Gordie Tapp

Career[edit]

Tapp studied at the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts. He was the host for Main Street Jamboree, a radio program broadcast from Hamilton during the 1950s. Tapp later emceed the CBC television show Country Hoedown as well as The Performers, a series of shows featuring 'up and coming' young Canadian talent, which was recorded in major Canadian cities including Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.


He became a performer and writer for the CBS comedy-variety television show Hee Haw. Here he became an American TV star, becoming familiar as half of the stone-faced singing duo (with Archie Campbell) performing dozens of variations on "Pfft! You Were Gone" ("Where, Oh Where Are You Tonight?"). Tapp also played various recurring characters: hayseed Cousin Clem, pompous senator Samuel B. Sternwheeler, storekeeper Mr. Gordon, and Lavern Nagger, the forever put-upon husband of Ida Lee Nagger (Roni Stoneman).


Gordie Tapp was the special guest star on episode #54 of the popular weekly variety program The Bobby Vinton Show in October 1977. The program was produced in Toronto and aired across the United States and Canada. Gordie performed a duet of "That's Amore" with Vinton.


Tapp was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990.^[1] He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1998 for his work in helping raise funds for organizations such as the Canadian Muscular Dystrophy campaign and Easter Seals.^[3]


In 1999, he was awarded the Order of Ontario — the highest honour in the province of Ontario.


In his later life, Tapp was the commercial spokesperson for the Ultramatic adjustable bed.^[4]


Tapp died in Burlington, Ontario on December 18, 2016, at the age of 94; no cause was given.^[5]