John Poulos (March 31, 1947 – March 26, 1980), also known by his nickname Jon Jon, was the original drummer for The Buckinghams, and one of its founding members in 1965.

Early life

His mother Ann and father John Sr. are of Greek origin. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois in 1965. Lead guitar player

Carl Giammarese The Buckinghams are an American sunshine pop band from Chicago. They formed in 1966 and went on to become one of the top-selling acts of 1967, charting their only five top 40 hits in the U.S. that year. The band dissolved in 1970, but re-formed ...

lived only a few blocks away from John Poulos in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. His nickname since his late teens was "Jon Jon". John Poulos was the leader of a high school band in Chicago called "The Pulsations".

Career

He approached singers George LeGros and

Dennis Tufano Dennis Stanley Joseph Tufano (born September 11, 1946) is the original lead singer of the 1960s rock group The Buckinghams, and has been a solo performer since the early 1980s. Biography Dennis Tufano was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended ...

who sang harmonies in an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group called The Darsals to come join his band, "The Pulsations". Local Chicago-area deejay and booking agent for Willard Alexander, Carl Bonafede, attests to the fact that John personally recruited singers

and his close friend George Legros at Gordon Technical High School. John Poulos approached

Carl Bonafede Carl Bonafede was born in the Little Italy Chicago community on October 16, 1940. He appeared as a young boy on local television on ''Morris B. Sach's Amateur Hour'' singing and playing the accordion. He appeared on an interview show, Ernie Simon ...

who spun records for Dan Belloc's dances at the Holiday ballroom about becoming the manager of John's high school band "The Pulsations". When USA Records released The Buckinghams from their contract, the band had a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with

Kind of a Drag "Kind of a Drag" is a song written by Jim Holvay and recorded by the Buckinghams. It was the title track of their debut LP. The single reached #1 on the U.S. Hot 100 in February 1967, becoming the first #1 single within the new calendar year, re ...

. The members voted to part ways with personal manager

. John Poulos and Dennis Tufano flew out to Los Angeles to meet with

James William Guercio James William Guercio (born July 18, 1945) is an American music producer, musician, songwriter, and director. He is well known for his work as the producer of Chicago's early albums as well as early recordings of The Buckinghams and Blood, Sweat ...

to seek management and a new record deal. The meeting with Guercio led to The Buckinghams signing a new record contract with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. John went into the music management side of the music business after The Buckinghams agreed to part ways in 1970. John managed his fellow ex-Buckinghams

and

when they formed a duo called "Tufano & Giammarese". When The Buckinghams broke up in 1970 and Nick departed for a career in R&B and Marty wanted to go a different direction, Dennis Tufano and Carl decided to form a duo, Dennis and Carl. They put together a demo tape, with the help of Peter Shelton and his wife, and John determined to manage them and find them a recording deal. John brought them to Ode Records, where they signed with Lou Adler, becoming "Tufano and Giammarese" and spending 7 years of their career together. John Poulos managed several other Illinois bands, most notably a band from the Fox River Grove area called Boyzz from Illinois. John had one child, a daughter named Polly born in September 1970. He died of heart failure in his Chicago home just short of his 33rd birthday in 1980.

maintains there never would have been The Buckinghams band if not for the commitment of John Poulos.

References

Sources

*"Screaming Wildman: Carl Bonafede, Joel Bierig: 9781539420965: Amazon.com: Books". www.amazon.com. page(s) 169,222,227,238 Retrieved 2017-09-10 *http://billdahl.com/pages/dennis_tufano.html *http://www.thebuckinghams.com/home.html *http://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG_Vol_2.html *http://www.45cat.com/45_search.php?sq=John+Poulos&sm=se {{DEFAULTSORT:Poulos, John 1947 births 1980 deaths People from Chicago Musicians from Chicago American people of Greek descent