John Poulos

John Poulos (March 31, 1947—March 26, 1980) was the original drummer for The Buckinghams. He was a founding member of the Chicago area band in 1965.^[1] His mother Ann and his father John Sr. were very proud of their youngest child in a family of solid Greek heritage. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois in 1965. Lead guitar player Carl Giammarese lived only a few blocks away from John Poulos in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago.^[2][3] His nickname since his late teens was "Jon Jon".^[4] John Poulos was the leader of a high school band in Chicago called "The Pulsations".^[5]

Career

He approached singers George LeGros and Dennis Tufano who sang harmonies in an acapella group called The Darsals to come join his band,"The Pulsations".^[6] Local Chicago-area deejay and booking agent @ Willard - Alexander agency Carl Bonafede attests to the fact that Jon Jon personally recruited singers Dennis Tufano and his close friend George Legros at Gordon Tech high school to the band^[7][8]

Jon Jon Poulos approached Carl Bonafede head deejay who spun records for Dan Belloc's dances at the Holiday ballroom about becoming the manager of John's high school band "The Pulsations".^[9]

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. The members voted to part ways with personal manager Carl Bonafede. Jon Jon Poulos and Dennis Tufano flew out to Los Angeles to meet with James William Guercio to seek management and a new record deal. The meeting with Guercio led to The Buckinghams signing a new record contract with Columbia Records.^[10] 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 Carl Giammarese and Dennis Tufano when they formed a duo called "Tufano & Giammarese".^[11] "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. We put together a demo CD, with the help of Peter Shelton and his wife, and John determined to manage us and find us a recording deal. Reaching for the stars, he reached a zenith: John brought us to Ode Records, where we signed with Lou Adler, became "Tufano and Giammarese" and spent 7 years of our career together."^[4]

John Poulos managed several other Illinois bands, most notably a band from the Fox River Grove area called Boyzz from Illinois. He died of heart failure in his Chicago home just short of his 33rd birthday in 1980.^[12][13][14] Carl Bonafede maintains there never would have been a Buckinghams band^[15] if not for the commitment of Jon Jon Poulos.

His love of music and dedication to the band was unique. He often shared discussion of the business side of music with "the Screaming Wildman".^[16] John had one child, a daughter, Polly who was born in September 1970.

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