b. Gary Ralph Buck, 21 March 1940, Thessalon, Ontario, Canada, d. 14 October 2003, Didsbury, Alberta, Canada. A singer-songwriter, Buck played guitar and bass as a child, and in his teens he formed his band the Rock-A-Billies. After recording for Canatal, he joined Petal and gained his first Billboard chart entry in 1963 with ‘Happy To Be Unhappy’. It reached number 11 and led to Cash Box magazine naming him their Best Newcomer Of The Year. He followed with a Top 40 hit, ‘The Wheel Song’, the following year, but was then absent from the charts until 1982, when ‘Midnight Magic’ just reached the Top 100. During this time, he was very active within country music. In 1966 he joined Capitol Records, and during the late 60s he recorded in Nashville for that label and hosted his own show on Ontario television. From 1968-1972, he worked as General Manager of Beechwood Music, a publishing company that belonged to Capitol Records. Feeling himself under restriction by Capitol Records, he formed his own Broadlands Music and began producing recordings by other artists (including Ian Tyson, Dick Damron, Dallas Harms and Tommy Hunter) on his Broadlands-affiliated Arpeggio Records label, but never recorded on the label himself. Buck joined RCA Records in 1972, and during the 70s he toured with his band Loose Change, including New Zealand (1973 and 1975) and the UK (1979). In the early 80s he toured in Germany, but he became more and more involved with the promotion of Canadian country music and soon drastically cut back on his road work. In 1987 he had Canadian chart success with ‘Blossom’, and in 1992 with ‘One Step Of A Two Step’. Buck was a founding member of the Academy of Country Music Entertainment, which became the Canadian Country Music Association. He was very involved with the formation of the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and became its president when it first opened in 1988. He continued to serve in executive capacities for the CCMA as well as continuing with Broadlands Music. In 1991 he opened Broadlands International Records in Nashville, from which he began to promote and produce American artists including Gene Watson and Billie Jo Spears. He also served as International Director for the CMA. Buck was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.