Carl Bonafede
October 16, 1940 — March 30, 2026
He was not on the list.
Carl Bonafede, 85, of Lincoln Park, Illinois, died on March
30, 2026, after a brief illness. Born Carl Buonafede to parents Calecero
Calcedonio and Antonia Lena Buonafede in Chicago’s Little Sicily, the city
remained his lifetime home. The Buonafedes had immigrated with their parents
from Sicily, so Carl was the first U.S. citizen born to them, as well as their
only child.
Born an entertainer with a penchant for music, his first
public performance was as a singer and accordion player, at age 10, on the old
Morris B. Sachs Amateur Hour on Channel 7. That event foreshadowed a lifetime
career in front of audiences, both entertaining and presenting some of the very
best musical entertainment Chicago offered. His audience seemingly never went
home for the next 70 years, as he remained vital in the world of rock and roll
music, and remained a visible face in contemporary performances as well as a
friendly, if not immediately recognizable, voice on Chicago radio stations.
Carl earned the nickname, “The Screaming Wildman” from his
trademark rapid-fire delivery and the ability to squeeze three minutes of
information into a 30-second spot on Chicago’s radio air waves. Bonafede bought
bundles of overnight airtime, sold his own sponsorships, and recorded his own
commercials with his trademark staccato syllables that rang out and were
memorable, if nothing else.
As a teenager, he began hosting dances at area high schools
and served as promoter for the events, driving around in a big sedan, handing
out flyers to kids after school, and using a rather oversized PA system on top
of his roof to announce the dances coming up that weekend. Then when event
night came, he was the DJ for the evening, and he might even sing a novelty
song if you asked. Bonafede frequently loved to remind us that he was doing
that drive-by-and-promote number before The Blues Brothers’ movie and thought
he just might have been one inspiration behind that scene.
A singer himself, Carl found that he liked to record novelty
songs and released four singles that found a home in some teenagers’
collections, including “Baby Sittin Blues" (Impala), “Story That’s True”
and “Were Wolf” (with the Gem Tones, TEK Records), and “The Good Old Days” (USA
Records, billed as The Screaming Wildman).
Eventually he turned to signing acts and then booking them
for recording at Chess Studios or stage time. Then he’d take the vinyl
pressings and the bands to local radio stations and try to get them to hear his
latest “greatest hit ever.” Music promoters respected his spirit, and he was
key behind the early careers of Ral Donner; Mickey, Larry, & The Exciters,”
“Thee Prophets” and he began affiliating with the CASK agency. He also had his
own Chi-Town Records label. Eventually some bands would move on to the Willard
Alexander Agency and ultimately, the William Morris Agency, having first
garnered attention thanks to Carl.
The groups of teenagers who gathered in the ballrooms such
as The Vogue Ballroom, The Holiday Ballroom, and others began to enjoy personal
appearances by area teenagers in new bands, fresh out of their parents’
basements. Bonafede was constantly surveying teen market interests and saw
there was a potential future in managing and producing local bands with “some”
talent to help take them to the next level of popularity in the Midwest.
Two bands who have Carl Bonafede to thank for their careers
and whose music is still played on radio stations—terrestrial and satellite
alike—include The Buckinghams and The Daughters of Eve.
Highlights of his career include being co-producer on “Kind
of a Drag,” written by James Holvay and recorded by The Buckinghams in
Chicago’s famed Chess Studios. It hit #1 on the charts and stayed on top for
two weeks in February, 1967. This was the precursor to the band’s ultimately
being named “The Most Listened to Band in America” by Billboard magazine. The
song “Hey Lover” recorded by The Daughters of Eve is still popular today, and
charts close to 1,000 streams per week on Pandora.
Both bands’ successes are testimonies to Bonafede’s
relentless promotion, unique marketing skills, and effervescent delivery of his
rationale on why they are truly “The best musicians in America!” He loved
colorful adjectives and many of his early poster advertisements had as many
colors in them as Crayola put in their “big box.”
Another highlight was when Paul Shaffer happened to say
Bonafede’s name on The David Letterman Show, the same night that Chicago Bears’
favorite, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, was on. As a young man growing up
in Canada, Shaffer had heard Bonafede’s late night commercials as those 50,000
Watts of Screaming Wildman reverberated through the air. Being remembered was
not some small thing to Carl; it was everything.
Friends of Carl Bonafede thought of him often, even in the
last 20 years when he was no longer producing musical events. The Buckinghams
invited him to introduce them on stage several times over the years at concerts
and festivals and he would be instantly recognizable by his unique attire,
which was always a fashion statement of the highest order.
Record DJ, booking agent, band manager, record producer,
music distributor, and vocalist–of all the acts that Bonafede has managed, it’s
a testament to his eye for “something special” and his ear for what makes a
hit, that members from every band he managed or produced are still today making
their living as musicians. Carl knew how to spot talent and nurture it to
success.
Astrophysicists tell us that radio broadcasts launched 60
years ago are still somewhere out in space. Never mind that planets 60 light
years away may not have any kind of radios to convert the waves into signals to
sing along (as far as we know). This means that somewhere in space—The
Screaming Wild Man is still on the air. You just have to have the right kind of
receiver to hear him.
Carl Bonafede was a hard-working, self-made man who loved
his friends as family and remained true to them throughout his life. He is as
identifiable with the best of Chicago radio as all the other beloved air
personalities. Bonafede lived frugally but was generous with both his time and
love for others. Carl never stopped working, whether he was selling watches on
weekends or umbrella hats outside Wrigley Field, and he meticulously made out
his checks on his manual typewriter to pay his bills.
In his final days, Carl was blessed to have the time,
attention, and devoted care of three people, especially: Hank Zemola, Robert
Zemola, and Susan Rakis. The three of them made sure he made it to doctor’s
appointments, to and from care facilities when PT was needed, delivered
groceries and medicines, and checked in on him regularly. These gifts afforded
him the dignity of being able to live in the same home he was raised all of his
life. Carl’s faith in God never waivered and he had a genuinely sweet spirit
about him that he worked hard to cover, but it still shone through to those who
knew him. Of his life one can truly say, “Well done, thou good and faithful
servant.” Amen and amen.
~~Dawn Lee Wakefield
Visitation for Carl will take place on Tuesday, April 7,
2026 from 10:00 am until time of funeral service at 12:00 noon at Cumberland
Chapels 8300 W. Lawrence Ave. Norridge, Illinois. Fr. Richard M. Yanos
Officiating. Interment will follow at
St. Joseph Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois.
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