Phil Fischer Unathorized Biography
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Phil Alan Fischer (born April 23, 1970 in Wichita Falls, Texas) is currently a Christian Recording Artist living in Seattle, Washington.
EARLY HISTORY
Phil Fischer was born on an Air Force Base in room #17 in Wichita Falls, Texas at 1:10 am on April 23rd, 1970.
The mother on his birth certificate is listed as Sharon Fischer and his father is unknown and does not appear on his birth certificate. His mother was 14 at the time if delivery and the father was believed to be serving in Vietnam according to the doctor’s notes on the rear of the certificate.
Five days after delivery I was told his mother hitchhiked up the Alaskan highway and at the age of three weeks Phil was given to a native family for adoption in the village of OLD CROW, YUKON which is about an hour flight from DAWSON CITY, YUKON which is located in the artic circle.
Very little is known about his life from the ages of 4 weeks till 13 years of age but what I managed to find was interesting.
Phil Fischer at the age of One.
Piecing together what little facts are known he was raised by a native family that belong to the tribe known as VUNTUT GWITCHEN who seem to have made a living off of the caribou herds for the last 10,000 years, or the last ice age.
Life is tough and the population is around 500 diehard locals who call this desolate place home and many of the locals live in small homes with less than 300 square feet.
Polar bears can be seen all of the time as well as Grizzly bears and other wildlife. The locals keep their food underground on account of bears and the main supply of meat is Caribou and Bear and Salmon.
Phil is well remembered in Old Crow and many of the locals at the café had many stories to tell about him. All were funny, and some astonishing.
Apparently he was the only Caucasian living in the territory for many years and he is remembered for a business which he ran on the PORCUPINE RIVER, which is a river that runs by the town and Phil is widely known in the Artic Circle for a bear attack that almost took his life.
I was told by the town elders that at age 9, Phil ran a boat business of selling cigarettes and alcohol to villagers living along the river. Another story is that he sold MARIJUANA to villagers but I was not able to determine if it was one or the other or perhaps both. I was under the impression he sold whatever was needed.
Taken at age 9 in old crow, “beaver”
His nickname was BEAVER. When asked why they called him that, I was told it was because he was known for getting whatever was needed and many of the elders remember him paying for merchandise and goods from WHITREHORSE which would be flown in by floatplane to OLD CROW where Phil would sell these goods to villagers that lived up and down the river.
In many instances he would accompany the pilots too and from OLD CROW.
Another interesting story as told by one of the elders is of a hunting expedition that went terribly wrong in the winter of 81 that subsequently made him semi famous in the native community.
It seems as though Phil and four others went Caribou Hunting 24 miles away from the village, and it was risky as it was late in the season. In the process a dog sled fell through the ice and all of the dogs, along with the sled carrying the tents and fire and hunting supplies were lost.
To make matters worse, the ice began to crack and as the four took off running for safety, two of them fell through, one of them hitting his head on the ice knocking him unconscious as he went under. As I understand it, jumping into freezing water with the wind chill factor at 12 below zero is a for sure way to end it all but Phil did just that.
While the one that was unharmed and dry tended to the one that crawled out, Phil jumped into the freezing waters looking for his lost friend.
Two minutes later still no sign of him until you could hear him pounding below the ice at the feet of the two above. He was looking for a breathing hole. The elder, using his hand as a guide, drew an arrow in the snow with his finger to the breathing hole where Phil emerged with the fourth hunter crawling through a bloody seal hole in the ice.
As it was told to me the reason why it was bloody was because Polar Bears will often times wait by a seal hole to catch a meal, and if successful will consume it on the spot.
I corroborated this story with several of the elders as well as the editor of the KLONDIKE NEWS who had also heard of the rescue.
Amazing that a 12 year old could perform such a feat but even more astonishing is that he survived the below freezing temperatures of the water not to mention spending the night in an icehouse waiting for rescue. It seems that all three of them spread out the dry cloths and clung to each other naked until help arrived.
One of the four walked nine miles and took the snow machine into town and came back 8 hours later to find three of them huddled in an ice house that they had made using thier bare hands.
