Grandma's Boys

Barbershop Harmony Society's 1979 International Quartet Champion.

They first got their start in high school on Memorial Day of 1968. The quartet originally consisted of Jeff Calhoun on tenor, Jay Giallombardo on lead, Hank Brandt on baritone, and John Miller on bass. The quartet decided to call name themselves after the Four Rascal’s popular song, “Grandma’s Boy.” They group got coaching from Bob “Moose” Haeger in the early days and won the 1968 Illinois District Championship. Shortly after winning the district college got in the way and the quartet had to take a brief step back.

In 1969, they competed in their first preliminary contest but unfortunately failed to qualify for international. Around this time, Hank and Jay swapped parts and changed the sound of the quartet a bit. The quartet qualified for the 1970 international and placed 11th in Atlantic City, NJ. They placed 10th in 1971, and 14th in 1972. They didn’t compete in 1973 but repeated as 10th place finalists in 1974. Following that international, tenor, Jeff Calhoun, moved to Colorado.

In late 1974, Jim Sikorski from Milwaukee, WI joined the quartet as the new tenor. At this time, Mac Huff also became their primary coach. They released their first album in early 1975 entitled, “Tonight.” They jumped from 10th all the way to third place bronze medalists in 1975. Jim had to leave the quartet due to school commitments in early 1976 and Mac Huff suggested that Don Barnick join as their new tenor and he did.

With Don, the quartet dropped down to 6th in 1976 and 7th in 1977. In 1978, the quartet jumped all the way up to second place silver medalists. They released their second album entitled, “I Had A Dream Dear”, the same year. They finally won it all in Minneapolis, MN. A year later, following their swan set, John Miller left the quartet due to job changes and Randy Loos joined as bass.

With Randy, they released their third and final album entitled, “Grandma’s Boys III”, in 1983. Grandma’s Boys finally retired following the 1985 AIC Show. John Miller went on to win a second gold medal in 1985 with The New Tradition and Don Barnick won his second gold medal in 1992 as the bass of Keepsake. Don and Randy Loos went on to sing in a quartet together called the Sidekicks. Jay Giallombardo went on to direct the New Tradition Chorus and sing in several more successful quartets.

The championship version of Grandma’s Boys reunited several times over the years and performed their last show to date on the 2004 AIC Show to celebrate their 25th anniversary of winning the gold. Today, all seven members are still with us.