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1993 Black Gold Festival

Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, one of the most successful musical groups of the sixties, headlined the 1993 Black Gold Festival. Puckett’s unmistakable signature voice garnered six consecutive gold records and top ten Billboard hits with the following titles: "Young Girl," "Woman Woman," "Lady Willpower," "Over You," and "This Girl Is A Woman Now." Gary Puckett has performed on more than thirty network television shows and primetime specials during his career, even adding a command performance for the President and Prince Charles at the White House.  The Union Gap disbanded in the seventies.  In 1974, “Young Girl” was reissued in England where it received a silver record award for attaining a top five position on the pop charts, several years after its initial release. Throughout the eighties and nineties, Gary continued to tour internationally, co-headlining engagements with many of the most successful groups of all time. Gary Puckett started playing and singing with friends at hops and local talent shows while he was still in highschool , in Twin Falls , Idaho. Eventually, he enrolled as a pysch major at San Diego City College,where he studied for about a year , before quiting to hang out with local musicians.At one point, Gary put together an R&B group called "The Outcasts", but they didn't last. Next,he formed "Gary and the Remarkables, a band which while good, had nothing that was truly remarkable. Gary realized that he needed a gimmick, something that would attract attention and make his group really distinctive. After considering a number of ideas, he decided on a military motif, costuming each member in a blue and gold civil war uniform. As lead singer, lead guitarist and "General", Gary would command "Sargeant" Dwight Bement on bass, "Corpral" Kerry Chater on rhythm guitar , "Private" Gary Withem on keyboards and "Private" Paul Wheatbread on drums. Adapting the name from historic Union Gap, Washington, his new ensemble became, "The Union Gap, featuring Gary Puckett". In January 1967, the band quickly began to draw some attention in the San Diego area. "We were very business like" says Gary. "We made up a brochure with pictures, clippings, song lyrics and a demo record which was actually my voice with another group because we couldn't afford to make a Union Gap demo".Gary took this promotional kit around to various record companies in L.A. , and was turned down by all of them. Finally, just before leaving town, he visited Columbia Records and was directed to producer Jerry Fuller. Jerry chuckled at the photos but listened to the demo and agreed to come out and see the Gap on the second night of their regular weekend gig. That booking happened to be in the lounge of a San Diego bowling ally, where the boys had to compete with the sounds of rolling balls and crashing pins. The group coasted through three rather routine sets, before Jerry stepped forward and said "Let's make some records". The Union Gap signed contracts on June 21, 1967 and on August 17, cut what was to be their first single, "Woman Woman". Released one month later, it broke in Cleveland in November, rising to number four on the national charts. Jerry Fuller would later recall,"Naturally, since it was such a big hit, we were sent a lot of songs to use as a follow-up, but I just didn't hear the kind of song I wanted. "Finally, I dug out a thing I'd given up on six months before that. I re-wrote the song and played it for the group.They didn't care much for it, but I talked them into recording it". That song was "Young Girl". "As far as what inpired "Young Girl", that's another story" says Jerry."I was on the road a lot as an artist, fronting various groups for many years. I guess every entertainer goes through a time when fourteen-year-olds look like twenty-year-olds. That's somewhat of an inpiration... not from my own experiance, but just knowing that it happens". Young Girl took off in early March 1968 and by the next month was one of America's best selling singles." Even today," says Gary Puckett," people come up to me and say 'We fell in love while listening to that song.'" All of the Union Gaps records had a warm romantic feel, and the hit streak continued with "Lady Willpower", "Over You", "Don't Give In To Him", and "This Girl Is A Woman Now". "When you listen to those records today",says Jerry,"they sound fairly simple. We didn't try to get contrived, because we didn't know how.We always tried to make the music say what the lyrics did. We let the songs dictate our arrangements." That philosophy must have worked, because in 1968, the Union Gap managed to outsell rock's number one group, the Beatles.

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