Biography
Born Gary Ralph Buck on 21 March 1940 in Thessalon, Ontario, Canada, the performer died on 14 October 2003 in Didsbury, Alberta. As a youngster he took up guitar and bass, then assembled the Rock-A-Billies while still in his teens. After an initial stint with Canatal he moved to Petal, where his first Billboard appearance arrived in 1963 via the single “Happy To Be Unhappy,” which climbed to number 11 and prompted Cash Box to crown him Best Newcomer of the Year. A follow-up Top 40 entry, “The Wheel Song,” surfaced the next year, yet chart silence persisted until 1982, when “Midnight Magic” barely entered the Top 100. Throughout those intervening years Buck remained deeply engaged in country music circles. Capitol Records signed him in 1966; during the remainder of the decade he cut sides in Nashville for the label and fronted his own Ontario television program. Between 1968 and 1972 he served as general manager of Beechwood Music, the publishing arm owned by Capitol. Chafing under those corporate constraints, he launched Broadlands Music and, through its Arpeggio Records imprint, produced sessions for Ian Tyson, Dick Damron, Dallas Harms, and Tommy Hunter—though he never issued his own recordings on the label.
RCA Records welcomed him aboard in 1972. Throughout the seventies he traveled extensively with the band Loose Change, reaching New Zealand in both 1973 and 1975 and the United Kingdom in 1979. Early-eighties dates took him to Germany, yet mounting commitment to the advancement of Canadian country music prompted him to curtail touring sharply. Domestic chart success returned with “Blossom” in 1987 and again with “One Step Of A Two Step” in 1992. A charter member of the organization first known as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment—later renamed the Canadian Country Music Association—Buck played a central role in establishing the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and assumed its presidency upon its 1988 opening. He maintained executive duties with the CCMA while sustaining Broadlands Music. In 1991 he inaugurated Broadlands International Records in Nashville, using the outlet to champion and oversee recordings by U.S. acts such as Gene Watson and Billie Jo Spears. He simultaneously held the post of International Director for the CMA. In 2001 Buck received induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
RCA Records welcomed him aboard in 1972. Throughout the seventies he traveled extensively with the band Loose Change, reaching New Zealand in both 1973 and 1975 and the United Kingdom in 1979. Early-eighties dates took him to Germany, yet mounting commitment to the advancement of Canadian country music prompted him to curtail touring sharply. Domestic chart success returned with “Blossom” in 1987 and again with “One Step Of A Two Step” in 1992. A charter member of the organization first known as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment—later renamed the Canadian Country Music Association—Buck played a central role in establishing the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and assumed its presidency upon its 1988 opening. He maintained executive duties with the CCMA while sustaining Broadlands Music. In 1991 he inaugurated Broadlands International Records in Nashville, using the outlet to champion and oversee recordings by U.S. acts such as Gene Watson and Billie Jo Spears. He simultaneously held the post of International Director for the CMA. In 2001 Buck received induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
Albums
Singles
