The Buckinghams

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Fotos by Folletts

Two people on stage.

Carl Giammarese (left) and Nick Fortuna of The Buckinghams.

Bursting on the pop charts out of Chicagoland like a rocket in the mid-1960s, The Buckinghams had a run of huge hits — “Kind of a Drag,” “Don't You Care,” “Hey Baby,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and “Susan” — all in about a year's time. While the group's original run was brief, the horn-driven sound they hit with proved hugely influential and paved the way for a myriad of horn rock groups (and massive successes like Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago). And though they broke up, most of the band remained active in the music industry; original guitarist Carl Giammarese and bassist Nick Fortuna have been keeping The Buckinghams flame alive since the early 1980s.