Born in California and raised in the Boston area, John has had a rich
and varied career in the political and entertainment businesses.
While attending Brown University in the mid-70s, the aspiring actor was
cast in Universal's sequel to Der weiße Hai (1975),
Der weiße Hai 2 (1978). He relocated to Hollywood
and continued to work as an actor for the next 6 years. He had
substantial roles in the films,
Making Love (1982),
Delusion (1981) and
Das Idol (1982), and on television
in Familienbande (1982),
Unsere kleine Farm (1974),
Taxi (1978) and the
Jim Jones docudrama,
Guyana-Massaker - Tor zur Hölle (1980).
He finished his career in New York working on the Broadway and
off-Broadway stage.
After retiring from acting, he segued to a job in Washington, D.C. as a
legislative assistant to U.S. Sen.
John Kerry (D-MA) in the
Senator's first 2 years in office. In 1987, John's father
then-Gov. Michael Dukakis (D-MA),
announced his intention to run for President of the United States. John
left Washington and moved to Atlanta to run the Southern campaign for
the months prior to the Super Tuesday primaries. Later, as the National
Political Director, he campaigned all over the country on behalf of the
Dukakis-Bentsen ticket. With the 1988 campaign over, John began work
with an attorney in Boston named Bob Woolf,
who had built a significant international practice representing
professional athletes. John ran the music business management
department and spent most of his time on a developing local act:
New Kids on the Block. Within
several years, the company grew and he was sent to Los Angeles to open
an office there with an emphasis on working with other established and
developing acts. When he left the company in 1992, the company was also
working with Boyz II Men and
'Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch'.
John left Bob Woolf to become the general manager of "Paisley Park
Records", a joint venture between the artist
Prince and Warner Bros. Records. During
his tenure, the company released a "Prince" album as well as projects
from George Clinton and
Mavis Staples.
In 1994, he formed a new venture with his partner, Qadree El-Amin.
"Southpaw Entertainment" was a full-service management company. In its
early years, it primarily focused on the management of
Boyz II Men. But after the record-setting
success of the 12X platinum "II" album, the company took on new
clients. Over the years, Southpaw also handled the careers of
Janet Jackson,
Vanessa Williams,
Brownstone and Blackstreet.
In early 2002, John left "Southpaw" to take a position as an Executive
Vice President of "Overbrook Music", a music label as well as a full
service management company owned and operated by
Will Smith and his partner,
James Lassiter. The company released the
multi-platinum-certified soundtrack for the film
Wild Wild West (1999), as well as
the gold-certified soundtrack for the film _Love and Basketball (1900)
. In addition to Will, the company also manages
Christina Vidal (MCA Records,
Nickelodeon's Taina), Jordan Knight
(Interscope Records), Deb Cox (J
Records), singer/songwriter Javier (Capitol Records), singer/songwriter
Maria (DreamWorks Records) and
Samantha Mumba (Polydor/Interscope
Records.
John retired from the music business in 2008 and has been living and working in Boston since then.
