For decades we’ve heard the incredible voice of Lisa Fischer behind Tina Turner, Sting and mostly the Rolling Stones. The Melbourne International Jazz Festival as enticed this remarkable singer to showcase her voice solo during this year’s festival.
Lisa Fischer should have been a superstar in her own right but fame is mostly a matter of circumstance. She made one album ‘So Intense’ in 1991. The song ‘How Can I Ease The Pain’ earned her a Grammy. Then, through no fault of her own, circumstance intervened.
“I was signed to Elektra and I was due to start a second record,” Lisa tells Noise11.com. “It took so long to find songs. I was touring. Everyone was really helpful but it just took so long to pull it together. Then Elektra began to downsize and it became Warner Elektra Atlantic (WEA). So much was going on in the company. The original person who signed me wasn’t there anymore. There were all these changes so my manager thought it would be a good time to change labels. We asked to be released from the Elektra contract. As soon as I did that the new label changed their mind and then I had no deal. At that point I was so disappointed. It was so scary so I thought I would just go back to singing background where I am a happy little girl”.
That happened despite a Grammy Award to her name. In 1992 she was awarded a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her song ‘How Can I Ease The Pain’ “That was lucky. I was very grateful and shocked. That was beautiful,” she says. “I share it with Patti Labelle. They don’t have a whole lot of ties at the Grammys but they did that year. I also sang background on the song Patti won. It was a beautiful”.
‘How Can I Leave The Pain’ is her one original song she does at her shows. “I can’t leave the building without singing it. I have to sing it. Usually people get really angry when I don’t sing it. I love singing it so it is a lot of fun”.
‘So Intense’ was 1991. 28 years later she is considering a second album. “I am really working towards that and I’ve been saying that for a couple of years now but the world is different, the record business is different,” she says. “A lot of companies have downsized and there are a lot of independents. It seems like a lot of extremes. I couldn’t imagine the Rolling Stones or Lady Gaga without a record deal but for other artists it is difficult to maneuver and find the right way to present music to people. We are still trying to work that out. Also trying to capture the right energy. When you are singing live verses singing in the studio it is two different universes as to how you project energy. Just finding how to relate to people has always been the challenge”.
As a backing singer for the Rolling Stones from 1989 to 2015, Lisa’s shining moment was sharing the stage with Mick Jagger for the dynamic ‘Gimme Shelter’. It was The Stones at their most potent. “It is a blessing being able to do that song,” she says. “What amazing songwriters Mick and Keith are! The way that they capture the spirit of that song. I remember Keith speaking about how there actually being a storm when they wrote the lyrics. It’s not just about a storm. There were so many threads and so much emotion the way he plays his guitar and the way Mick delivers the melody. Merry Clayton laid down the law. There is a YouTube video of her with her voice isolated from the track. You hear her singing the rape/murder section of the song. You can just hear the blood curtailing. She meant it, she just meant it. When I heard that I thought I would never be able to sing it like her”.
You feel the energy, danger, on so many levels. I think when people feel that their needs to be a relief. That’s what I am thinking about when I sing the song. It is a chance to release the energy of danger. You can acknowledge the pain but you cannot carry around it all the time.
Lisa left the Stones in 2015. “There was a film called ’20 Feet from Stardom’. I would go to these events and people would ask if I had a band, if I was touring,” she says. “I ended up getting a band together and we started doing shows but I was still working for The Stones at the time. I would look at The Stones schedule and try to book shows in a healthy way around a Stones tour but it got so complicated. Sometimes things would change and I would have to change my own schedule and it wasn’t fair to the promoters who are taking a chance on me to cancel. I had to make a decision. It was just a painful decision because I love them so much but I had to choose the unknown and pray for the best. Heaven knows I miss them to pieces”.
Her solo shows aren’t just Stones. “The Robert Palmer song (Addicted to Love) I used to do with Tina (Turner). The Sting one, I would do different versions of it, different expressions of it for different shows. The Stones stuff I have done for a really long time. Their songwriting is part of my energy. The fun part if being able to take these gifts that these amazing songwriters have been able to gift the world and pull them on like a beautiful costume and reinterpret them that suits where I am right now”.
The only thing missing from her set is a representation of her time with Louis Vega and Nine Inch Nails. “I have to work on seeing if I can do some of their songs sometime because it was so much fun,” she says. “Maybe I should do a dance party with Louis Vega songs. Louis is a wonderful producer. He is a joy to work with. Trent Reznor is just off the charts amazing. I got to do just one tour. It’s funny when I listen to the record to who shows up at soundcheck, it is two different people. When you talk to him on the phone he is so calm, so focused, so smart. You would never know that all of that emotion was under his skin”.
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