John Poulos (March 31, 1947 – March 26, 1980), also known by his nickname Jon Jon, was the original drummer for

The Buckinghams The Buckinghams are an American 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 in 1980 ...

, and one of its founding members in 1965.

Early life

His mother Ann and father John Sr. are of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

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 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 in 1980 a ...

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 who sang harmonies in an

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

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 Dennis Tufano and his close friend George Legros at Gordon Technical High School. John Poulos approached Carl Bonafede 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

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 Carl Bonafede. 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 best known for his work as the producer of Chicago's first eleven studio albums. He also produced the early recordings of The Buckin ...

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 reco ...

. 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 Dennis Tufano 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 Ode Records (also known as Ode Sounds and Visuals) was an American record label, started by Lou Adler in 1967 after he sold Dunhill Records to ABC Records. It was distributed by CBS's Epic Records except between 1970 and 1976, when the label w ...

, where they signed with

Lou Adler Lester Louis Adler (born December 13, 1933) is an American record and film producer and the co-owner of the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. Adler has produced and developed a number of high-profile musical artists, including The G ...

, 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 St. Charles area called The 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. Carl Bonafede maintains there never would have been

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 Musicians from Chicago American people of Greek descent