Buckner & Garcia was an American musical duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

. Their first recording was made in 1972, when they performed a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

called "Gotta Hear the Beat", which they recorded as Animal Jack. Later, in 1980, they wrote a novelty Christmas song titled "Merry Christmas in the NFL", imagining sports journalist

Howard Cosell Howard William Cosell (; né Cohen; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist, broadcaster and author. Cosell became prominent and influential during his tenure with ABC Sports from 1953 until 1985. Cosell was widel ...

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

. The recording was credited to Willis the Guard (a character performed by Atlanta radio personality Bob Carr) and fictional group Vigorish. The song reached No. 82 on the

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

. In 1981, the duo wrote a faith-based

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

theme to back the poem " Footprints in the Sand", performed by Edgel Groves, which reached No. 1 on many Country and Easy Listening radio stations. The duo also produced an extended version of the ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional AM radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson. It was based upon his experiences obs ...

'' theme song released on MCA Records in 1982. However, the duo is best known for their hit novelty song " Pac-Man Fever", released in 1981 on a local record label, BGO Records. Shortly after the duo signed a record deal with Columbia/ CBS Records and the record was released nationally. An album of the same name quickly followed composed entirely of video game songs. The single and album both received gold records for combined sales of over two and a half million copies worldwide. The duo later followed up that single with "Do the Donkey Kong", which only made the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

Charts, peaking at No. 103.

History

The duo's intended follow-up to "Pac-Man Fever" was " E.T., I Love You", which was delayed for release by the label in favor of

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

's unauthorized " Heartlight". They released a re-recorded version of the song on their 1999 album ''Now & Then''. The Starlight Children's Chorus recorded a cover version on their album '' E.T., I Love You & Other Extra Terrestrial Songs for Children''. In 1985, Anne Murray's recording of "On and On", a song written by Jerry Buckner, became a top 10 hit on the Country/Easy Listening charts. In the mid-1990s,

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

declined to re-release the ''Pac-Man Fever'' album to CD for reasons unknown. To meet the growing demand for a reissue of the album, the band released a re-recorded version on CD in 1999. When the duo re-formed the band in 1999 to re-record the album, Danny Jones became the group's drummer, Whitaker having died in the interim. Stewart returned as bassist; none of the other band members returned. The duo followed this up with ''Now & Then'', an album that included four new songs including a new recording of "E.T., I Love You". The pair continued to collaborate, including writing and performing on many original songs for the national restaurant chain Waffle House jukeboxes, several of which were released on a pair of albums. In 2009, "Pac-Man Fever" ranked at No. 98 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's "Top 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s" list. On June 10, 2010, the duo released a song titled "Keepin' the Dream Alive", with part of the proceeds being donated to aid the All-American Soap Box Derby in their hometown of Akron. On September 9, 2011, Buckner & Garcia revealed its new song on

Whiskey Media Whiskey Media was an American online media company founded independently by '' CNET'' co-founder Shelby Bonnie in 2008. It was the parent company of Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice, and the former parent company of '' Giant Bomb'' and Comic Vine. ...

's Big Live Live Show: Live 2, called "Found Me the Bomb", which is about the gaming website

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time (maga ...

. The song was made after an interview in June 2011, in which Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia called in during a live

Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...

tournament Giant Bomb was having. Ryan Davis jokingly said during a podcast that the duo should make a song about them and then to his shock one day he received an mp3 containing the new song. The song was distributed free on giantbomb.com and also appeared on the Rock Band Network. On November 17, 2011, Gary Garcia died unexpectedly at his home in

Englewood, Florida Englewood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Charlotte and Sarasota counties in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 20,800, up from 14,863 at the 2010 census. It is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sara ...

, at age 63. Buckner later worked with Jamie Houston to write the song "Wreck It, Wreck-It Ralph!" for the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

film ''

Wreck-It Ralph ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was directed by Rich Moore and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay by Phil Johnston (filmmaker), Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee ( ...

'' (2012).

Jerry Buckner

Following Gary Garcia's death in 2011, Jerry continued on as a songwriter, keyboardist, and arranger. His songs have been recorded by

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy ...

("On and On"), Bertie Higgins ("The Wall"),

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is an American singer and actor, who hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid tribute to his Polish heritage. One ...