I normally don’t do biographies but being in graduate school earning my degree in journalism I was eager to find a thesis and after traveling to OLD CROW two summers ago and hearing about Phil and the many stories about him, I began to gain interest in this man. Steven Spielberg could write a movie on this guy’s life before the age of 13.
His adoptive grandmother
Only pic that I could find of Phil’s hippie mom.
HIS FISHING LIFE
A lot more is known of Phil’s life after age 13, as I managed to find a commercial fishing license issued by the State of ALASKA bearing the name of PHIL A FISCHER as a mate, age 121/2 for the ship THE BEARING SEA which was ported in the BERING SEA which is known far and wide and the most dangerous waters on the planet nestled between ALASKA and SIBERIA.
Phil was the youngest mate on the commercial crabber and actually lived on the vessel from 1983-1985 working five months at sea and then working maintenance in the off season.
He is listed on the manifest as FIRST MATE October 22, 1984 which is usually a title given by the captain of the vessel to the oldest or eldest or one with most experience. I was unable to locate any other data on him during this time other than he would entertain the crew by playing guitar which he was apparently good at.
It is not certain how long he was actually in the Bering Sea because a few of the records I located had him all over the state during the same times which seems to be consistent with stories that I have heard from many of the people that knew him.
There are numerous arrest records from ALASKAN state troopers and the RCMP during these years. I think they total about 20 and range from BAR fights to trafficking Marijuana.
I also found someone who claimed that he was attending junior high at Chugiak Junior high school for five months until he was expelled. But most of the paperwork that exists on him are arrest records. Lots of them.
In all these arrests I never once found a conviction.
I learned from the elders in OLD CROW that many times the state of Alaska or province of British Columbia or the Yukon would give him a pass. I found out in interviewing some of the elders that the reasons for this were because they assumed Phil was NATIVE because he was from OLD CROW, and spoke the language, but he was not.
This explains why he seemed to go back all of the time to his hometown village.
It was not because he wanted too, but fearing time in Jail he would probably accept ALASKA’A offer to send him home. If the arrest was in CANADA, then it was for certain they would send him home to OLD CROW.
It was the way of things back then especially if you were under 18.
A lot I am sure had to do with his young age. Bar fighting is not uncommon in rural wilderness areas and while the drinking age is 18, it is not enforced in most areas and kids as young as 13 drink hard alcohol in many of these small wilderness towns. This is due to the fact that a living is made from Gold mining and hunting and most of the people working these claims are between 12-15 years of age, which is why they are allowed to drink.
EARLY EDUCATION
I have discovered an attempt at education through many different sources during the years 85-88. He actually tried to attend 5 high schools in Anchorage but the only true record that was found was his attendance at EAST HIGH SCHOOL and CHUGIAK JUNIOR HIGH, but was expelled for selling cigarettes.
He is on the roster there but like many instances that I have found he just disappeared.
I have no record of him graduating from high school and I have him enrolled in a program called SAVE which was designed for kids that could not graduate in the typical school environment. SAVE’S records indicate he dropped out.
I located an early picture of him in another high school book. DIAMOND HIGH SCHOOL has him on the cover of the seniors but again there is no GRADUATION certificate shown.
One record shows a note from a guidance counselor at DIAMOND claiming that he was expelled because he could not produce PARENTS and they felt his entry slip to get into the school was forged.
THE BEAR ATTACK
During the summer of 87 he was actually back in the YUKON if not for just a few months as a record in the province indicates he requested and was granted a land pass allowing him to build a cabin on Native lands.
It was during this summer that Phil became widely known throughout the ARTIC CIRCLE and ALASKA for surviving a vicious bear attack somewhere close to DEASE LAKE in the YUKON TERRITORIES.
According to the hospital records and the RCMP reports Phil was fishing with some native friends along the DEASE area of the YUKON by his cabin and the three decided to sleep under the stars and watch the NORTHERN LIGHTS.
According to the RCMP report, it was about 2:12 am on the evening of September 12, 1987 when Phil was awoken and went to urinate away from the tent.
He felt a warm moist feeling on his back and at the same time heard a low grumble behind him.
