Robert Hudson was born in Sydney in 1946 and grew up in Grafton.[1] He attended Newcastle Teacher's College during the mid-1960s.[1] He started working as a geography teacher but switched to psychiatric nursing and then general nursing.[1] In the late 1960s he also began performing as a solo folk and comic singer. He was the lead singer in the Electric Jug Band, which played at the Star Hotel, Newcastle during the early 1970s – the site of the Star Hotel riot in September 1979.
Hudson had joined the Teen Angels by 1973 with Jean Lewis and Roy Ritchie, which performed "vintage rock'n'roll and doo wop songs."[2][3] He was a member of a touring revue, Rock 'N' Roll Refugees, alongside, John J. Francis, Alan Luchetti, Margret Roadknight and Glenn Cardier.[4] With fellow folk musician Graham Lowndes, he co-wrote music for plays presented by the Australian Free Theatre Group.[2] Hudson described his musical influences as Chad Morgan, Phil Ochs and Jon Hendricks.[4]
He teamed up with ABC musical director, record producer and songwriter Chris Neal to record an in-concert album, The Newcastle Song, in 1974.[2] From August 1974 he was performing a concert-drama of the same name with "actors, Arthur Dignam and Jane Harders" and "jazz pianist Judy Bailey, brilliant young composer/guitarist Roy Ritchie,... rock and orchestral bass player Dave Ellis and singers Graham Lowndes, Starlee Ford and Bobbie Gledhill."[5] The title track, "The Newcastle Song" (March 1975), was trimmed down from the ten-minute album version for the single, which topped the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart for four weeks.[2][6][7]
Hudson, with Neal, co-wrote and recorded a response song, "Rak off Normie", which was covered by Maureen Elkner and became a top ten hit for her in mid-1975.[2][7][8] At the Australian Radio Records Awards of October 1975 Hudson won Record of the Year for The Newcastle Song and the New Talent Encouragement award.[9] Another album track, "Girls in Our Town", was a top 40 single for RoadKnight in January 1976.[2][3]
Other albums by Hudson are After Me Cat Left Home (1975) and Party Pieces (1980).[2] Hudson was one of the original on-air team at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) rock radio station 2JJ (Double Jay, now Triple J) in 1975,[10][2] and later presented Music Buffs' Talk Back Show, with Glenn A. Baker, on the ABC radio station 2BL. Hudson also worked on ABC radio's international news desk.[11] In the 1980s he was involved in the publishing of a book about Australian language[12] Hudson completed a PhD in archaeology at the University of Sydney and conducted research on ancient Myanmar (Burma).[13]
Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara; Paul McHenry (2002) [1987]. The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN1-86503-891-1.[17] Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
^Hudson, Bob; Neal, Chris (1975). "Rak off, Normie!". Leeds Music. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
^"He never let a chance go by". The Canberra Times. Vol. 50, no. 14, 195. 13 October 1975. p. 3. Retrieved 8 October 2018 – via National Library of Australia. Note: Includes a photo of the artist receiving an award.
^Page 110 with portrait Veitch, Alan; Veitch, Alan; Atterton, Margot (1984), The Illustrated encyclopaedia of Australian showbiz (1st ed.), Sunshine Books, ISBN978-0-86777-057-5
^ abKent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 143. ISBN0-646-11917-6.
^Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 22. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 19 June 1988.
^"Cashbox Magazine"(PDF). Billboard. 29 November 1975. p. 54. Retrieved 12 November 2021 – via World Radio History.
