Fish (singer)
Derek William Dick, better known by his stage name Fish, is a retired Scottish singer, songwriter and occasional actor. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the neo-prog band Marillion from 1981 until 1988. He released 11 UK Top 40 singles with the band, including the Top 10 singles "Kayleigh", "Lavender" and "Incommunicado", and five Top 10 albums, including a number one with Misplaced Childhood. In his solo career, Fish explored contemporary pop and traditional folk, and released a further five Top 40 singles and a Top 10 album.
Fish's voice has been described as both "distinct" and a "conflation of Roger Daltrey and Peter Gabriel", while his lyrics have been described as "poetic prose". In 2004, Classic Rock ranked Fish at number 49 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Frontmen", describing his "theatrical delivery" as "a major factor in Marillion's spectacular rise, and he masterminded some uniquely ornate lyrical concepts." In 2009, Fish was voted at number 37 in a poll of the greatest voices in rock music by Planet Rock listeners.
In 2020, Fish released his final studio album Weltschmerz, to critical acclaim and commercial success. Fish toured Weltschmerz and celebrated the 30th anniversary of A Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors as part of the Vigil's End tour in 2021. Fish retired from music following a farewell tour completed in March 2025.
Early life
Derek William Dick was born on 25 April 1958 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and grew up in Dalkeith. The son of Robert and Isabella, Fish was educated at King's Park primary school and then Dalkeith High School. He was inspired by the music of many of the rock artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Genesis, Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues, the Kinks, T. Rex, David Bowie, Argent, and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Fish has also cited Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell as "one of the biggest influences on me because of her approach to lyrics". The first band he saw live was Yes at Usher Hall, Edinburgh, in 1974. As well as his love for music, he was also a voracious reader, and his literary inspirations included Jack Kerouac, Truman Capote, Robert Burns and Dylan Thomas.Fish worked as a petrol pump attendant, gardener, and from 1977 until 1980 worked in forestry at the Bowhill Estate in Selkirk. While living in Fochabers, Moray he adopted the nickname of Fish, which originated from a landlady who lamented the amount of time he spent in the bath. Fish has been quoted: "With a real name of Derek William Dick, it became very necessary to find a nickname as quickly as possible."
He first performed as a singer in 1980 at the Golden Lion pub in Galashiels. He moved to Church Laneham, Nottinghamshire, in mid-1980 following a successful audition for the Stone Dome Band, and then to Aylesbury at the start of 1981 in the process of joining Marillion.
Marillion
Fish joined Marillion in 1981. The band gained popularity over the next couple of years, leading to the release of their top-ten debut album Script for a Jester's Tear in 1983. They achieved further chart success in the UK, attaining top-ten hit singles in 1985 with "Kayleigh" and "Lavender", and again in 1987 with "Incommunicado". In 1988, due to the stress of touring and the detrimental effect it was having on his health, as well as having a falling out with bandmate Steve Rothery,Fish left Marillion to pursue a solo career.
Lyrics from "Kayleigh" were etched into paving stones in Market Square in Galashiels in 2012. The lines "stilettoes in the snow", and "moon-washed college halls" were inspired by Fish's girlfriend of the time, who was at the Scottish College of Textiles in Galashiels in the 1980s.
Solo career
Fish's debut solo album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors was released in January 1990. Although the recordings for the album finished in June 1989, EMI Records decided to delay the release until 1990, to avoid collision with Marillion's album Seasons End, released in September 1989. Keyboardist Mickey Simmonds who had played with Mike Oldfield, co-wrote the songs on the album, and would continue to play with Fish on the tour. Also guitarist Janick Gers co-wrote the track "View From the Hill". Several well known musicians contributed to the album, including former Dire Straits guitarist Hal Lindes, who played guitar on most tracks and also contributed to the writing of three of the album's songs. Frank Usher, a Fish companion from pre-Marillion times, also contributed. Drums were played by Mark Brzezicki and John Keeble, John Giblin contributed bass and Luís Jardim contributed additional percussion. Backing vocals came from Tessa Niles, who had appeared on Clutching at Straws.Many of Fish's later works contain lengthy spoken-word lyrics, shorter examples of which can be heard on earlier Marillion albums. He has collaborated with Genesis founder Tony Banks on Banks's Still and Soundtracks albums, singing on the tracks "Shortcut to Somewhere", "Angel Face" and "Another Murder of a Day", co-writing the latter.