When he turned to see what it was, he discovered a large GRIZZLY BEAR looking at him and she had her ears down. Phil immediately made a run for a pine tree and actually almost made it accept for the fact that he could not get his left leg up in time and the bear slammed her claw into his left leg leaving it in shreds while pulling him down from the tree. With another claw the sow ripped his scalp completely off leaving his skull exposed. It bit him in the left arm and started to shake him violently.
By now his two friends had heard the noise and one of them grabbing a 44 magnum pistol shot the bear several times in the head and neck unloading all six shells.
The bear was still alive after six shots at close range and now began to drag Phil off into the brush.
While his friends were searching the floorboard of the truck for bullets to reload; Phil pulled out a MARINE CORP knife and ended the Bears Life by repeatable stabbing the bear in the neck several times. By now his friends had located shells and put the sow down for good.
The bear died while lying on Phil’s chest and had it not been for his two friends pulling the bear off using the truck and a rope, he most likely would have died of suffocation.
While this is what the police report states, this is not what you hear from the locals in OLD CROW or WHITEHORSE.
It seems you get a different version of the tale in whatever part of the area you go too. I myself heard four versions.
The best version was told to me by a Bartender in Whitehorse.
According to this version, Phil killed the bear with a knife. Natives are the world’s story tellers and the tale basically is that Phil got up to urinate, saw the bear stalking his friends and jumped on it and killed it with a knife.
While the true version is in RCMP record, this tale is the one many of the locals remember and prefer to tell.
Phil’s Indian name was changed from BEAVER to LITTLE WHITE BEAR and it immediately made him a celebrity all over the ARTIC CIRCLE. Killing a bear in the Artic Circle with a knife apparently is something of a big deal.
I heard many stories about him being treated even KINGLIKE. Daughters were offered as gifts in many villages and he was given homes on reservations and cabins on places that white men would not even dare to walk into.
He was given status by the local CHIEF and was allowed to roam freely on any native lands in both the Yukon and Alaska, and with the rich hunting and protected beauty it is something that a white man only can dream of.
Being able to roam freely on native lands with full rights meant that he finally gained a place of refuge from the government (which everyone has told me he hated) and in addition he could operate as a guide on these lands restriction free.
While RCMP did find twenty or so stab wounds on the bear’s chest and neck, the main cause of death was bullet wounds. I suppose if I were to survive a bear attack I might of bent the story a little bit.
Little else is known about his younger days.
Many of the stories about him are just stories and tales. Having documented only some of them with research, it was impossible to tell if they are true or not.
The years between 1988 and 1992 are largely missing.
There is however another article that appeared in THE KAMLOOPS DAILY NEWS dated January 21st, 1993 about a contractor “fighting a serf-like status”. It seems that I may have found the missing years after all. According to the article that made front page of the local news, Phil was taking on several Canadian builders over low pay and wages paid to subcontractors and was starting the “British Columbia Contractors Association” to fight the hold that builders had over the subs. I made a call to the association to find out that Phil did indeed start the association and was living in Kamloops, BRITISH COLUMBIA for two years working as a painting contractor.
THE BUDDING ROCKER
While nothing is really known about him from 4 weeks old until 13, some of his early musician exploits are.
I was told by an old music teacher at Chugiak High School that his first band “jovial moon” was the talk of early 1980’s anchorage Alaska because the lead singer was only 11 years old.
At a young age Phil was already singing and had been in a dozen bands. In many instances the band members would be in their 30’s and would fire the front man and use Phil to draw crowds because he was young and fans appreciate someone that can belt out Hendricks without any reverb, especially when they are not even in their teens.
Phil fronted mostly cover bands that would do 70;s music. Phil’s favorite song I am told that he loved to perform apparently was “Shooting Star” by Bad Company.
Chilkoot Charlie’s, one of Anchorages landmarks was the bar that Phil performed at many times during the winter of 81.
The old owner of Chilkoot’s had an interesting story.
As Chilkoot’s was the only decent bar in town, many of the visiting rock stars would come there to drink it up.
As the story goes one evening while Phil was performing Randy Rhodes walked into the bar with Ozzy Osborne and sat down at a table near the stage. It seems the old Black Sabbath lead singer and his trusted and famous guitarist were in Anchorage to perform at the local high school.
Anchorage at the time did not have an arena to speak of and rockers would come into perform two or three shows in the same night at the local high school, West High.
