop, by way of his nephew, Andre Fischer, who was drummer in the funk band Rufus; creating the string arrangements for the band’s fourth album Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan. As an avid follower of Chaka Khan, it was hearing this LP that Prince became aware of Fischer’s work.

Fischer would enter Prince’s orbit in 1984 following a recommendation received from then girlfriend Susannah Melvoin. Susannah and Wendy Melvoin’s father, Michael Melvoin, was a composer and arranger working with the likes of Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, and The Jacksons, and on occasions hired Fischer’s services for string arrangements. It was in 1984, and out of the break-up of The Time, Prince put together a replacement spin-off band, formed of loyal friends, which he duly named The Family. The group was chiefly a means to bring Susannah into the studio to work with Prince while they dated. They became engaged and she was enlisted as the band’s vocalist. Familiar with his work for Rufus, Prince invited Fischer to compose and arrange the strings on the band’s debut LP The Family. Fischer promptly accepted, and within a month returned the finished recording – adding string arrangements to Screams Of Passion and River Run Dry.

Prince was so delighted with the result he sent him the tape for his next project. Concealed under the codename The Marx Brothers was the full album Parade, albeit excluding Kiss. It was the soundtrack for Prince’s second movie Under The Cherry Moon, which needed an orchestral score overdubbed on the tracks. Fischer, who had no previous movie credit to his name, recorded the orchestral parts of the soundtrack from June to August 1985, with final work added in January 1986. The recording took place at Monterey Sound Studios, Glendale, California, enlisting an orchestra of 67. The result produced a massive diversification of Prince’s sound and was Fischer’s most affecting work with Prince throughout their many collaborations. The partnership worked so well because Prince never told Fischer what he wanted – he simply worked from the structure of the original song. Prince would give Fischer the sole thanks in his liner notes of the album.

Their collaborations continued over the years, orchestrating Nothing Compares 2 U, Old Friends 4 Sale, and then Crystal Ball all intended for The Revolution. Although these tracks were vaulted for several years owing to the band’s dissolution, Fischer would next appear on the debut LP for Jill Jones, with Mia Bocca, Violet Blue and Baby, You’re A Trip in 1987, with Slow Love for Sign O’ The Times following later that month. The collaboration continued at pace; Prince assigning Fischer to arrange the orchestration for the intermission soundtrack Cross The Line for Lovesexy Tour in 1988. Throughout their working relationship, Fischer’s string arrangements for Prince would ultimately include: Pink Cashmere and Graffiti Bridge (1990), Violet The Organ Grinder (1991), Damn U (1992), Strays Of The World (1993), Goodbye (1994), Kamasutra (1996), Until U’re In My Arms Again and The One (1998), The Sun, The Moon And Stars, Silly Game and Man O’ War (1999), and lastly Te Amo Corazón (2006). He also did the orchestration for Prince’s 1998 side projects, Chaka Khan’s This Crazy Life Of Mine, and Eye Just Found Somebody 2 Love for Larry Graham. Fischer’s work is also sampled in The Future (1989), Push (1991), North (2003), Call My Name (2004) among others.

For his solo work, Fischer won two Grammys during his long career. His first win was for Best Latin Recording, with his 1981 album 2+2. Fischer sent Prince the CD, but he never listened to it. Prince did not want any influence to creep into his own work. In particular, he did not want to see its cover. Never tempting fate even to see what Fischer looked like, Prince knew he’ll end up in the studio interfering. Prince, who said the arrangement with Fischer was “working just fine as it is” was not willing to risk inadvertently effecting the relationship and the output of music should they ever meet. Clare Fischer holds unique status in Prince’s body of work, in that he was afforded the total freedom to create string arrangements without direction or influence. They never once met. Fischer won his second Grammy, in 1986 for Free Fall, and in addition to working with Prince, created orchestral arrangements for Robert Palmer, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, and Paula Abdul among many others. In recognition for his achievements, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Michigan in 1999. He died on 26 January 2012 of complications from surgery. He was 83.