Gary Garcia [Buckner & Garcia] Dies at 63

[Zoneboy]

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Gary Garcia, one-half of pop duo Buckner & Garcia and co-creator of early '80s hit single "Pac-Man Fever", reportedly passed away at his home in Englewood, Florida yesterday.

Long before MC Frontalot, Mega Ran, and other geek-themed musical acts made a living out of video game songs, Buckner & Garcia rose to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts with "Pac-Man Fever", a Pac-Man parody of Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever".

The group followed it up with a full novelty album packed with tracks about arcades games, like "Do The Donkey Kong," "Ode to a Centipede," "The Defender," and "Mousetrap." That album went on to sell more than a million copies.

Buckner & Garcia wrote non-gaming songs too, like "The Theme To WKRP In Cincinnati," "E.T., I Love You," and a number of ad jingles. Pac-Man Fever also saw a re-release in 1999 with re-recordings of the original album's tunes.

Though Buckner & Garcia were out of the spotlight for the most part in recent years, the pair saw its songs from Pac-Man Fever released on Rock Band Network in June, and earlier this month recorded its latest (and last) track, "Found Me the Bomb," a tribute to gaming site Giant Bomb.