These days, rockabilly hero Robert Gordon has the status of a cultfigure, and is highly revered by many. After all, it was Gordon that almost singlehandedly kick-started the second rockabilly wave in the late 70s, and thus opened the door for acts like the Stray Cats and Shakin' Stevens. Bruce Springsteen is one of Robert Gordon's admirers, and in late 1977, he gave Gordon the song Fire, and even played piano on Robert's version of that song. At the time, the music that Robert Gordon was making with Link Wray was like a breath of fresh air right in the middle of the disco craze; They did quite well with 'Red Hot', a vibrant and exhilerating rock 'n' roll blast that sounded like nothing else in the charts at the time.
It was producer Richard Gottehrer (Blondie, The Raveonettes) that discovered Gordon in '76. At the time, Robert Gordon was the frontman for the punk-rock band The Tuff Darts, which at the time were quite popular in the blooming NY punk & New Wave scene, and were performing regularly at clubs like CBGB's and Max's Kansas City. Gottehrer was very impressed with Robert's powerful baritone voice, and ended up producing four of his albums.
One of Robert Gordon's characteristics is his ability to surround himself with some of the worlds most outstanding guitarists. Link Wray obviously, but also Duke Robillard, Chris Spedding and Danny Gatton. And even the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan jumped on stage at a Robert Gordon gig in August 1985 to do a couple of songs with him.
Robert Gordon starred in the biker-movie "The Loveless" (Pioneer Films, 1982) together with Willem Dafoe, as well as in "Unmade Beds" with Deborah Harry (Blondie). His monumental version of "The Way I Walk" was used to great effect in the Oliver Stone movie "Natural Born Killers" (1994). Robert Gordon has also appeared in numerous television programmes like Dave Letterman, Conan O' Brien, Don Kirschner Rock Concert, Rock Palast and Musikladen.