Veteran pop singer Gary Puckett, who scored a series of high-charting hits with his group The Union Gap during the late 1960s, celebrates his 80th birthday on Monday, October 17.
Puckett and The Union Gap’s biggest hits were 1967’s “Woman, Woman,” and 1968’s “Young Girl” and “Lady Willpower,” which peaked at #4, #2 and #2, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100.
The band followed those up with three more top-20 singles, 1968’s “Over You,” and 1969’s “Don’t Give In to Him” and “This Girl Is a Woman Now,” which reached reached #7, #15 and #9 on the Hot 100.
“Young Girl,” “Lady Willpower” and “Over You” were written by Jerry Fuller, who also produced The Union Gap’s first three albums.
Puckett and The Union Gap were nominated for Best New Artist at the 1969 Grammy Awards, but lost out to Jose Feliciano.
Puckett parted ways with The Union Gap in 1971 and launched a moderately successful solo career. He withdrew from the music business in the early ’70s, but returned to performing and recording in the early 1980s. Since then, he has performed regularly on the oldies circuit, often with a backing band called The Union Gap, and has sporadically released solo albums.
Puckett and the current Union Gap are taking part in the Sixties Gold tour in the United Kingdom, which runs through late November. They also have several U.S. shows lined up. Visit GaryPuckettMusic.com for more information.
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