The group's lead singer,
Gary Puckett, was born on October 17, 1942, in
Hibbing, Minnesota, and grew up in
Yakima, Washington – close to
Union Gap – and
Twin Falls, Idaho. He began playing guitar in his teens, graduated from
Twin Falls High School and attended college in
San Diego,
California. There, he dropped out of 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 he called Gary and the Remarkables, comprising bassist
Kerry Chater (born in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; August 7, 1945 – February 4, 2022), keyboardist Gary 'Mutha' Withem (born August 22, 1944, San Diego),
tenor saxophonist Dwight Bement (born December 28, 1945, San Diego), and drummer Paul Wheatbread (born February 8, 1946, San Diego). In 1966, the band
toured the
Pacific Northwest without Wheatbread, who was recruited as the
house drummer on the television series
Where the Action Is; he later rejoined the line-up. Under manager Dick Badger, the team was renamed The Union Gap in early 1967, and its members outfitted themselves in
Union Army-style
Civil War uniforms as a visual gimmick. They then recorded a demo, which was heard by
CBS record producer and songwriter
Jerry Fuller. Impressed by Puckett's tenor voice and the band's
soft rock leanings, Fuller signed them to a
recording contract with
Columbia Records. The band recorded their first single "
Woman, Woman", a song about a man's fears that his female partner might be considering infidelity, that had been written and composed by
Jim Glaser and Jimmy Payne, in August 1967. This was followed during the next two years by "
Young Girl" (No. 1 in
Cashbox, No. 2 in
Billboard), "
Lady Willpower" (No. 1 in
Cashbox, No. 2 in
Billboard), "
Over You" (No. 5 in
Cashbox, No. 7 in
Billboard), and "
Don't Give in to Him" (No. 15). The band headlined at a
White House reception for
Prince Charles and Princess Anne and at
Disneyland in 1968, and was nominated for a
Grammy Award for
Best New Artist in 1969, losing out to
José Feliciano. The band, however, wanted to write and produce its own material, and Puckett resented singing the
ballads written by Fuller. In 1969 Fuller prepared a 40-piece studio orchestra to record a new song he had written, but Puckett and the group refused to record it, the session was canceled, and Fuller never again worked with the group. The band returned to the charts with "
This Girl Is a Woman Now", produced by
Dick Glasser, but later releases failed to make the
Billboard Top 40. Chater and Withem left the band; Bement took over on bass guitar while keyboardist Barry McCoy and horn player Richard Gabriel were added. In 1970 Puckett began recording as a solo act, but with limited success; the Union Gap remained his live backing band until they were dismissed following an appearance at the 1971
Orange County Fair. Puckett's recording contract was terminated one year later. ==Solo careers and personal lives==