# John Poulos

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**John Poulos** (March 31, 1947 – March 26, 1980), also known by his nickname **Jon Jon**, was the original drummer for [The Buckinghams](/source/The_Buckinghams), and one of its founding members in 1965.[1]

## Early life

His mother Ann and father John Sr. are of [Greek](/source/Greeks) origin. He graduated from [Roosevelt High School](/source/Roosevelt_High_School_(Chicago,_Illinois)) in the [Albany Park](/source/Albany_Park,_Chicago) neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois in 1965. Lead guitar player [Carl Giammarese](/source/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](/source/Dennis_Tufano) who sang harmonies in an [a cappella](/source/A_cappella) group called The Darsals to come join his band, "The Pulsations".[6] Local Chicago-area deejay and booking agent for Willard Alexander, Carl Bonafede, attests to the fact that John personally recruited singers [Dennis Tufano](/source/Dennis_Tufano) and his close friend George Legros at [Gordon Technical High School](/source/DePaul_College_Prep).[7][8]

John Poulos approached [Carl Bonafede](/source/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".[9]

When USA Records released [The Buckinghams](/source/The_Buckinghams) from their contract, the band had a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with [Kind of a Drag](/source/Kind_of_a_Drag). The members voted to part ways with personal manager [Carl Bonafede](/source/Carl_Bonafede). John Poulos and Dennis Tufano flew out to Los Angeles to meet with [James William Guercio](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Carl_Giammarese) and [Dennis Tufano](/source/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. 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](/source/Ode_Records), where they signed with [Lou Adler](/source/Lou_Adler), becoming "Tufano and Giammarese" and spending 7 years of their career together.[4] John Poulos managed several other Illinois bands, most notably a band from the St. Charles area called The Boyzz (from Illinois).[12]

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.[13][14] [Carl Bonafede](/source/Carl_Bonafede) maintains there never would have been [The Buckinghams](/source/Buckinghams) band if not for the commitment of John Poulos.[15]

## References

1. ["EditPros LLC - Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? Volume 2"](http://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG_Vol_2.html). Editpros.com. August 31, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

1. ["Interview With The Buckinghams"](http://www.classicbands.com/BuckinghamsInterview.html). Classicbands.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

1. ["Jon Jon Poulos"](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5310389/bio). *IMDb*

1. The Buckinghams (March 26, 2010). ["The Buckinghams in Concert: In Memory of John Poulos, March 31, 1947 - March 26, 1980"](https://thebuckinghamsconcertblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/in-memory-of-john-poulos-march-31-1947.html). Thebuckinghamsconcertblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

1. Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? - Volume 2

1. ["Bill Dahl - My Hero: Dennis Tufano"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160310063836/http://billdahl.com/pages/dennis_tufano.html). *billdahl.com*. Archived from [the original](http://billdahl.com/pages/dennis_tufano.html) on March 10, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2017.

1. "Screaming Wildman: Carl Bonafede, Joel Bierig: 9781539420965: Amazon.com: Books". www.amazon.com. page 24 5Retrieved September 14, 2017

1. Kotal, Kent (June 17, 2011). ["Forgotten Hits: The Buckinghams (Part 3)"](https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2011/06/buckinghams-part-3.html). Forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

1. "Screaming Wildman: Carl Bonafede, Joel Bierig: 9781539420965: Amazon.com: Books". www.amazon.com. page 169 Retrieved September 10, 2017

1. ["Bill Dahl - My Hero: Dennis Tufano"](http://www.billdahl.com/pages/dennis_tufano.html). *www.billdahl.com*

1. ["All hail!"](https://www.mysundaynews.com/2011/02/24/all-hail/). My Sunday News. February 24, 2011. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

1. "Screaming Wildman: Carl Bonafede, Joel Bierig: 9781539420965: Amazon.com: Books". www.amazon.com. page 245 Retrieved September 10, 2017

1. Doc Rock. ["The 1980s"](http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1980.html). The Dead Rock Stars Club. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

1. ["» Died On This Date (March 26, 1980) John Poulos / The Buckinghams The Music's Over"](https://themusicsover.com/2010/03/26/john-poulos/). Themusicsover.com. March 26, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

1. ["The Buckinghams Biography - ARTISTdirect Music"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170915023727/http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/bio/buckinghams/409485). Archived from [the original](http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/bio/buckinghams/409485) on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2017.

### 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://billdahl.com/pages/dennis_tufano.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160310063836/http://billdahl.com/pages/dennis_tufano.html) March 10, 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- [http://www.thebuckinghams.com/home.html](http://www.thebuckinghams.com/home.html)
- [http://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG_Vol_2.html](http://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG_Vol_2.html)
- [http://www.45cat.com/45_search.php?sq=John+Poulos&sm=se](http://www.45cat.com/45_search.php?sq=John+Poulos&sm=se)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Poulos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Poulos) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Poulos?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.