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A Group Called Eve

Band,
Rock and Pop

This was a studio only group assembled by Euclid Ohio native Phil Okulovich. Phil had been in The Caverns, the group Jim Bonfanti drummed for before joining The Mods/Choir. Phil wrote The Choir’s follow up to their hit "It’s Cold Outside", a song called "No One Here To Play With". He continued to work behind the scenes with Choir manager Ray Taylor. By 1968 he had gone out on his own, establishing a production company known as The Abbey Group. Bands were recruited and recordings were made both in Cleveland and Columbus. In early 1969 Phil landed a major distribution deal with Chess Records. Chess took out a large ad in Billboard to launch the new label and trumpet the first release, a single by A Group Called Eve. Unfortunately, before the ink was dry, Chess was suddenly sold to GRT and the entire project was scrapped. It’s a shame the single wasn’t promoted as it’s a fine example of Cleveland’s Anglo-pop sound pioneered by The Choir and continued into the 70s by the Raspberries and others. Not surprising since the band was a local "supergroup" of sorts. Behind Okulovich was the Choir’s Kenny Margolis on keyboards, John Aleksic, who came from The Denmarks and was soon to be the first Raspberries bass player, Joey Hudson on guitar, and Chuck Rapinz, formerly of The Mystics on drums. The songs were written by Okulovich under his pen name, Jason Richards. "Within A World Of You" owes to the jangle & harmony sound of The Choir, while the flip, "Smile", brings Margolis’ piano to the fore in a Left Banke style. A few extra tracks from the sessions (all of which were recorded at Landen Magnetic Sound) remain unreleased.

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