Love Songs with Gary Puckett Make a Perfect Valentine's Day

Love blooms throughout the catalog of Gary Puckett.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day.
Catch Puckett and his Cupid’s quiver of love songs on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, at Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Greeneville, Tenn.
Though split since 1971, Puckett and his band Union Gap sold millions of records with such pop hits as “Young Girl” and “Woman, Woman.”
For girls of the day, their records were like two-minute Valentine’s. Sweet as chocolate, coated in love.
“They are great records,” Puckett said by phone last week from Las Vegas, Nev. “Our audiences come, and they love to sing them, and they make them smile.”
Puckett formed Union Gap in January 1967. They signed with Columbia Records in June 1967, recorded “Woman, Woman” in August and it became their first hit by Christmas. They were overnight successes in about one year’s time.
“I was lucky,” Puckett said. “I had a great band, a great producer and a great record company.”
On the heels of 1967’s “Woman, Woman” arose “Young Girl,” “Lady Willpower” and then “Over You,” each of which soared to Billboard’s Top 10 in 1968.
“When I hear them on the radio now, they don’t sound dated,” he said. “We did things aimed right at the pop market.”
Those were whirlwind times for Puckett. Highlights included appearances on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” and “The Ed Sullivan Show,” television ratings giants of the era akin to today’s “American Idol.”
“It was an overwhelming time,” he said.
But Puckett and Union Gap did not fare well as the 1960s ended. Union Gap was like a group of one-way arrows pointed in different directions.
“It was like being married, but it was with five people instead of two,” Puckett said. “You don’t always agree with your life partner, but you hope to work it out, but when it’s with five people? Three of us stayed together, but when the ingredients are messed with, you ruin the cake.”
Puckett continued with Columbia Records as a solo act after Union Gap disbanded in 1971. He recorded several albums, though none sold well.
“I should have gone along with whatever Columbia wanted to do, but I didn’t,” Puckett said. “We were at odds. Then, along came glitter rock with David Bowie.”
Puckett’s era of pop music was over. He must have felt like a darkened sky in which sunrises no longer rose.
“I was like, stunned, is this over?” Puckett said. “For eight years I didn’t work publicly. It was a very trying time for me.”
Fast forward to 1984. The oldies radio format dawned and in turn revived music of the 1960s and ’70s. Puckett found another audience. He toured as an opening act for fellow ’60s popsters The Monkees in 1984, one of the year’s most successful tours.
In short, Puckett was back.
“I thank God every day for [oldies radio],” he said. “Now, I find that my audiences are old to young. They come to hear Union Gap songs, so they’ll hear a lot of Union Gap.”
Translated, no songs of sadness.
“It’s all about girls and love,” Puckett said. “We used to get a lot of flack about it, like, ‘Can’t you sing about anything else?’ But I’m like, what better thing to sing about than girls and love?”

IF YOU GO
Who: Gary Puckett
When: Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Niswonger Performing Arts Center, 212 Tusculum Blvd., Greenville, Tenn.
Admission: $32.50 for adults, $28 group rate, $12 for students
Info: (423) 638-1679
Web: www.garypuckettmusic.com
Audio: www.jr.com/product/music/pm/_1039394/
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nNXi66N2oc

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at features@bristolnews.com.