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Robert George "Robie' Porter was born in 1942 and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield. When he was eight his mother bought a steel guitar and a course on how to play the guitar from a door to door salesman. Robie himself was more interested in playing football, but his mother insisted that he make good her investment and made him practice. Still there was no great desire for a serious music career. While he became quite proficient at the instrument, his mind turned from football to studies, and "Robie" enrolled in a combined arts/law course at university. In 1959 opportunity came knocking. In the post-rock arrival fifties pop instruments started becoming in vogue, through artists like Johnny And The Hurricanes and Duane Eddy. This trend presented a bit of a problem for television's 'Bandstand' program, which liked to present local artists performing the hits of the day. When America's Santo And Johnny arrived with their steel-guitar hit, 'Sleepwalk', the search went out for someone who could actually play the song on an actual steel guitar. That search found Robie Porter. Making an impression both with his playing and his good looks he was recalled for further TV appearances, sometimes singing along to his guitar in a country style voice. When he was offered a recording contract, Rob E G (Robie G) released his version of Hank Williams' 'You're Cheating Heart'. He scored hits with the instrumentals 'Whiplash' (August '60) and 'Railroadin'' (January 61), his own compositions. Rob E G became an established performer on both TV and as a live performer with a popular following. Tragedy struck in 1961. The artist was involved in a car accident and received serious spinal injuries. It might have put an end to his career but instead it gave him the breathing space from which to relaunch his career. He came back compering the Sydney version of the talent TV show 'Opportunity Knocks', with his own special brand of instrumental pop songs, and because of his spinal injuries, with his own way of performing them. His lap steel guitar was placed in a stand which he played while standing up. The impact was four national top tens in a row, including No.1s with 'Si Senor' and '55 Days At Peking'. By now he was hosting his own TV show, 'Surf Sound'. As instrumentals started to lose their appeal he released a tasteful vocal love ballad named 'When You're Not Near'. In 1964 the Beatles came to Australia and their manager Brian Epstein encouraged the instrumentalist to try his luck in England. Becoming Robie Porter he spent the next couple of years in the UK, without success, moved to the US to write and record and then returned to Australia in 1970, to record on his own label Sparmac. His return to success however was as a producer, for the Sparmac signings Daddy Cool and Healing Force. In 1973 he set up a new label, Wizard, for which he produced an album for the post-Daddy Cool group, Mighty Kong. His successes now came with the pop singles and albums he produced for Hush and Marcia Hines. Marcia's trademark 'Shining' was also written by Porter. Both Daddy Cool/Mighty Kong's Ross Wilson and Marcia Hines ended up waiting out their Wizard Records contract before continuing their recording careers on other labels. Robie Porter returned to the US where he moved into television production, and ultimately, became a highly successful and wealthy horse breeder.
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