("The Wall"), and

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, and semiconductors. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969. Seiko is ...

("So in Love with You"). He has scored original music for television and motion picture soundtracks along with jingles for a variety of commercial clients including

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Papa John's Papa John's International, Inc., trading as Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. , it is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in the Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia ...

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and Waffle House. In 2012, Buckner co-produced and performed the title track to the hit

movie ''

'', which received numerous awards including Critics' Choice for "Best Movie", Annie Awards for "Best Movie" and "Best Soundtrack", and was nominated for an Oscar. Original members of the duo's band consisted of Ginny Whitaker (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

), Larry McDonald (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

), Chris Bowman (

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

), Rick Hinkle (lead and rhythm guitar on "Pac-Man Fever", "Mousetrap" and "Goin' Berserk"), Mike Stewart (

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

on "Mousetrap" and "Goin' Berserk"), and David "Cozy" Cole (

syndrum The Pollard Syndrum is the first commercially available electronic drum, invented by Joe Pollard and Mark Barton in 1976. There were 3 major types: The Syndrum 1, the Syndrum TwinDrum, and the Syndrum Quad, the last being the most famous. At the ...

on ''Pac-Man Fever''). Steve Carlisle and Sharon Scott provided background vocals on "Pac-Man Fever".

Albums and track list

'' Pac-Man Fever''

#"Pac-Man Fever" (''

'') #"Froggy's Lament" (''

Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and published by Sega. In North America, it was distributed by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct five frogs to their homes by dodging traffic on a busy road, then crossing a ri ...

'') #"Ode to a Centipede" (''

Centipede Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...

'') #"Do the Donkey Kong" (''

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the List of Don ...

'') #"Hyperspace" (''

Asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

'') #"The Defender" ('' Defender'') #"Mousetrap" ('' Mouse Trap'') #"Goin' Berzerk" ('' Berzerk'')

''Now & Then''

#"Do the Funky Broadway" #"Pogwild" (

Pogs Milk caps is a children's game played with flat circular cardboard milk caps. Players make a stack of these caps, and take turns to drop a heavier "slammer" object onto it, causing the caps to be disrupted. Each player keeps any face-up caps and ...

) #"It's Allright" #"Hostage" #"E.T., I Love You" #"E.T., I Love You" (Karaoke Version) #"Pac-Man Fever" (Karaoke Version) #"Pac-Man Fever" (Unplugged Version)

''Now & Then'' (rerelease)

#"Hostage" #"E.T., I Love You" #"Mr. T" #"I Gotta Hear the Beat" #"Loose in the Streets"

Band members

''Pac-Man Fever'' (1981‒1982) *Gary Garcia -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

*Jerry Buckner - keyboards,

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

*Chris Bowman - guitar *Larry McDonald -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Ginny Whitaker -

*David "Cozy" Cole -

(on "Pac-Man Fever") *Rick Hinkle - guitar (on "Pac-Man Fever", "Mousetrap" and "Goin' Berzerk") *Steve Carlisle - background vocals (on "Pac-Man Fever") *Sharon Scott - background vocals (on "Pac-Man Fever") *Mike Stewart -

(on "Mousetrap" and "Goin' Berzerk") 1982‒1999 *Gary Garcia - lead vocals, guitar *Jerry Buckner - keyboards, background vocals *Chris Bowman - guitar *Mike Stewart - bass, keyboards *Ginny Whitaker - drums 1999‒2011 *Gary Garcia - lead vocals, guitar *Jerry Buckner - keyboards, background vocals *Mike Stewart - bass, guitar, keyboards, background vocals *Danny Jones - drums, background vocals Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph (2012) *Danny Jones - lead vocals, drums *Jerry Buckner - keyboards, background vocals *Chris Bowman - guitar *Mike Stewart - bass, keyboards

References

External links

*
Full discography, including singles
*
retroCRUSH Interview transcriptCreative Loafing article and interviewRe-release of Now and Then, with new tracksBuckner & Garcia – Pac-Man Fever (1982, Vinyl)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckner and Garcia Musical duos from Ohio Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Rock music groups from Ohio Columbia Records artists Musical groups from Akron, Ohio Video game musicians American male musical duos