In 1965, John went to a
Wilson Pickett concert and was inspired to become a professional musician—not so much by Pickett's performance, but by that of the opening act, The Rogues (aka The Five Rogues). At his school, he formed his first R&B group, The Trikq, which served as the rhythm section for another band,
George Olliver & The Soul Children. He became good enough that, in 1970, he was scouted, and asked to audition, for a band called
Mandala—which was the new name of, incredibly, The Rogues. Mandala was about to break up, but some of its members formed a new band,
Bush, which consisted of guitarist
Domenic Troiano, singer
Roy Kenner, keyboardist Hugh Sullivan, John, and the Finnish-Canadian drummer
Pentti Glan (aka 'Whitey'). It was Glan who would have the most influence on John, who said "He was a tremendous drummer and had tremendous sense of groove and an unusual grasp of funk for that time, the New Orleans funk. Because I liked his style of playing and I shaped mine to suit that, it was like magic when we played." Bush moved to Los Angeles, recorded the album Bush,[3][4][5] toured with
Steppenwolf, and played with, among others,
John Mayall and
Three Dog Night.[6][7] Bush then broke up—Troiano and Kenner left to join
James Gang and Glan went to work on the solo album of Steppenwolf frontman
John Kay.[8]
Also at that time, John was asked to play on the recording of
Van Morrison's album Moondance.[10] He was invited, by
Bobby Whitlock, to join
Derek & the Dominos, and he was asked, by
Rick Derringer and
Edgar Winter, to join
White Trash, with Winter asking three times. He declined these offers (to his regret). Instead, he spent some time as a counselor at a camp for handicapped children, where his mother was a teacher.[11]
When he was with George Olliver & The Soul Children, the band was in
London, Ontario, where John's playing caught the attention of
George Clinton, who was there with his band
Parliament. Parliament's bass player couldn't get over the border and Clinton asked John to step in. At the end of the summer of 1971, Clinton brought him to Detroit, where they recorded America Eats Its Young, by Clinton's band
Funkadelic. Clinton would have John back in 1974, to record the Parliament album Chocolate City.[12]
Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, 1972-1983
In 1973, Glan called and asked if he'd like a ten-day job recording an album with
Lou Reed. They recorded the album Sally Can't Dance, and spent the next four years touring and recording with Reed. Through Reed, John met the men who would become two of his other musical heroes,
Steve Hunter and
Dick Wagner, whom he credits for the quality of Reed's live albums, Rock 'n' Roll Animal and Lou Reed Live—he would play on both of their 1978 albums.[13][14][15]
In 1975, Glan and John were asked to work (along with Hunter and Wagner) on an album that
Alice Cooper was recording in Toronto. That album became Cooper's legendary Welcome to My Nightmare. They went on tour in support of it, and Glan and John would spend the next six years with Cooper, touring and recording his albums Lace and Whiskey and DaDa.
The Lincolns, 1979-present
In 1979, John founded his second R&B band,
The Lincolns, which plays versions of R&B classics and some original tunes, mainly in clubs across Canada. In 1981, they released the album Take One; they released their second album, Funky Funky Funky in 1996. In the 1980s, the band opened for
Robert Palmer, and was chosen to play at
Wayne Gretzky's 1988 wedding.[16] At a 2002 Toronto concert,
Prince joined them on stage.[17] In 2016, they toured Europe with a
Tina Turner tribute show.[18] As of 2021, John's son Jordan leads the band, which is considered one of North America's premiere R&B bands.[19][20]
In 1998, John appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 (and played on the soundtrack). In 2016, he was one of the stars of Sunnyvale Shoals, a 19-episode TV series about the roots of Soul and R&B.[21] Also in 2016, he appeared on the 5 September
Trailer Park Boys podcast Park After Dark.[22]
Personal life
John lives with his wife in the Toronto suburb of
Mississauga; they have two sons.
In 2019, he was given a stone on the Mississauga Music Walk of Fame.[23]