John Curulewski

John Curulewski
Background information
Birth name	John Curulewski
Born	October 3, 1950(1950-10-03) Chicago, Illinois, USA
Origin	Chicago, Illinois
Died	February 13, 1988(1988-02-13) (aged 37)
Genres	Rock, Progressive Rock, Hard Rock
Occupations	guitarist
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals, Autoharp, Keyboards
Years active	1968–1975
Labels	Wooden Nickel, A&M
Associated acts	Styx, Spread Eagle, Solo,

John Curulewski

John Curulewski (October 3, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois – February 13, 1988), nicknamed "JC," was one of the original members of Styx. He joined Dennis DeYoung, Chuck and John Panozzo, and James Young to form TW4 in 1968, which was renamed to Styx in 1970. He played acoustic and electric guitar on the band's first five studio albums: Styx, Styx II, The Serpent Is Rising, Man of Miracles, and Equinox. He left just before the Equinox promotional tour and was replaced by Tommy Shaw.

Curulewski left Styx because he wanted to spend more time with his family, and have more creative control in his future endeavors. He went on to teach guitar at the Music Stop in La Grange, Illinois, and run a recording studio aptly called "The Studio".

He played guitar in a band called Spread Eagle. Curulewski also coached his son Jamie's baseball team, and would go into his son's Grammar School as a lunch supervisor; he would bring in his guitar and play it to the kids, much to their amazement. Curulewski taught some of Chicago's best young guitar players including Tony Markech, Joey Mazzuca, Dave Stulgo, Russell Leach, Hector Fernandez and many more. Many of JC's students went on to form a core group of heavy metal guitarists in Chicago. Curulewski became very active in the mentoring of young bands in the western suburbs of Chicago; not only teaching guitar but coaching on performance and supplying support for live appearances and recording.

Curulewski died on February 13, 1988 from a brain aneurysm. He is survived by his wife Janice and their son, Jamie.