I know there are hundreds of groups from the ‘60s that were never discovered. Our story follows the one from the film That Thing You Do!
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Joe DiGrazia Recalls The King's English
My uncle was a big band singer and got me started on Louis Prima and The Brooklyn Dodgers! I began on piano, then trumpet and by the age of 13 discovered I could play drums.
At 14, I was the youngest member of The Sundowners. We were an instrumental group with tenor sax, two guitars and me, the drummer. We opened for many groups like The Duprees at many New Jersey and New York CYO dances.
I later started The Coachmen, a jazz-rock group. I also got into Doo Wop and formed a vocal group called Oo Papa Do & The Palisade Pissers! It's true!
My last high school group was The Bristols. This was at the beginning of the Beatles era. We did have a chance to (record a) demo for Capitol Records in New York, but we were all headed for college and that cooled our chances. We featured Linda Pandell, a 15-year old girl singer.
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The King's English formed at the University of Dayton in Sept of 1965. We were from New Jersey, New York and Michigan. We rehearsed for a month and opened in November '65. We quickly became the "Big Band On Campus" and in Dayton, Ohio.
We traveled every weekend to area schools and colleges within a 200-mile radius. We were recorded by Floyd Whitehead, an old record producer-engineer from Nashville. He put us on the Prism label ('It Could Be Bad' / 'Toys In Her Attic', Prism 1950, 1966). The year 1965-1966 was a whirlwind. We even crossed into Canada and performed on the then popular Robin Seymour Show (Swingin' Time) on Canadian TV, CKLW.
We toured and appeared throughout the Midwest appearing on local TV dance shows like Jerry Rasor's Dance Party. We appeared in Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati and Detroit. Back in New York during the summer, we were discovered by RCA and Fred Parker. We were offered a four-record deal in the "Beatle" suite of the Warwick Hotel. The first side one was going to be ‘Telling All Your Lies,’ a song written by Bob Miele, our rhythm guitarist from Long Island. We were ready for the big time until parents, contracts and the war got in the way.
We lost Bob to law school and our RCA deal. We added a great keyboard player and remained a group until 1968, when we merged with another University of Dayton group, and my Avco Embassy group The Changing Scene was formed.
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The King's English was Joey DiGrazia, drums; Glenn Dryden, lead guitar; Bobby Calzetta, bass; and Bob Miele, rhythm guitar. We were the Italian-American Beatles! I did most of the leads and Bob Miele wrote most of the songs. Later we recorded Glenn's tune ‘Karen’ for a Capitol Records producer.
In 1982, after not hearing from Bob since the ‘60s, he called me through Bobby Calzetta. He was living in Virginia and wanted me to be a part of a "vanity" album. He had been writing—and good songs too. Bob, his wife, Carol, brother-in-law Mike Hicks and close friend Gail, Bobby C. and myself recorded in Georgetown under the name of The Circle of Friends. Our lead tune was a tribute to John Lennon called 'A Song For John.’ It never made any noise, but was a beautiful tune.
In 1997, for my 50th birthday party, I reunited the original King’s English and we have performed every year since. We play for University of Dayton alumni functions, family weddings, block parties, etc. We play for food and the fun of it!
Glenn is a featured member in a Detroit Blues Brothers band for the past 15 years. He's great! Today, at 64, we are in New York, Maryland, Virginia and Michigan, but I still look for the gigs that we would have fun at and that we can physically do! Bob Miele put together a best of album with the two original Prism tunes, one from the Circle of Friends and two that we recorded in '97, the Beatles’ ‘All I Gotta Do’ and Chad & Jeremy's tune, ‘Summer Song.’
I feel blessed to have all the moments I've had and to have the friendship and music of my fellow King's English band mates!
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