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. 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. Tapp died in
Burlington, Ontario on December 18, 2016, at the age of 94; no cause was given. ==Discography==