Robert Gordon (March 29, 1947 – October 18, 2022) was an American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

singer, and actor.

Early life

Gordon grew up in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, United States, the son of Arlene and Samuel Gordon, an administrative law judge. His family was Jewish. At the age of nine, Gordon was greatly inspired by the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

song "

Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being g ...

" playing on radio and decided to pursue a career as a

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

musician at that young age.Deelen, Arjan: "Look Who's Blue – The Robert Gordon Story", Now Dig This No. 254, May 2004.

Music career

Influences and early career

Along with Elvis Presley, Gordon's influences during his childhood and teenage years included

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is ...

and

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran ( ; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in ...

among other notable rock 'n roll music artists of the period. Gordon made his recording debut at age 17 in 1964 with a group called the Confidentials. He was also actively performed with the Newports in his teenage years. At the age of 19 he got married, and shortly after had two children. When asked how he related to the 1960s, Gordon replied "I didn't." He did not care much for the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when Rock music, rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture became popular in the United States with sign ...

but he identified with soul singers such as

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

and

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

whom he saw, among other great R&B acts, performing at

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

's famous

Howard Theatre The Howard Theatre is a historic theater, located at 620 T Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., has been a pillar of the community since its opening in 1910. This historic venue, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, show ...

. During the turbulent times of the late 1960s, with the rioting and antiwar protests of the period, Gordon served in the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

in Washington, D.C. "I didn't want to be sent to Vietnam," he recalls.

Punk rock

By 1970, Gordon had relocated his family to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with the intent of operating a clothing boutique. His focus shifted to the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

scene at the nightclub

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

. He became a member of the punk-pop band Tuff Darts. During 1976, the Tuff Darts recorded "All for the Love of Rock and Roll", "Head over Heels", and "Slash" for a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

called ''Live at CBGB's'', which included a number of other local New York City bands. Gordon also appeared in a punk/ new wave–style film entitled ''Unmade Beds'', an homage to

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

by underground filmmaker Amos Poe. Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry and painter Duncan Hannah also appeared in the film. In November of 1976, Gordon briefly sang with

the Heartbreakers The Heartbreakers (sometimes referred to as "Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers) were an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1975. The band spearheaded the first wave of punk rock. History Johnny Thunders (vocals/guitar) and Jer ...

, and appeared on an unreleased

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

Rockabilly revival

Record producer

Richard Gottehrer Richard Gottehrer (born June 12, 1940) is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive. His career began as a Brill Building songwriter in the 1960s. His first number one record as a songwriter and producer was " My Boyfr ...

discovered Gordon during a rehearsal one afternoon with Tuff Darts and soon afterward the two were talking about making a

record. Gottehrer was impressed with Gordon's voice and his rendition of

's " One Night". After some conversation, Gordon suggested working with guitar legend

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 Instrumental rock, instrumental single "Rumble (instrumental), Rumble", reached the ...

. Wray was contacted and he agreed to work with them both. "Robert to me sounds a lot like the early Elvis, back when he was at

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

", he commented. In 1977, ''Robert Gordon with Link Wray'' on

Private Stock Records Private Stock Records was a record label that operated from 1974 to 1978. The label was founded by Larry Uttal after he left Bell Records. The label primarily focused on pop music and had numerous hit records, many of them one-hit wonders, incl ...

was the result of this collaboration. After Elvis Presley's unexpected death in August, 1977, the album picked up some airplay, and the Private Stock label attempted to hype Gordon as the heir to Elvis. In 1978, Gordon made a second album with Wray, for Private Stock called ''Fresh Fish Special''. The record featured

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vo ...

, who had been background vocalists for Presley, and included the

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

song "

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

". Springsteen played keyboards on the track. In 1978,

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

signed Gordon to a contract which he described as "a dream come true" to record for "Elvis's label". In February, 1979, the album '' Rock Billy Boogie'' was issued on the RCA Victor label, this time without Wray, as

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of th ...

joined Gordon, playing

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

. Writer Bruce Eder (

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

) hailed Gordon's next album, ''Bad Boy'', released in 1980, as one of the best mature rockabilly albums ever recorded. Gordon's next and final album for RCA was 1981's ''Are You Gonna Be the One''. The title track written by Marc Jonson. It is Gordon's best-selling album to date, with more than 200,000 copies sold.

Danny Gatton Daniel Wood Gatton Jr. (September 4, 1945 – October 4, 1994) was an American virtuoso guitarist who combined blues, rockabilly, jazz, and country to create a musical style he called "redneck jazz". Career Daniel Wood Gatton Jr. was born in ...

played lead guitar on this record and

Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Howard Crenshaw (born November 11, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as " Someday, Someway", a US top 40 hit in 1982, " Cynical Girl", and " Whenever You're on My Mind". He is ...

penned the single " Someday, Someway", which went to No. 76 on the ''Billboard'' chart in 1981. During the early 1980s, Gordon toured briefly with Gatton. A recording of one of their performances was later released on NRG Records as '' "The Humbler"''. In the early 1990s Gordon toured with Spedding, including Japan, Norway, Finland, United States, Spain and Sweden, with a number of live tracks later appearing on the 2006 Climate Control album ''Born To Rock''.