As the story goes, Randy was so impressed with the kid that he invited Phil and his band to open for Ozzy at West High school auditorium where they were scheduled to perform.
A garage bands dream come true but as the story goes Phil agreed but when he showed up at the venue he was too scared to go onstage. They piped in ACDC through the loudspeakers in a replacement effort.
Even so, Randy was so smitten with the boy that he gifted to him a 1970 Yellow Fender Stratocaster which I’m told Phil still owns to this day
THE GRUNGE DAYS
Phil at sometime moved to Seattle between 1991 and 1993. Although I think he wintered in the Yukon during this time.
Age 17 Captain Hill
It is widely known that he did many shows at the old Central Tavern in Pike Street Market, which is a bustling blues area of Seattle, and the bar apparently is the oldest bar there.
I located a later article form the late 90’s about him driving his HUMMER over some motorcycles parked in front of the tavern.
Phil was widely known in the 90’s and used by many up can coming 90’s acts as a guitar player but he could never get over his desire to be a front man. They say he floated from band to band and always wanted to write versus performing.
The cook at the Central Tavern remembered him well, and told me he used to sell the place out from time to time when he used to play there but most that remember him tell that he was a loner and was planning on giving up music and complained a lot that his friends were getting signed and he wasn’t. Again, a strange life riddled with bad luck.
Phil remained in Seattle until at least June of 1994 when we locate records on him in Oregon.
It is known that he had many friends including the late Kurt Cobain. I say this because I located advertisements that Phil had placed through eBay selling some of Kurt’s old equipment he left at a studio Phil now apparently tracks at.
THE ROCKSTAR
While researching his music career was the initial reason I started this Bio/Thesis, I really wanted to find out about his contributions to the Grunge era.
I managed to find out and corroborate the fact that in 1991 he sold around 24-33 songs to Record Labels. Atlantic Records, Sony and EMI all have files on Phil Fischer but the only label willing to talk to me was Atlantic.
Atlantic managed to find a check issued to one Phil Fischer of Seattle, Washington in the amount of $123,789.32 dollars, which in 1992 was a good lump sum of money.
The note attached to the check said for 13 songs and melodies. It also listed a copy of an agreement Mr. Fischer had signed. I was not allowed to see the agreement but the title was “rights of creation”.
The elders that still remember him from WHITEHORSE tell that he moved to California or Nevada. Some say that he moved to SEATTLE. Others insist that he remained in a cabin in the YUKON for three years then moved to Anchorage, Alaska.
I think that he most likely did stay in a cabin and write songs and occasionally worked as a painter for money. But then again we have him in Seattle also working as a musician.
If he was able to command one check for that amount, and at least two as other labels have him in the books, most likely he was in that cabin doing some heavy writing. I learned that songs outright without the ability to claim the writer wrote them, is quite common these days.
While researching the music business in South America, I managed to find out that American producers will often “purchase songs” from a writer for a lump sum of money in exchange for the writer giving up his rights to the material. This is attractive to the writer for many different reasons; one of which is the promise of money up front.
In order for the writer to actually make money from the song, the artist would need to get radio play and sell a lot of cd’s.
Both in this industry controlled market is hard to do unless you are signed to a major label with ten million to dump on an artist. So the odds of actually making money as a songwriter are slim to none unless you have an artist and or a publishing firm actively promoting your material to labels.
I learned from many sources at both studios and labels and with many musicians that I spoke with that are well known, and some not known at all, that most of the songs we take for granted on the radio were in fact NOT written by the artist at all and either purchased by the producer who then acquired a “right” to the song which the producer then shares with the artist or in some cases keeps to himself.
After speaking to many well known musicians and producers who know of Phil’s music I came to the startling conclusion that Phil actually wrote many of the top hits of the early and mid 90’s.
The label would then “slap” a band together to track and perform his songs.
I was told by several sources the names of the bands that used his material but I cannot mention them here because I cannot document it with a contract, check, or any other material but it was fascinating to know that some of my favorite songs performed by the “Seattle grunge” bands were indeed written by Fischer.
It is also easy to tell when you hear Phil’s first release “Wounded soul”.
