Curtis Gordon born July 18, 1927

Curtis Gordon (July 18, 1927** – May 2, 2004) was an American singer who became one of the most enduring and beloved artists of the 1950s but never got the recognition he deserved as a true crossover artist between country, Western swing, and rockabilly.

Edward Curtis Gordon was born on a farm near Moultrie, Georgia. He was heavily influenced by Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, and Jimmie Rodgers as a child. He won a radio talent show as a teen and left high school to be the lead singer of his own band, which included fiddle player Jimmy Bryant. His parents demanded that he return to school and give up the band; he did so, though he moonlighted with a band called Pee Wee Mills & the Twilight Cowboys, who operated out of Gulfport, Mississippi. He formed a new Western swing band of his own at age 21 in 1949 and starting from South Georgia and North Florida, he had enough work to keep it going.

In June 1952, a distributor of RCA Victor heard Gordon playing in a talent contest in Atlanta and recommended him to executive Steve Sholes and began recording for the label in the fall. For Gordon, who saw himself as a regional performer, landing a deal with RCA was a major break. He fit into the honky tonk sound that was in vogue at the time. However, he had little say in the material he recorded. Steve Sholes had his own ideas, seeing Gordon as a potential ballad singer. Gordon could write his own songs, but was hardly allowed to record them. One of only two exceptions was "Rompin' And Stompin'" (RCA 5356), waxed at Gordon's second RCA session, in March 1953. It was inspired by Hardrock Gunter's "Birmingham Bounce" and can be seen as pre-Elvis rockabilly. Curtis cut 16 songs for RCA, released on eight singles, but there was nothing else like "Rompin' And Stompin'" and when the RCA contract expired in November 1954, Gordon wasn't particularly bitter. His records had sold enough to keep him on the label, but nothing came even close to the national charts.

                                   

In 1952, Gordon had opened his own nightclub, the Radio Ranch, in Mobile, Alabama. He appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and supported Ernest Tubb, Elvis Presley, and Hank Snow, but no matter how much he toured, Mobile would remain his home base over the next couple of decades. 

His records sold modestly, though they never charted; he remained on RCA for two years, and when his contract expired, A&R man Dee Kilpatrick signed him to Mercury in December 1954 and for the most part, the music recorded there was more satisfying than at RCA. For one thing, many of the songs were Gordon originals, though a few songs were pushed on him. Most of his output was pure country, but on his fourth Mercury session, in March 1956, Gordon really cut loose with four self-penned rockabilly classics, "Draggin'", "Mobile, Alabama", "I'm Sittin' On Top Of the World" and "Rock, Roll Jump And Jive". The last track was surprisingly consigned to the vaults by Mercury, until it was included on a Bear Family LP in 1985. 

Though Gordon told Rich Kienzle that he never changed the way he played because of Elvis, his one and only rockabilly session with teen-slanted lyrics, slapped bass and Scotty Moore-styled lead guitar, followed a formula which owed a great deal to Presley's success. But Gordon soon returned to hard country. Gordon served briefly in the U.S. Army Special Services during 1956 at Fort McPherson, Georgia

as part of the Circle-A-Wranglers. In the mid-1950's Gordon had a weekly WALA-TV show where he was known as "Mr. Personality." As a tribute to his adopted home town he recorded "Mobile, Alabama."  After a final Mercury session in October 1957, he recorded for Dollie in 1959, and much later for his own label, Duke Of Country (circa 1978), but mostly he worked Georgia, Florida and Alabama with his own six-piece band. 

He ran a dance club in Georgia in the 1970s and returned to rockabilly performing in the 1980s as the Europeans revived it. In the mid-1990s, after more than 45 years of performing, Gordon wanted to retire from performing and the nightclub business in order to relax, but he accepted an invitation to come to Hemsby, England, for his first European gig, which was a great success. In February 1998 he was heading back to England, again amazed that European fans remembered the lyrics of old records that were ignored by the masses when they came out. His modest, warm personality and the enjoyment of what he plays made him a successful live performer. He headlined the Viva Las Vegas Festival in 2001. Until his death he performed at selected festivals and stages. Gordon died of cancer on May 2, 2004, aged 76.

Curtis Gordon with fan in the UK

Looking back in 1998, Gordon said in an interview, "I never considered myself a great singer. I'm a good showman, I like to entertain. I know how to put on a good show and I've always had a crackerjack band."  

(Edited from This Is My Story, Rockin' Country Style & Wikipedia.) (** Please note , I found out that according to the Social Security Death Index, Curtis Gordon's actual birthdate was July 18, 1927 and that it is this date inscribed on his grave stone, but all sources I have seen give July 27, 1927)