Cevin Fisher

Kevin Fisher was born on October 26, 1963, in East Orange, New Jersey. He later said that as far back as he could remember he knew he would work in music. His first inspiration was his uncle Mitchell, a jazz pianist from the cool and bebop era who played songs by Miles Davis and Stevie Wonder. His mother listened to Tony Bennett and Marvin Gaye, and he watched Don Kirshner's Rock Concert with his older brother, absorbing Santana, Yes and Rush. As a child he would sit outside a neighbourhood basement window watching a funk band rehearse until they invited him in. He dreamed of being a football player but decided he was too small, and turned fully to music.

In high school Fisher played drums in the marching band and became captain of the drumline, which he called his first small victory. His father owned a couple of bars, and Fisher's band Sundae played college parties, weddings and bars, with Fisher DJing between sets. His club education came at Club Zanzibar in Newark, listening to Tony Humphries and Francois K., and at the Paradise Garage in New York, which he entered underage through a friend who worked there. He named Larry Levan as a lasting lesson in risk taking and reading a crowd. Later in life he took up classical piano.

Fisher's first big room break came from DJ Larry Patterson at Club Zanzibar, and Mixmag reports he held his debut residency there at 17. He also DJed house parties for Whitney Houston. Moving to New York, he started as a studio gopher, then worked sessions and programming. At Arthur Baker's Shakedown Sound Studios he joined the Criminal Element Orchestra and worked on remixes including Quincy Jones's "I'll Be Good to You". He worked with Timmy Regisford of Motown Records and remixed Chaka Khan's "Love You All My Lifetime", a Billboard club number one, with David Shaw.

With Cliff St-Cyr at Hardtrax NYC Records he released "House Is a Feeling" and "Sweet in the Morning". Going solo, he issued "The Way We Used To", "Check This Out" and then "The Freaks Come Out" (1998), which topped the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart on November 7, 1998. "(You Got Me) Burning Up" featuring Loleatta Holloway followed, reaching number one on that chart on March 6, 1999 and number 14 in the UK. He scored five UK top 75 entries between 1998 and 2001.

He released on Strictly Rhythm, Defected, Subliminal, Subversive and Nervous, ran Import Tracks, and co-founded Thermal Black with Christian Larsson. He was a resident at Pacha NYC in the late 2000s and toured worldwide. Recent collaborations included "Here Comes That Sound" with Harry Romero and "Sunshine" with David Morales (2025).

Fisher was married to Theresa. He had four children, Stephanie, Cindi, Nikko and Tiffany, and two stepsons, Jose and Tomas. His siblings were Roslyn, Rene, Rodney and Ronold. For many years he was based in New Jersey and New York, calling Central Park his oasis. Later he moved to France and also spent time in Switzerland. His family said he was an avid fitness enthusiast who worked as a personal trainer, loved basketball, and later took up skiing in the Jura Mountains near his home in France. He enjoyed cooking, was a fan of Gordon Ramsay, and spent summer holidays in Corsica.

Fisher believed music should be made for love rather than fame. His advice to newcomers was that chasing fame makes success harder, and that doing it for the love of it gives you the power to change direction. He admired Quincy Jones for his ability to move across genres and film scores, and named Barack Obama as one of the greatest people of his lifetime. He described his sound as rooted in New York club culture and said that, despite new technology, he always tried to keep things groovy.

Mixmag described Fisher as an influential figure who helped shape house music across more than four decades. "The Freaks Come Out" remains a fixture of DJ sets, reissued in anniversary mixes and reworked by others, including Jack Back for Toolroom Records. "(You Got Me) Burning Up" and "Music Saved My Life" are still played as vocal house classics. On news of his death, DJs, labels and fans worldwide posted tributes, among them DJ History co-founder Bill Brewster, who recalled driving Fisher to gigs on his first UK visits.

Two Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play number ones: "The Freaks Come Out" (as Cevin Fisher's Big Freak, November 7, 1998) and "(You Got Me) Burning Up" featuring Loleatta Holloway (March 6, 1999). UK Singles Chart: "The Freaks Come Out" (34), "(You Got Me) Burning Up" (14), "The Way We Used To" (97), "Music Saved My Life" (67), "It's a Good Life" (54), "Love You Some More" (60), "Loving You (When It Comes To)" (89) and "Magic" / "Touch My Body Up" (91). He also worked on remixes of Quincy Jones's Grammy-winning "I'll Be Good to You". No formal awards in his name are documented in the sources used.

Album: Underground 2000 (Razor and Tie, 2000). Compilations: Dangerous Disco and Cevin Fisher's Nervous Tracks (both 1999). Key singles: "House Is a Feeling" (as Sunday School), "Sweet in the Morning", "The Way We Used To", "Shine the Light", "The Freaks Come Out" (1998), "(You Got Me) Burning Up" (1999), "Music Saved My Life" (1999), "It's a Good Life" featuring Ramona Keller (2001), "Love You Some More" featuring Sheila Smith (2001), "Magic" / "Touch My Body Up" (2004). Remixes include Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones, Robert Miles, Kevin Aviance and Mandalay's "Take This Life".

Cevin Fisher died peacefully on October 29, 2026, aged 63, only days after his birthday, after a brief bout with cancer, according to a statement posted on his official Instagram and Facebook pages and sent to Mixmag. The place of death was not stated in the announcement. Funeral and burial details have not been made public.