Leslie Fish has been writing and performing filk since the early 1970s, and wrote her first filksong, “Fellowship Going South” in 1963. Her two albums with the DeHorn Crew, Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain’t Even Been Yet (1976) and Solar Sailors (1977) both recorded on vinyl records, are landmarks in filking, being the first commercial filk recordings.
Leslie wrote “Hope Eyrie”, widely considered to be the filkers’ anthem, and the single best known and best loved space filksong; and Banned From Argo, the most notorious Star Trek song written by anyone, and known to fen who don’t know any other filksong. Her body of work extends to many dozens of fine filksongs on every topic, and countless melodies for others’ lyrics, including three many for Rudyard Kipling’s poetry. Her music varies widely in theme and content, and has been recorded on numerous solo and anthology tapes.
She is well known for her powerful three-octave voice and energetic performance style. Many have admired her distinctive and expert 12-string picking style on her well-known guitar, “Monster”. But Leslie is also known through the community as a readily approachable performer and writer who will freely answer questions about technique, teach her style and share her music freely.
For these contributions to filk music and the filk community, Leslie Fish is inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame, this First Day of April, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-five.