Kerry Michael Chater is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He is best known as a member of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, but he has been a successful Nashville songwriter for many years.
Musician
Chater was born on August 7, 1945 in Vancouver, British Columbia. A bass player, in the mid-60s he joined a band called The Progressives with Doug Ingle, Gary 'Mutha' Whitem and Danny Weis. The Progressives eventually became part of Jeri and the Jeritones and then Palace Pages by 1965, after Jeri married Kerry. By 1966, Ingle, and Weis went off to form Iron Butterfly and Chater and Whitem joined The Outcasts with their friend Gary Puckett and others; this eventually became The Union Gap, which was signed by Columbia Records in 1967. Over the next two years the band had 4 songs in the top 10. Chater did much of the arranging for the live shows, wrote or co-wrote some of the album cuts and b-sides, and on rare occasions did a shared lead vocal. Chater and Gary "Mutha" Withem, the original keyboardist, left the band in 1970 as its popularity was declining. Chater spent the next five years studying musical theater with Lehman Engel. Chater released two solo albums in the late 1970s: Part Time Love and Love on a Shoestring ; neither charted.
Songwriter
With veteran songwriter Charlie Black, Chater wrote "I Know a Heartache When I See One", which reached number 19 on the US and number 10 on the US country charts in 1979 for Jennifer Warnes. Chater has also written hits with Glen Ballard and Rory Bourke, singer Renee Armand, and his wife, Lynn Gillespie Chater. The song I.O.U., co-written with Austin Roberts, was a nominee for the 1984 Grammy Award for Best Country Song. Lee Greenwood's performance of the song won him the Grammy for Best Performance by a Male Artist.
Hit songs
"So Hard Livin' Without You" - 1978 #62 for the band Airwaves
"I Know a Heartache When I See One" - 1979 #19 US, #10 country for Jennifer Warnes
"Love Knows We Tried" - 1980 #40 country for Tanya Tucker
"Love on a Shoestring" - 1980 #55 Hot 100 for Captain and Tennille; original by Chater on his album Love on a Shoestring
Even a Fool Would Let Go - 1980 #61 country hit for Charlie Rich; many covers
