Gary Puckett & The Union Gap | |
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Origin | San Diego, California, United States |
Genres | Pop |
Years active | 1967–present |
Labels | Columbia |
Website | Gary Puckett official website |
Past members |
Gary Puckett Kerry Chater Gary Withem Dwight Bement Paul Wheatbread Barry McCoy Richard Gabriel |
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (initially credited as The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) was an American pop rock group active in the late 1960s. Their biggest hits were "Woman, Woman"; "Over You"; "Young Girl"; and "Lady Willpower." It was formed by Gary Puckett, Gary 'Mutha' Withem, Dwight Bement, Kerry Chater, and Paul Wheatbread, who eventually named it The Union Gap. It featured costumes that were based on the Union Army uniforms worn during the American Civil War. They were noticed by Jerry Fuller, who gave them a recording contract with Columbia Records. The group eventually grew unhappy with doing material written and produced by other people, leading them to stop working with Fuller. The band eventually disbanded and Puckett went on to do both solo work and collaborations.
Singer Gary Puckett (born October 17, 1942, Hibbing, Minnesota) grew up in Yakima, Washington – close to the city of Union Gap – and Twin Falls, Idaho. He began playing guitar in his teens, and graduated from Twin Falls High School before attending college in San Diego, California. There, he quit college and played in several local bands before joining the Outcasts, a local hard rock group, which produced two singles, but they were unsuccessful.
Following the breakup of the Outcasts, Puckett formed a new group called Gary and the Remarkables, comprising bassist Kerry Chater (born August 7, 1945, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), keyboardist Gary 'Mutha' Withem (born August 22, 1946, San Diego),tenor saxophonist Dwight Bement (born December 28, 1945, San Diego), and drummer Paul Wheatbread (born February 8, 1946, San Diego).