As a matter of fact, it would become obvious to anyone listening to that album who he wrote for. The interesting thing about this is that the songs on the album “Wounded soul” are actually written by Fischer in the 80’s well before any of the 90’s songs he sold were ever recorded. I think he saved the best.
This is really the primary reason I began doing this thesis was because most of all, I am a fan of this very well known, but never heard of in the states rock star.
The initial research I was able to uncover about Phil Fischer really saddened me in some ways. It seems that the music world here in the states is very unfair.
I learned that Fischer has always been, since an early age a musician at heart. While he has been a man of many firsts of which he has been given little or no credit for, when it comes down to it, he is mostly a songwriter with an unforgettable voice who always wanted a hit album.
When speaking to studio reps and musicians in the Seattle area about him, the first and foremost thing one hears is that he is an excellent songwriter.
Some even suggested that had he remained a songwriter, and not an artist his career would have blossomed. He has been a victim of the Kris Kristofferson syndrome of always trying to promote himself as an artist. Either you like him or you don’t, but his songs are solid gold.
His first album has sold almost 187,454 copies here in India, but I have documented that the album has sold over 500,000 copies in South America as well.
THE OLD PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR AND BILL COLLECTOR
The documentation begins on this phase of his life in 1993 in BEAVERTON, OREGON.
A permit was requested and issued for one PHIL A FISCHER for that of Private Investigator. Paperwork also exists for a bond in the amount of $10,000 US dollars by the State of Oregon.
Leaving his lonely and isolated past behind him, Phil A Fischer, now in his early twenties was the youngest person in Oregon history to be issued a license for Private Investigator and also issued a license as a bill collector. I managed to find a letter from the Governor of Oregon granting him permission to license.
Beginning in a small office in Beaverton, Oregon Phil incorporated and began doing business as AmeriContinental Collect Corporation with an assumed business name of Americontinental Investigations.
I managed to locate many documents from the American Collectors Association that were fascinating. One of which was a letter from AmeriContinental attorneys to Phil Fischer, acting CEO at the time urging the young CEO to copyright the term “Ameri” nationwide.
It is obvious that he never copyrighted the term as many corporations now use “ameri” on their name, even here in India. Ameriquest, Amerigas, and Amerimortgages just to name a few. I found this to be interesting.
Although he is not widely recognized as a visionary, Phil Fischer is known for many firsts, and the collection industry is one of the many of his firsts that has kind of become his trademark.
I had to research the collection industry before I found out just how many contributions Phil made to collections as a whole.
For example, according to the American Collectors Association, he was the first to implement what is now widely known in the collection industry as the pod system.
Prior to 1992, most collection agencies would enter debt and assign the accounts to collectors who would then call the “debtors” and demand payment.
Phil learned early on that competition was a big motivator and he invented the pod system to take advantage of this. The system is a desk made up of 8 smaller desks.
It’s actually a large circle that is cut into pies. Each piece of the pie is a small desk with a monitor that an “agent” would sit at and make calls. Phil designed the system and named it “the pod system”.
While it may seem a simple task, what it actually did was allow the other “collectors” to over hear the conversations of other collectors making calls to debtors. This would instill a competition within the collector to “out collect” his neighbor thus increasing the amount of debt collected. Since each collector was paid a small commission, it became addictive.
Each “pod member” would be in competition with one another thus increasing productivity and profits. In addition to increasing cash flow, the collector that collected the most out of his pod would get additional commissions.
In time, Phil developed a system that would allow the data entry personnel to assign debt by a certain pod.
For example “Dominos pizza” NSF checks could be assigned to the Dominos Pizza Pod, and Providence Hospital debt could be assigned to the Providence Pod and so on and so forth.
So when one came into the collection arena, one could see a sea of pods with 8 employees sitting at each, all competing with one another, and in turn the pods competing against each other.
Another benefit that the American Collectors Association told me about is that each of the collectors could “monitor” the calls of each other to make sure that FDCPA (the fair debt collection practices act) laws were not broken. So they actually policed each other to stay in compliance.
The system was such a success that today almost 80% of collection agencies use the system or a version of the system.
Another first that Phil invented was specializing in outsourcing debt collections. In other words, he would advertise AmeriContinental as an Oregon collection agency not just for retail and commercial clients in the state, but he made an effort to advertise to collection agencies nation-wide as well.
