ROBERT GORDON OBITUARY
 

Robert Gordon, who died October 18, 2022 in Bethesda, Maryland at age 75, had little use for rock music of the ‘60s and beyond. Born in Bethesda, Maryland on March 29, 1947, Gordon heard Elvis’ immortal Heartbreak Hotel on the radio when he was nine and knew what he wanted to do with his life. During the ‘60s, Gordon preferred attending shows at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., where James Brown and Otis Redding drove crowds into a sweat-stained frenzy, to listening to the British Invasion crowd.

 

A 1970 relocation to New York City with his young family preceded Gordon joining what’s been described as a punk rock outfit, The Tuff Darts, as their lead singer. Their All For The Love Of Rock And Roll and two more songs were included on a compilation album, ‘Live At CBGB’s,’ dedicated to New York’s thriving new wave scene. Producer Richard Gottehrer, formerly of The Strangeloves and a longtime successful record producer, caught a Tuff Darts rehearsal and rather than opting to work with the band, suggested teaming a solo Gordon with grizzled guitar legend Link Wray, whose thundering instrumental Rumble was a major 1958 hit and went a long way towards introducing the concept of the crunching power chord.

 

Gottehrer produced the young vocalist’s 1977 debut album ‘Robert Gordon with Link Wray’ for the Private Stock imprint, its contents an intriguing mix of ‘50s rockabilly covers from the repertoires of Vincent, Riley, Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, and Sanford Clark and three Wray originals. Gordon’s revival of Billy ‘The Kid’ Emerson’s Sun label classic Red Hot, done Riley-style and decorated with Wray’s slashing lead guitar, made inroads on the pop singles charts. Gordon steadfastly dressed the part of a ‘50s rocker, complete with high hair.

 

Gottehrer, who shared his production credit with the singer this time, summoned The Jordanaires to handle the backing vocals on Gordon’s ’78 Private Stock encore set ‘Fresh Fish Special,’ Wray again lending his blistering fretwork to the proceedings. Once again, remakes of classic rockers by Vincent, Scott, Cochran, Elvis, Johnny Burnette, Bob Luman, and Frankie Ford were the order of the day, along with a couple more of Link’s originals. But there was a rooker: Fire was the work of prolific rocker Bruce Springsteen (who played piano on the song), and the feel was quite a bit more modern. The Pointer Sisters’ smash version of Fire killed any chance of Gordon enjoying a hit with the theme.

 

 

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