Buckner & Garcia was an American musical duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from Akron, Ohio. Their first recording was made in 1972, when they performed a novelty song 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 as Santa Claus. 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. In 1981, the duo wrote a faith-based 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 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 based 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 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'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 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.