ABOUT CHARLES FISHER
Still in love with making records, Charles Fisher is currently based in his home studio in Melbourne. He is renowned for his great ears (finding and developing talent; selecting hits), his canny arrangement skills and his psychological skills, getting the best out of a range of personalities. The extraordinarily versatile ‘song doctor’ is at home with rock guitars (Radio Birdman, Hoodoo Gurus), popular and orchestral arrangements (Olivia Newton-John, Air Supply, The Seekers), and many other forms including pop and electronica (Savage Garden, 1927). His ability to work sympathetically with female artists is clear from successful releases he produced for Judith Durham, Olivia Newton-John, Electric Pandas and ARIA-Award- winning Gyan. At the 2001 APRA Wards, Fisher was awarded the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music (APRA).
Hit acts originally unsigned and unwanted – but believed in, developed and produced on spec by Fisher – include duo Savage Garden (whose self-titled debut sold over 18 million albums worldwide) and 1927 (on Fisher’s co-owned Trafalgar Productions –the band sold six platinum albums after being unsigned for a year). Even Air Supply called him in at a time when their careers were ‘do or die’ – and his work with their ‘Lost in Love’ single and album led to a No. 3 US hit single and three million albums sold.
In 1997 Fisher won ARIA Producer of the Year for Savage Garden’s Savage Garden; ‘Down on Me’ (Hoodoo Gurus); ‘Far Shore’ (The Seekers); plus ‘I Am Australian’ for Judith Durham, Russell Hitchcock and Dr Yunupingu (RIP) of Yothu Yindi. In the early 21st century Fisher began producing overseas-based acts including Olivia Newton-John, whose ‘(2)’ album went platinum; Swedes Ace of Base and Canadians SoulDecision, whose single ‘Faded’ went to No.1 in Canada and No.6 in the US and whose album No-One Does It Better went platinum too. Fisher’s production of Olivia Newton-John’s ‘Best of Friends’ (2003), the closing credits track for the film The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration), can be seen in a YouTube clip featured here:
Other soundtracks he has worked on include The Sum of Us (’94).
In recent years, Charles Fisher has been producing albums for artists James Reyne, Hoodoo Gurus, Celtic Tenors, and Thai pop artist Tor Saksit, who's first single from the 2nd album Charles has produced reached #1 on Thai radio this year (can be viewed here).
In 2019, Charles made several guest appearances on the highly acclaimed ABC’s television series, "The Recording Studio".