STARDOM IN SIGHT
Lisa Fischer tours with the Rolling Stones, but it’s her hand-picked band she’s leading into town
Vocalist Lisa Fischer is becoming a true sensation following her appearance in 20 Feet From Stardom.
An Evening with Ms. Lisa Fischer and Grand Baton
Tonight, 7 p.m. | Vogue Theatre
Tickets and info: coastaljazz.ca
Lisa Fischer speaks with friends, family and inquisitive journalists over the phone before a tour, but once out on the road she keeps her spoken words to a minimum. The vow of silence is one of several rules that Fischer, a vocalist with stratospheric range and immense power, puts into practice to save her voice for the demands of performing.
“I do my best to rest as much as I can, to hydrate as much as I can, and to be mindful of simple things like not speaking on the phone a lot and not speaking a lot after or before a show,” says Fischer, 56, in an email interview.
“And warm-ups for me are key, mostly before a sound check and show. If I’m fatigued afterwards, I’ll do a warm-down as well and stay quiet for the rest of the evening.”
Her voice will get put through the strain test this summer. In addition to touring North America with her three-piece band Grand Baton — they will perform tonight at the Vogue — she also resumes her regular gig as Mick Jagger’s vocal counterpart for the Rolling Stones’ Zip Code Tour. (She has toured with the Stones since 1989). The two tours dovetail and overlap — two nights before her Vogue show, she was in Milwaukee with the Stones, and two nights after Vancouver she will be with Jagger & Co. in Kansas City.
Belting out rock songs in stadiums can’t be easy on the voice.
“(Singing in big rock venues) definitely can put demands on the voice,” Fischer says. “Sometimes it’s a mind-over-matter thing and other times it is just pure matter. Each day is different due to travel and weather and how my body feels. Sometimes we are outdoors in the elements and I suffer from allergies from time to time. I do my best to listen to what my body needs.”
The Brooklyn-based vocalist, who featured prominently in the 2013 documentary about backup singers, 20 Feet from Stardom, has had an odd career arc. As a child she loved to sing, and knew at the age of five it would be her life. She set out to attend Queen’s College to become an opera singer, but her mother’s death changed that career track.
“I think had my mother lived I would have stayed in college longer. But death and life took over and I had to take the road that life laid before me,” she says. “I needed to work so I left school and started working where I could. I became a sponge for the music and experiences that surrounded me at that time.”
Fischer became a member of studio groups The Crystals and The Marvelettes, released a dance single under the name of Xena, then toiled anonymously in the studio backing artists such as Melba Moore, Billy Ocean, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan and, one of her cherished mentors, the late Luther Vandross.
What did she learn from Vandross?
“I learned how to listen. I was always in a rush to make sounds but he taught me to listen first to understand what sounds were needed.”
With Vandross’s help, Fischer got a contract with Elektra studio. She released the album So Intense in 1991, and within months was on stage to accept a Grammy award for the single How Can I Ease the Pain.
It looked like a long solo career was ahead of her, but a second recording never appeared. In the documentary, she says “it just took too long” to put a record together, and so she settled into a career singing backup for other artists who were established names.
The release of 20 Feet from Stardom resulted in so many calls that Fischer, who didn’t have a manager at the time, hired Linda Goldstein of Original Artists. Goldstein introduced her to guitarist-arranger Jean-Cristoph Maillard, who put together her current trio Grand Baton, with Aidan Carroll on bass and Thierry Arpino on drums.
“I love playing with them. Each of them is so special,” she says. “They are all accomplished musicians and their hearts are pure gold. When we play together it’s like playing in an ocean with endless destinations to discover.”
Fischer says she and the band are forming new material that, fingers crossed, may result in that elusive second recording.
Naylor, who plays keyboards in Dan Mangan’s band, and the bassist Sholberg of Junowinning instrumental band Pugs and Crows, enter the improvisational ring with two of Sweden’s craftiest jazz players. The Ironworks, 5 p.m. | free