John Felice grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, as a neighbor and friend of Jonathan Richman, a fellow fan of the Velvet Underground. At 15 he joined Richman in the first line-up of the Modern Lovers in the early 1970s. He performed with the band intermittently from then until 1973. Commenting on Richman, Felice has said, "Me and Jonathan, as close as we were, you know, I was like a punk, I was a wise-ass kid. I liked to do a lot of drugs, I liked to drink, and Jonathan was like this wide-eyed, no-drugs, ate nothing but health food..."
After befriending Johnny Thunders and a failed audition for his favorite band The New York Dolls, Felice then decided to start his own band and formed The Real Kids (originally named the Kids) in 1972, with Rick Coraccio (bass), Steve Davidson (guitar), and Norman Bloom (drums) They became a successful live band in the Boston area, playing "an aggressive brand of straight-ahead, no-bulls rock which harkened back to Chuck Berry, had overtones of the British Invasion groups at their mod finest, yet pointed the way towards the Punk to come". In addition to Felice's own songs, they performed versions of classics by Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and others. The band did not record until 1977, when it comprised Felice, Billy Borgioli (guitar), Allen "Alpo" Paulino (bass), and Howie Ferguson (drums). Their first studio album,The Real Kids, was issued on the Red Star label in 1977; it was later reissued by Norton Records.Videos