His solo career has never received the same recognition or attention, and to a lot of people he went missing soon after the Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors album, in February 1990, the album peaked at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart. After finishing the Vigil World Tour at Royal Albert Hall on 9 July 1990, Fish was to enter litigation with EMI records resulting in a High Court injunction that stopped him releasing new music for almost a year. The extensive touring cost him dearly and the decision to go ahead with building a new studio in his home in Haddington Scotland meant that funds were rapidly depleted along with his confidence and his creative energies.
The prospect of writing the follow-up for the new label, Polydor, filled him with dread. His second album Internal Exile released in October 1991, was flirting with styles but never got into a particular groove and locking into a direction. The album's music reflected Fish's indulgence in the vast regions of music that he wanted to explore as a solo artist; most notably Celtic music and folk styles. The acquisition of Chris Kimsey as producer could not save the project as he attempted to come to terms with a newly built studio and Fish plagued by bitterness and cynicism toward the industry. Polydor had rushed the album out with his acquiescence resulted in a fractured promotion campaign and low sales, and the UK promoter went bankrupt just as the tour was about to kick off.
Polydor wanted a new studio album but Fish persisted and he decided to release an album of cover versions called Songs from the Mirror. Produced by James Cassidy, whom Fish met while both were working on Jeff Wayne's Spartacus album. They started recording in summer 1992 while simultaneously writing material for the next studio album Suits, a cynical examination lyrically of the music business and executives who still fed Fish's cynical outlook on life. Songs from the Mirror, released in January 1993, became the last album on Polydor. But the album was a turning point for Fish, and fully prepared him for the Suits sessions, material which he had been rehearsing constantly on tour as he struggled to pay bills and musicians. Fish formed his own record company, Dick Bros. after advice from a medium who passed on messages from his grandfather. The Co. was named after the garage business he had started and Fish's father had run throughout his childhood. The first release was Sushi, a live album to follow the five official bootleg releases, on Battleside, a company that temporarily filled the gap between Polydor and Dick Bros., and provided Fish with a lifeline and a quality alternative to the illegal live bootlegs that had followed his career.
His confidence had grown and was excited about the new songs on Suits released in 1994, some of which were co-written by James Cassidy who had stayed on since producing the Songs from the Mirror album to assist employing his classical training and expertise with arrangements. It proved invaluable and together with his awareness and experience with modern production techniques the material was guaranteed to enter a new direction and to gain a momentum that would usher the solo career into a new era. Touring took precedent and Fish was well aware that road work was at the expense of writing a new studio album. He went for the break and opted for the two "Best of's", Yin and Yang, containing re-recorded material from the Marillion era and solo albums, to give Fish the fuel and introduction to countries he had never managed to reach so far with his career. Released in 1995 these albums allowed him to stay on the road for nearly two years plugging away and hoping for the breakthrough that would give him the space to take a breath and write new material.
It never happened until 1997 when, after a tour in Bosnia, playing to the UN troops he reached the stage where he had to get experiences out and onto paper. Fish was introduced to Steven Wilson, who although sympathetic to the progressive rock genre, had no intention of getting involved in a regressive album, which suited Fish fine and welcomed Wilson's influence with open ears. The writing sessions were open and new songs and approaches were generated from a healthy friction between Wilson and Fish as they fought for their identities in the material. Grooves and loops led the rhythmic foundations into what they described as "Progressive Nouveaux", still retaining the drama and tension associated with Fish's previous work, but taking it into a more modern setting with a new edge and aggression. With Calum Malcolm's mix and Elliot Ness engineering skills provided a technical quality to match the standard of the writing on Sunsets on Empire. But once again the problem of underfunded promotion and advertising was to foil Fish's plans and a 115 date tour in 22 different countries was set up to attempt to give the album the attention it deserved. Seven months after its release the tour ground to an exhausted conclusion in December 1997. With a combination of tour losses and bad debts from third parties, Fish could no longer survive as an independent artist releasing his albums through Dick Bros. He was effectively broke and financing the recording of the album Raingods with Zippos were beyond his means.