Reunion

In 2005, after years of not working together, Gordon and guitar player

reconnected and toured Europe. Highlights from the shows in Denmark, Sweden and Finland were released on ''The Reunion Tour'', on their own Climate Control label. The French label Last Call released a DVD from the Amsterdam concert, entitled ''Rockin' The Paradiso''. They also recorded an album of 15 Elvis songs with the Jordanaires for the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death, entitled ''It's Now Or Never'', released on the Rykodisc label. In 2007 Robert Gordon had a small European tour, backed by Marco DiMaggio and his band. During that tour Robert performed in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. According to Robert's manager it was one of the very best gigs of that tour. In 2009 and 2010 Gordon toured with an all-star line-up, "The Gang They Couldn't Hang" ("TGTCH"), that included Chris Spedding,

Slim Jim Phantom James McDonnell, known by the stage name Slim Jim Phantom, is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band Stray Cats. Alongside bandmates Brian Setzer and Lee Rocker, he is considered a pioneer of the neo-rockabilly movemen ...

and

Glen Matlock Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only offic ...

. Notable "Gang" dates included the Byron Bay Blues Festival in Australia, and the

Azkena Rock Festival The Azkena Rock Festival (a.k.a. ARF) is one of the most relevant Spanish rock festivals. It is celebrated in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava) organized by Last Tour International. ARF is notorious due to its diverse cartel of groups and for the submerse ' ...

in Spain where Gordon and TGTCH performed on a bill with

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

in front of a crowd of 20,000.

Later life

Gordon continued to release music in his later years. In 2014, He released the album ''I'm Coming Home''. He toured the U.S. and Europe, and on April 19, 2014, he performed at the 17th annual Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender at The Car Show event in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada. In 2020 he released ''Rockabilly for Life'', and on November 25, 2022 ''Hellafied'' was released posthumously. The record comprised material from a 1998 album that was never released as well as new material recorded before his death in October.

Acting career

In 1982, Gordon costarred with

Willem Dafoe William James "Willem" Dafoe ( ; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades including a Volpi Cup Award for ...

in future Oscar winner

Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Her accolades include two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most i ...

's first film, a 1950s-styled motor-biking movie (inspired by

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia''

's ''The Wild One'') called '' The Loveless''. This was Dafoe's first feature starring role. Critics generally liked the soundtrack but disliked the film. ''The Loveless'' did poorly at the box office but is now considered a cult favorite. Gordon also made numerous TV appearances including a 1981 skit on the popular comedy show '' SCTV'' in which he performed with his band, including

—after having been "mistakenly" booked on the show as the

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force Aviator, pilot, and the youngest of the Mercury Seven, seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the f ...

. The spoof of a space shuttle launch also featured SCTV regulars Dave Thomas as

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...

and

Rick Moranis Frederick Allan Moranis (; born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, producer, songwriter and writer. Moranis appeared in the sketch comedy series '' Second City Television'' (''SCTV'') in the 1980s and starred afterward in s ...

David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkle ...

Death

Gordon died in New York City, on October 18, 2022, at the age of 75, after years of

acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with haematopoiesis, normal blood cell production. Sympt ...

Discography

Studio albums

*1977 – ''Robert Gordon with Link Wray'' ( Private Stock PS-2030) *1978 – ''Fresh Fish Special'' (with

) (Private Stock PS-7008) - AUS #96 *1979 – '' Rock Billy Boogie'' (RCA Victor AFL1-3294) *1980 – ''Bad Boy'' (RCA Victor AFL1-3523) *1981 – ''Are You Gonna Be the One'' (RCA Victor AFL1-3773) *1994 – ''All for the Love of Rock 'N' Roll'' (Viceroy VIC-8014) *1997 – ''Robert Gordon'' (Llist Records LLR-00792) *2004 – ''Satisfied Mind'' (Jungle Records TCB-2222CD) *2007 – ''It's Now or Never'' (with

) (

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

RLP-1915-1) *2014 – ''I'm Coming Home'' (Lanark Records LNR-088) *2020 – ''Rockabilly for Life'' (Cleopatra Records CLO1760) *2022 – ''Hellafied'' (with Chris Spedding) (Cleopatra Records CLO2999)

Live albums

*1979 – ''Live from the Paradise, Boston, MA 3/22/79'' (RCA DJL1-3411; radio promo only) *1996 – '' "The Humbler"'' ive(with Danny Gatton) (NRG Records NCD-6842) *1996 – ''King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Robert Gordon'' (recorded live 3/30/79 in Philadelphia, PA) (RCA/BMG 70170-88018-28) *2005 – ''Wild Wild Women, Live'' (with Link Wray; recorded live at the

Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' () was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s ''Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour''. History Around 90 ep ...

, Berlin, 1978) (Warwick/Jungle - limited to 500 copies - digitally remastered)

Compilations

*1982 – ''Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die'' (RCA Victor AFL1-4380)

International releases

*1989 – ''Robert Gordon: Live at Lone Star'' (New Rose NR-173, France) *1989 – ''Robert Gordon Is Red Hot'' ( Bear Family BCD-15446, Germany) *1989 – ''Black Slacks'' (Bear Family BCD-15489, Germany) *1991 – ''Greetings from New York City'' (New Rose NR-279, France) *1998 – ''The Lost Album, Plus...'' (Bear Family BCD-16251, Germany) *2006 – ''Robert Gordon & Chris Spedding: Rockin' the Paradiso'' (Last Call Records 3113142, France) *2007 – ''Real Gone Daddy-O Rarin' to Go!'' (Climate Change Records – 005, Denmark)

References

External links

Official homepage
* *

* - ''

TopPop ''TopPop'' was a Dutch television programme. It was the first regular dedicated pop music television series in the Dutch language area. The Netherlands broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly from 22 September 1970 to 27 June 1988. Presenter ...

'', broadcast 25 February 1978 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Robert 1947 births 2022 deaths Actors from Bethesda, Maryland American country rock singers American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American people of Jewish descent American rockabilly musicians American rock singers Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School alumni Deaths from acute myeloid leukemia Deaths from leukemia in New York (state) Grammy Award winners Musicians from Bethesda, Maryland Singer-songwriters from Maryland