Carl Bonafede, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Carl Bonafede

American musician and manager

Date of Birth: 16-Oct-1940

Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Profession: composer, record producer, talent manager

Zodiac Sign: Libra


Show Famous Birthdays Today, World

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About 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's Curbstone Cut-up.
  • He sang his hit record "Were Wolf" on disc-jockey Jim Lounsbury's TV show in Chicago.
  • He went on to promote local bands with his weekly dances at local ballrooms including the Aragon Ballroom (Chicago)| Aragon Ballroom, Madura's Danceland and The Holiday Ballroom with owner and collaborator Dan Belloc of big band fame (Billy May Orchestra).
  • He recorded and produced over 200 records with various recording artists.
  • He fronted a local group, The Gem-tones, whose saxophone player, Harry Manfredini, became a movie musical score arranger for the "Friday the 13th" movies.
  • He then turned to managing and promoting local teen bands (garage-bands in the early 60s).
  • His most famous clients were The Buckinghams and the all-girl group The Daughters of Eve.
  • He also managed Thee Prophets, from Wisconsin and Mickey & Larry and the Exciters from Boston.
  • He managed The Delights in Chicago.
  • He worked for the Willard Alexander Booking Agency with agent Herb Gronauer, who now promotes celebrities in Palm Springs, California.
  • He also worked for the CASK Attractions agency. As a young band manager Bonafede promoted many young teens in a new phenomenon – the garage band.
  • One of these groups included The Fabulous Centuries.The Centuries consisted of Nick Fortuna, Curtis Bachman, Carl Giammarese and Jerry Elarde.
  • Carl Bonafede first crossed paths with Phil Orsi in 1964 when Phil was fronting Phil Orsi and the Little Kings at the Vogue Ballroom in Chicago.
  • Another group with great vocal harmonies was known as The Pulsations.
  • John Poulos, Dennis Miccolis,George LeGros and Dennis Tufano were members of The Pulsations.
  • These two groups merged to form The Buckinghams.
  • One day, Sheldon Cooper, an executive at WGN-TV, witnessed a promotion of Carl's outside Lane Tech High School across the street from WGN-TV's studios.
  • Carl's discussion with Cooper led to The Pulsations entering and winning a competition to appear for 13 weeks on The All-Time Hits, Chicago's first locally produced TV program broadcast in color, featuring a variety of musical guests.
  • By the end of the 13-week run, the Pulsations/Fabulous Centuries became The Buckinghams.
  • He was on hand at the Chess Records studios in Chicago, Illinois to record "Kind of a Drag" with the Buckinghams co-producer Dan Belloc and arranger Frank Tesinsky.
  • Jim Holvay of the local Chicago group The Mob was the composer of "Kind of a Drag".

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also