Longtime music publicist and blues advocate Mark Pucci has died at 79

His clients included Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, The Allman Brothers, Taj Mahal, Linear Skynyrd and Delbert McClinton.

Mark Pucci, a veteran music journalist and blues fan who worked for Capricorn Records and ran his own P.R. firms in a career that spanned more than 50 years, has died. He was 79 years old.

Mark Pucci Media, a spokesman for his company, announced that Pucci died after a brief illness and complications from a stroke.

During two tenures at Capricorn, where he served as director of advertising from 1974-1979 and then vp publicity and G.M. In Nashville from 1991 to 1995, Pucci handled P.R. campaigns for bands such as The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band, Gregg Allman, Dickie Bates, Lynyrd Skynyre, Elvin Bishop, Delbert McClinton, Wet Willie, Sea Level, Dixie Chidspree, Kenney, 3, and more.

Bernie Orenstein, writer and producer of That Girl, Sanford and Son, and What's Happening! He died at the age of 95.

Alan Mandel, actor and translator of Samuel Beckett's plays, died at the age of 98.

He also worked on Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, managing public relations and benefit concerts that helped raise funds and boost the candidate's national profile.

He opened Atlanta-based Mark Pucci Associates in 1979, then launched Mark Pucci Media in 1996 out of Atlanta. His clients in these companies include Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, John Mayall, Taj Mahal, Gordon Lightfoot, Derek Trucks, The Fabulous Dabulous Thu. Jamie Vaughn, Eric Johnson, Maria Muldor, Al Cooper, The Nighthawks and Savi Brown.

"I'm old," he said in a 2019 interview.

In 2008, he received the prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive Award from the Blues Foundation in Memphis in recognition of his professional achievements and contribution to the blues community.

A native of New Jersey, Pucci graduated from the University of Memphis in 1971, served as music editor of the monthly entertainment magazine River City Review, and wrote about Elvis Presley and the Memphis Blues Festival for Rolling Stone and other publications before joining Capricorn in 1974 in Macon, Georgia.

Survivors include his sister-in-law, Gertrude; her nieces, Diane and Tina; and his nephew Peter. He was predeceased by his wife Patricia and siblings Joseph, James, Dolores and Carol. Donations in his memory can be made to the Lifeline Animal Project.