Similar Artists:
Orion the Hunter,
Stray Cats,
Roy Orbison,
Jerry Lee Lewis,
The Polecats ,
Matchbox ,
The Paladins,
Sleepy LaBeef,
Cub Koda
Influenced By:
Followers:
Performed Songs By:
Huey "Piano" Smith,
Lance Quinn ,
Don Oriolo ,
Jack Nance ,
M. Johnson ,
George Hawkins ,
Johnny Burnette,
Henry Jerome,
Link Wray,
Bruce Springsteen,
Danny Gatton,
Marshall Crenshaw
Worked With:
Formal Connection With:
- Born: 1947, Washington, D.C.
- Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
- Genres: Rock
- Instrument: Vocals
- Representative Albums: "Robert Gordon Story," "Red Hot 1977-1981," "Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die"
- Representative Songs: "Red Hot," "Someday, Someway," "Boppin' the Blues"
Biography
For a time back in the late '70s, Robert Gordon was in an extraordinary position for a solo rock artist. The singer, then just over 30 years old, suddenly found himself leading what amounted to a rediscovery (he hates the word "revival") of authentic 1950s-style rockabilly music, two decades out of its own time. The rediscovery didn't quite lead to a revival, which probably suited Gordon just fine -- he never defined himself as a revivalist -- and his records didn't sell the way his label hoped, but Gordon ended up a celebrated figure among open-minded oldies buffs, rock & roll enthusiasts, and, generally, anyone with ears, whether they liked rockabilly music or not.Gordon was born in 1947 and grew up in Bethesda, MD, just outside of Washington, D.C. At the age of nine, he heard
In 1970 he moved to New York City. At the time, the city was one of two centers of the recording business (the other being Los Angeles), and the place was buzzing with music of almost every kind, and there was enough press in those days so that almost anyone might be discovered, given the opportunity and a few breaks. There just wasn't a lot of activity in the areas that concerned Gordon, and eventually he gravitated to the budding underground punk scene as a member of the Tuff Darts. There wasn't much, aside from the energy, that he appreciated about punk rock, however, and he didn't last in the Tuff Darts too long, though he was represented on their contribution to a legendary compilation called Live at CBGB's. He also found his way into the Amos Poe movie Unmade Beds, but that was as far as he got into the punk/new wave firmament of those years.
His tenure with the Tuff Darts, however, allowed him to cross paths with Richard Gottehrer, a producer and songwriter (and an ex-member of the Strangeloves). Gottehrer -- whose songwriting credits began with the Bo Diddley homage "I Want Candy" -- had never lost his own love of '50s rock & roll, and he and Gordon found themselves on just about the same page in terms of the records the latter wanted to make. What's more, in Gordon, Gottehrer found a refreshingly real article; there were lots of rock & roll "revivalists" running around in the early to mid-'70s, aping and burlesquing the music of the 1950s (the group Sha Na Na -- whom Gordon couldn't abide -- had sold millions of records and gotten a nationally syndicated television show doing precisely that), but Gordon was a true connoisseur of the music. "Heartbreak Hotel" had been his entrée to
When Gordon resumed his career in 1976, he decided to push in the direction that he wanted, toward the rockabilly sounds that he loved. Gottehrer got him paired up musically with Link Wray, the North Carolina-born rockabilly guitarist (whose own background in rock & roll went back to a time before there was such a thing, playing with Gene Vincent all the way back in 1949), and the two inspired each other; Gordon was thrilled to be working with Wray, a rockabilly legend, and Wray found in Gordon a kindred spirit a half-generation younger. Soon they had the interest of Private Stock Records, a New York-based company headed by former Bell Records chief Larry Uttal. Gordon was an odd fit at a label best known for artists such as David Soul, Samantha Sang, and Rupert Holmes, but then, he would have been an odd fit almost anywhere at the time. His debut album, Robert Gordon with Link Wray, released in the spring of 1977, was well received critically and started to sell in decent numbers. And then, just a few weeks later,
Gordon's credibility was enhanced by the presence of Bruce Springsteen -- then still ascending to the peak of his superstar status -- at one New York gig, jamming with the band, and his contribution of a song called "Fire" to the second Gordon/Wray album only added to the mystique of the man and the band (though his chance to score a hit with it was taken away by a rival version recorded by the Pointer Sisters). The presence on the same album of the Jordanaires, the gospel trio best remembered as the backup singers of many of Elvis' RCA recordings, seemed to pull several strands out of rock & roll history together at once. Among the other classics out of the past that Gordon restored to the popular culture in new, riveting versions was "Black Slacks," an old hit by the Sparkletones, and "Sea Cruise" and "Bad Boy." Even if the record sales weren't what anyone hoped for, Gordon's work was sufficiently popular (especially in Europe) to help secure reissues of the original recordings by many of the artists who influenced him.
The association with Link Wray ended in 1978, and he was replaced by British guitarist Chris Spedding, who was of Gordon's generation and loved the music the same way he did. At the same time, Private Stock's financial picture had begun crumbling, and the label was closed down soon after the release of the second album -- but executives at RCA, which had distributed Private Stock, were sufficiently impressed by Gordon's potential to sign him directly to the label. The picture, in some ways, was now complete, as Gordon was recording for the company that had helped make
His star never rose much higher than the point it reached with Fresh Fish Special, as the rockabilly boomlet proved to be just that, a cult phenomenon loosely associated with the garage punk underground movement and the oldies circuit (which Gordon abhorred). He ceased most recording after the start of the 1980s, but the constant release of bootlegged and poorly recorded live sets prompted him to release his own live album, 1991's Greetings from New York City. All for the Love of Rock 'n' Roll, a mix of soundtrack work, re-recorded material, and assorted outtakes, appeared in 1994, followed by a new studio album, simply called Robert Gordon, on Llist in 1997. Another new collection, Satisfied Mind, came out on Jungle in 2004. In 2007 Gordon reunited with Chris Spedding for a Rykodisc release called It's Now or Never, which also featured the Jordanaires. In 2009, Gordon licensed 25 cuts to Universal's Fuel imprint. Issued as a double-disc set,
