Fred Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany on September 30, 1875. After being educated in Germany, he served in the Germany Navy and later was part of the French Foreign Legion.
Fisher moved to the United States in 1900. He began his songwriting career in Chicago and then moved to New York City where he found work on Tin Pan Alley first as a manager at the publishing firm Harms & Co. and later with Leo Feist & Co. He later formed his own publishing film.
In the early 1900’s, Fisher wrote background scores for silent films and later wrote songs for “talkies”. He also contributed special material for vaudeville and night club acts.
Collaborating with songwriters such as Grant Clarke, Joe McCarthy, Billy Rose, Alfred Bryan, Doris Fisher (daughter) and Billy Hill, Fisher wrote such hits as “Peg o’ My Heart”, “Dardanella”, “Chicago”, “Daddy, You’ve Been a Mother to Me”, “Come Josephine in My Flying Machine”, “Ireland Must Be Heaven”, “Every Little Bit Helps”, “My Brudda Sylvest”, “That Red Head Gal”, “If the Man in the Moon Were a Loon”, “Make Me Love You Like I Never Loved Before”, “I Don’t Want Your Kisses if I Can’t Have Your Love”, “I’m All Dressed Up with a Broken Heart”, “They Go Wild, Simply Wild, Over Me”, “There’s a Little Bit of Bad in Every Good Little Girl”, “Oui, Oui, Marie”, “There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway”, “Gee, But It’s Great to Meet a Friend from Your Home Town”, “Lorraine, My Beautiful Alsace Lorraine”, “Fifty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong”, “Happy Days and Lonely Nights”, “Blue is the Night”, “Your Feet’s too Big”, “Whispering Grass”, “You Can’t Get along With ’Em or Without “Em”, “I Found a Rose in the Devil’s Garden”, “And the Band Played On”, “There Ain’t No Sweet Man that’s Worth the Salt of My tears”, “I Want You to Want Me to Want you”, “Who Paid the Rent for Mrs. Rip Van Winkle?”, “When I Get You Alone Tonight”, “Any Little Girl that’s a Nice Little Girl”, “There’s a Little Spark of Love Still Burning”, “I’m on My Way to Mandalay” and “Siam”.
Fred Fisher died in New York City on January 14, 1942. He was the father of three children, Doris, Dan and Marvin.
