Robert Gordon, key to rockabilly music revival
Robert Gordon, a pompadoured singer who played a central role in the rockabilly revival of the 1970s and collaborated with influential guitarists Link Wray, Danny Gatton, and Chris Spedding, died Oct. 18 in Manhattan. He was 75.
The cause was acute myeloid leukemia, said a sister, Melissa Gordon Uram.
While growing up in suburban Washington in the 1950s and early ‘60s, Mr. Gordon listened obsessively to rockers such as Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, and Jack Scott, country singers Johnny Cash and Don Gibson, and the rhythm-and-blues balladry of Chuck Jackson and Sam Cooke.
In his stage persona, Mr. Gordon seemed to revel in capturing that era in musical amber — cultivating a retrograde sartorial style and image, performing in vintage sport coats or tank tops, and always sporting a tower of jet-black hair.
He excelled at Presley-esque balladry and was gifted with a mellifluous baritone that could make an over-the-top, teen-oriented lyric such as Conway Twitty’s ‘‘It’s Only Make Believe,’’ convincing without even the slightest trace of contemporary irony or cynicism. In a 1977 Unicorn Times article, critic Joe Sasfy said Mr. Gordon established his ‘‘credentials with the grand, Southern vocal tradition of romantic melodrama.’’
Sasfy added, ‘‘The style is clear — male passion and pain made real by exaggerated timing, breathless gasps, resounding basso profundo, swooping falsettos and nervous yelps.’’
Though filled with a passion for the musical past, Mr. Gordon also recorded material from contemporary songwriters including Bruce Springsteen (“Fire”), T-Bone Burnett (“Driving Wheel”), and Marshall Crenshaw (“Somewhere, Someday”).
In 1977, Mr. Gordon teamed up with Wray, the veteran rockabilly guitarist often credited with pioneering the loud, clanging power chords that dominated much of later rock music. Their single ‘‘Red Hot,’’ which had its lyrical roots in schoolyard taunts and dozens games (“my gal is red hot/your gal ain’t doodly squat”), was infectious enough to reach a respectable 83 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a cover of a cover: There were earlier versions by Billy Lee Riley and the song’s composer, Billy ‘‘The Kid’’ Emerson, both for Sun records, in the 1950s.
The death of Presley in 1977 hastened a renewed interest in rockabilly and ’50s-style balladry, and Mr. Gordon and Wray collaborated on two timely albums. Their second, ‘‘Fresh Fish Special’’ (1978), with a tank-topped Mr. Gordon combing his pompadour on the cover, was named after a movie character’s description of Elvis’s prison haircut in the 1958 film ‘‘Jailhouse Rock.’’
Mr. Gordon’s later albums ‘‘Rock Billy Boogie’’ (1979), ‘‘Bad Boy’’ (1980), and ‘‘Are You Gonna Be the One’’ (1981) graced the Billboard charts. The last one included Mr. Gordon’s final chart single, the bouncy ‘‘Someday, Someway,’’ by songwriter Marshall Crenshaw.
In addition to Wray, Mr. Gordon recorded with several highenergy guitarists, including Spedding and Gatton. Their combined virtuosity, in the view of critics, gave Mr. Gordon’s recordings a slick veneer that other rockabilly revivalists lacked.
Robert Ira Gordon was born in Washington on March 29, 1947, and grew up in Chevy Chase, Md. His father was an administrative law judge with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. His mother, a homemaker, also painted.
His marriage to Karen Ellis ended in divorce. He leaves his wife of 27 years, Marylee Paquin Gordon of Manhattan; a son from his first marriage, Jesse Gordon of Bethesda, Md.; two sisters; and two granddaughters. A son from his first marriage, Anthony Gordon, died about 25 years ago.