the Chosen Few

South Euclid, 1964-7

The Chosen Few were from South Euclid and specialized in British Invasion material and played their first gig in 1964-65. At their beginning, the lineup was Greg Grandillo (then 15) – lead guitar and vocal, James Hoare (drums), James Grandillo (then 18) – (rhythm guitar and vocals), another James (15 or 16) on bass, and another guy on sax – another teenager whose name escapes me. Soon after forming, the “other” James on bass left the band, and a while later the sax player (name unremembered) –  also left the band. The new bass player was Marty Block, who played classical and jazz on the double bass but reluctantly allowed himself to be dragooned into this rock n’ roll band. Marty left after a year or two and was replaced by Gary Gunton, who was replaced by Jim Schneider and later by another unremembered bassist man from Shaker Heights.

This band played numerous dances, parties, prom dates, youth clubs, and settlement houses and some clubs around the Northeastern Ohio area – notably Ciro’s Lounge and others in the Noble Rd/South Euclid scene. Greg Grandillo left the band in 1967 to join the Originals, Cottonmouth, Fully Assembled, and then Rainbow Canyon.

The Chosen Few, unable to replace Greg’s voice, leadership style, and musical skill, soon disbanded.

At the time, the Chosen Few were passionate youngsters riding the wave of the British Invasion groups, playing the Beatles (of course!), the Stones, the Animals, the Zombies, and many others. Ultimately, they embraced the early psychedelic sounds of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Doors, the 13th Floor Elevators, the Blues Magoos, etc. Like many bands, they fell apart when life got in their way. However, after Rainbow, Greg Grandillo went on to play with Sam’s Sons for a decade.

Bobbie Magic, a local DJ on WIXY embraced the band and hosted a Chosen Few gig at a local amusement park. He asked that they play “Do You Believe in Magic” by the Lovin’ Spoonful – but asked that when they sang the song, they change the lyrics to “Do you believe in Bobbie Magic, etc.” Of course, the band agreed.

The date was May 28, 1966

The was another Chosen Few band from Muncie, Indiana that achieve modest notoriety during this same era. We thought about suing them for the name – but we lacked the resources to do so. We stayed in our lane...while they toured with and opened for some major groups (Three Dog Night, Herman’s Hermits, etc.) and produced an album for RCA.

The band did not make any recordings. No pictures of the band could be found at this time, but there are a few mentions of the band in the Plain Dealer

Story by James Grandillo