The son of an Iron Guard member, he was banned from performing and recording in 1987 after a concert at Sala Palatului in Bucharest, following a number of run-ins with Romania's communist authorities throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

[1][2][3][4] Born in Podari, Dolj County, Tudor Gheorghe started his secondary studies at the Frații Buzești High School in Craiova.

Expelled for political reasons in 9th grade, he moved to stay with some aunts in Arad, attending the city's Moise Nicoară High School.

His first national tour in 1969 was critically and commercially acclaimed and established him as a figure of the fledgling contemporary folk scene in Romania.

In an article published in the Flacăra magazine in 1973, Dorin Tudoran chronicled Gheorghe's precarious living conditions at the time, characterizing him as "a great artist, who has abundantly proved to be perfectly aware of his obligations".