He advertised that he could collect any debt in Oregon and many collection agencies world-wide would send him accounts on their Oregon debtors. As a result his listings grew and grew to almost 23 million in 1995. He was the first to advertise this way.
Today the American Collectors Association has a handbook and there are almost 18,000 members who now offer this service.
It was during this time that Phil discovered .com. Staff at his old agency actually remember him financing many .com startups, including Northwest Online, which is well known in the .com world as the first web designing firm on the internet with an initial ranking of site #713. Meaning his was the 713th site on the internet during its infancy and the first to offer web design.
Phil was the first to offer international collections. He started an office in HONG KONG and ROME and began to do collections world wide which was a first in the industry.
His firm made headlines when it located assets on OJ Simpson, not to mention a slew of high profile debt he collected from the rich and famous. Attorneys sought him out to collect judgments and politicians also sought him out to perform investigations on candidates.
On the private investigations side, Fischer made his money by performing asset searches in which he would get upwards of 50% of the take.
I learned from the state of Oregon that his bread and butter was cheating spouse work.
It was this type of work that made him famous in the industry because we would attract the rich and famous and seemed to have more work than he and his staff of 22 could handle. A large agency for Portland.
His firm lost a little credibility when it was discovered that one of his agents was actually linked to Tanya Harding, the skate queen who had her boyfriend break the leg of her rival before they skated for Gold.
The agent had worked for Fischer and was trained by Fischer and when it was discovered, his agency did receive some bad press but Fischer denied any link to the former employee and I was told by a trusted source that he was let go and asked not to return.
Showing a soft side for children, he would often times locate missing teens for free.
I heard a lot of stories when I was researching in Oregon about times he would locate teens and not charge the parents. Something that would infuriate other detective agencies and it kind of made Fischer an outcast in the Industry.
Interviewing an old secretary I learned that Phil hated PI work and complained that it was depressing and wanted to expand his .com empire which was actually growing bigger than the agency.
He had in fact designed the first ebay.com, and paypal.com all the while spending his evenings monitoring his 20 some odd detectives in the field doing work from cheating spouse to following people.
It also included work for former Presidents.
While there is no documentation to support this, Fischer made some real contacts within the Democratic Party. I was told by many that worked with him and his clients included Former President Bill Clinton, Barbara Streisand, Tom Cruise, and even Jay Leno.
Surprising that a high school drop-out with no college degree, wealthy parents, or a trust fund could accomplish so much in 25 years but not when you speak with those that knew him.
I interviewed maybe 15 people in Oregon that knew him and worked with him and the common denominator in all of the conversations I had was that Phil was a visionary who simply enjoyed starting things, getting good at them, then abruptly quitting. Unhappy and tired of working in the industry. He was miserable and missed music and writing and playing live.
THE CHRISTIAN
An application for a corporation license was issued to Phil in Washington State in 2001, October meaning that he had again moved back to Seattle. A lot is known about him during these later years.
He founded Windey Road Entertainment Company which was an attempt that some say to revive his online business.
We know that he recorded “wounded soul” with Scott Rockenfeld and Paul Speer. Steve Carter and old friend of Phil’s apparently engineered the album.
We also know about his first albums successes despite the setbacks. Many stories abound about his encounter with Papa Lopez, who according to court documents owes Fischer close too 2.9 million.
Maybe it was these factors that brought him to Christ.
I managed to speak to one engineer that actually helped him produce his hit song “I’m so Thirsty” that has taken off here in India and I am told that he currently is living in Seattle and is now married with children and attending a Christian Church.
I am told that he has been nestled away in the castle known at Robert Lang Studios, in Seattle where many rock stars have produced Gold and Platinum albums.
So while his first album is still selling outside the US, he is apparently now serving his God by writing Christian music and has an album due in stores June 2007.
One Response to “Phil Fischer Unathorized Biography”
August 31st, 2007 at 3:35 am
trout fishing flies…
Nice post, my blog is about: It can be seen from that there is only a small area in front of the fish where the two fields overlap. This is stereoscopic vision and be taken in by bits of red wool, but not by blue wool, green wool or yellow wool……