Fish was asked to take part in a writing retreat in France by Miles Copeland. Together with 23 songwriters from all over the world, Fish rediscovered himself and when he returned with new songs he was excited and eager to get on with the job of redefining his career, and writing the rest of the new album. Three songs were taken from the sessions in France for the set up for Raingods with Zippos, together with a 25-minute epic called "Plague of Ghosts" written together with Tony Turrell and Mark Daghorn featuring Steven Wilson on guitar, and two tracks written with his old friend Mickey Simmonds. Raingods with Zippos was released by Roadrunner Records in April 1999. The Raingods album is often hailed as one of Fish's greatest solo achievements along with his 1990 debut.
In May 2001, Fish released his first studio album on his new independent label the Chocolate Frog Record Company, Fellini Days, which Fish co-wrote with John Wesley and John Young. Field of Crows was Fish's eighth solo studio album originally released in December 2003 and then to retail in May 2004. The album was mainly co-written with Bruce Watson and Irvin Duguid.
Fish appeared at World Bowl XI, 14 June 2003, Hampden Park, Glasgow. His performance included a rousing rendition of "Caledonia" before kick-off. In 2005, he won a Celebrity Music edition of The Weakest Link, beating Eggsy of Goldie Lookin Chain in the final round, sharing £18,750 with Eggsy's charity and his own.
On 26 August 2007, Fish performed at the 'Hobble on The Cobbles' show at the Market Square in Aylesbury. He was accompanied on stage by his four former Marillion bandmates from the classic line-up for one song: "Market Square Heroes". This was the first time they had performed together in nearly two decades. In a press interview following the event, Fish denied this would lead to a full reunion, claiming that "Hogarth does a great job with the band ... We forged different paths over the 19 years."
His album 13th Star was released on 12 September 2007 as a specially packaged pre-release version available to order from his website. A UK tour for this album commenced in March 2008, supported by Glyder. In February 2008, Fish was confirmed to be the Friday-night headline act at NEARFest X. He also appeared with BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris on GMTV to promote Childline Rocks, a charity concert.
In 2008, Fish presented a Friday evening radio show, Fish on Friday, for digital radio station Planet Rock. When the station was faced with closure, Malcolm Bluemel helped save Planet Rock by buying the station.
On 9 June 2008, Fish embarked on his first full North American tour in eleven years. At each stop, he hosted a pre-show meet-and-greet with his fans.
On 20 and 21 October 2012, Fish hosted Fish Convention 2012 in Leamington Spa. He performed two acoustic sets and two electric sets, including material from his then upcoming studio album, A Feast of Consequences. He also performed "Grendel", a fan-favourite Marillion B-side, twice. A Feast of Consequences was released in September 2013 to positive reviews, supported by the single "Blind to the Beautiful".
Fish celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Marillion album Clutching at Straws on tour in 2018, alongside debuting material from his then upcoming studio album Weltschmerz. A three track EP, A Parley With Angels, was released in September 2018.
In April 2020, Fish revived his Fish on Friday show in the form of a weekly live video podcast, initially broadcast on Facebook. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep in touch with his fans and share stories from his career, the show was voted as the Event of the Year by Prog magazine readers in 2021. Fish on Friday remains active as of 2023, with new episodes of the show broadcast weekly.
In September 2020, Fish released Weltschmerz, his final studio album. The album was supported by the singles "Weltschmerz", "Garden of Remembrance" and "This Party's Over". The album received positive reviews and was commercially successful, having sold over 60,000 copies to date. Fish toured Weltschmerz and celebrated the 30th anniversary of A Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors as part of the Vigil's End tour in 2021. The tour was documented on the live album Vigil's End Tour 2021, released on physical formats in December 2022 and digitally in March 2023.
In November 2023, Primary Wave Music struck a deal with Fish, to acquire the singer and lyricist's master royalties and writer's share for songs he wrote and performed with Marillion.