[4] Bucchino did not seek out a career as songwriter for musicals; he "wanted to be a singer/songwriter/piano player ala Billy Joel or Elton John or Joni Mitchell".
For years, those amateur Bucchino tapes have been legendary among insiders in the music business, as singers and song-writers passed them around to each other with words of glowing praise.
In addition to the performers on the above recordings, the following have performed and/or recorded at least one John Bucchino song: Michael Callen, The Flirtations, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Boston Gay Men's Chorus, the Turtle Creek Chorale, the Boston Pops, and a long list of others.
[37] He wrote the songs (music and lyrics) for the DreamWorks picture, Joseph: King of Dreams (2000), produced and orchestrated by Daniel Pelfrey.
Bucchino wrote the lyrics for the children's musical adaptation of Simeon's Gift, a book by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton.
[39] In January 2016, Bucchino's It’s Only Life premiered in Paris, France, performed in concert version by American Musical Theatre Live in the presence of the composer.