Mark Pucci, the publicist who helped carry Southern rock to a national audience in the 1970s and later spent decades working for blues artists, has died at 79. He died on October 8 in Cumming, Georgia, after a brief illness and complications from a stroke, according to Karin Johnson, a spokesperson for his company.
From music writer to Capricorn executive
A New Jersey native, Pucci graduated from the University of Memphis in 1971 and began on the press side of the business, serving as music editor of the monthly River City Review and writing about Elvis Presley and the Memphis Blues Festival for Rolling Stone and other outlets. In 1974 he joined Capricorn Records in Macon, Georgia, then the hub of the Southern rock explosion. Over two stints there he went from publicity director to vice president of publicity and general manager, helping steer press for acts including The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He also worked on Jimmy Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, promoting benefit concerts that raised money and visibility for the candidate.
Pucci set up his own Atlanta shop, Mark Pucci Associates, in 1979 and followed it with Mark Pucci Media in 1996. Clients across those years included Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, John Mayall, Taj Mahal, Gordon Lightfoot, Derek Trucks, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Charlie Musselwhite and Delbert McClinton. He liked to call himself old school, keeping his roster small and going beyond what his contracts required.
His devotion to the blues was recognized in 2008, when the Blues Foundation in Memphis gave him its Keeping the Blues Alive Award.
Pucci was predeceased by his wife, Patricia. Memorial services are set for October 28 at South Care Cremation & Funeral Society in Alpharetta, Georgia, and gifts in his memory can be made to the LifeLine Animal Project.
Image: L-R: William Bell, Mark Pucci and Isaac Hayes at SXSW 2007. Photo: Rick Diamond/WireImage, via Billboard.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard.