It was a chilly day in London, 1974. Beeb Birtles, Glenn Shorrock and Graeham Goble brought their voices together for the first time, and almost instantly, they knew it was magic. Each had made a major impact on Australian music in his own right, but now, together, there was something more. They agreed to meet again when each returned to Australia the following year.
As founding members of Little River Band, Birtles, Shorrock and Goble paved the way for international success and recognition of Australian music. From 1977 to 1983, they scored such hits as "Help Is On Its Way", "Happy Anniversary", "Reminiscing", "Lady", "Cool Change", and "Take it Easy on Me", among others. Their international success was unprecedented at the time and remains a gold standard for Australian musicians today.
Over time, each left Little River Band to pursue other personal and professional goals. Now, they are together again reclaiming their heritage and drawing renewed energy from longtime fans and new fans alike.
THEY HAVE COME FULL CIRCLE
Beeb Birtles
Beeb Birtles was born Gerard Bertelkamp on November 28, 1948, in The Netherlands. Searching for a better life for his family, his father moved the family to Adelaide, South Australia, when Beeb was a young boy. Speaking no English, the first few years in Australia were difficult, to say the least, for the young lad who loved to sing harmonies with his mother. As a teenager, Beeb and his schoolmates formed a band known as Times Unlimited, which eventually turned professional and took the Australian teen music scene by storm as The Zoot. They scored several hits, including a rocking version of "Eleanor Rigby", which earned them a gold record. Following the breakup of Zoot in 1971, Beeb teamed up with former Zoot lead singer Darryl Cotton, and formed the musical duo, Frieze. The two released a moderately successful album in 1972, but parted within a year to pursue other interests. Shortly thereafter, Beeb received an invitation from Graeham Goble to join Mississippi, where he wrote and sang lead on "Will I". The nucleus of Mississippi went on to form Little River Band, where Beeb's songwriting and vocal talents were taken to new heights, with tracks such as "Happy Anniversary", "Every Day of My Life", and the often requested "I'll Always Call Your Name". Beeb left LRB in 1983 to pursue his love of songwriting and collaboration with a variety of artists, and to spend quality time with his young family. He founded his own music publishing company, Songskill, in 1985, which boasts a catalog of more than 200 songs. In 1992, Beeb moved his family to America, and he resides near Nashville, Tennessee, today. In 2000, he released his first solo project, "Driven By Dreams", on the Sonic Sorbet record label, which he co-owns with renowned session musician and producer, Bill Cuomo.
Visit Beeb's website at www.birtles.com.
Glenn Shorrock
With a career spanning more than 35 years, Glenn Shorrock is one of the elder statesmen of Australian contemporary show business. Born in Kent, England, Glenn migrated with his family at the age of 10 to Adelaide in the mid-1950s. A self-confessed child of rock 'n' roll, he began singing in 1962 with a vocal group called the Twilights. By 1965, the Twilights became a six piece "beat group" based in Melbourne scoring hits with "Needle in a Haystack", "What's Wrong With The Way I Live?", "Cathy Come Home" and "Young Girl", before disbanding in 1969. Axiom with Brian Cadd followed shortly thereafter, with hits including "Arkansas Grass" and "Little Ray of Sunshine". Axiom disbanded soon after moving to London in 1970. Glenn chose to remain in London as a session singer and songwriter working with other ex-pats and Europeans in a twelve-piece rock orchestra named Esperanto. At the conclusion of 1974, Glenn returned to Melbourne to help form Little River Band as lead singer. Little River Band cracked the United States market in 1976, and began a string of eight Top Ten Hits in the U.S.A. and around the world. The band has sold in excess of 25 million albums, often being credited for opening the door for many Australian acts on the international circuit. In 1995, Glenn fronted Little River Band during their 20th year anniversary. His songwriting credits include the international hits "Help is on its Way", "Emma", "Home on Monday" (co-writer Beeb Birtles), and "Cool Change". Glenn's latest CD "Spin Me 'Round" was released in 2000, and was co-produced with Brian Cadd. Glenn's credentials extend to all fields of show business, notably in theatre and cabaret. He starred in Evita and The Rocky Horror Show, in addition to his own productions: One for the Money, Go Cat Go and Two Up. A career highlight was producing and performing alongside Sir George Martin in the highly acclaimed production All You Need Is Beatles (1998). He performed the role of Johnny Casino in the smash hit Grease: The Arena Spectacular!, which played to full houses across Australia and in Auckland; and co-starred in British Rock Symphony with Eric Burdon and Thelma Houston, performing the hits of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones and The Who. In 2001 he joined the cast in the inaugural production of Australian Night At The Proms at the Sydney SuperDome.
Visit Glenn's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/glennshorrockfan.
Graeham Goble
Graeham Goble, one of Australia's most successful international songwriters, has been seriously writing songs since he was 16. At the age of 11 he learned to play piano and drums and began turning out simple ditties, sometimes one a day. As leader of Adelaide groups The Silence, Travis Wellington Hedge and Alison Gros, Graeham refined his craft and by the time he had set off to England with the soft-rock outfit Mississippi (who gave him his first taste of Australian chart success in 1972 with the top five hit "Kings Of The World"), he was an accomplished songsmith and musician. By 1976 he was in the American Top 30 with his "It's A Long Way There", the first International hit for Little River Band. Two years later he was on the Billboard Chart at Number Three with the delicate, haunting and memorable, "Reminiscing". As a founding member of Little River Band, Graeham participated in an extraordinary surge of success which resulted in more than 20 million record sales, 13 American Top 40 hits. At the heart of Little River Band's lush, layered, evocative and engaging sound was the vocal textures he conceived and the powerful, enduring songs he wrote. He penned eight U.S. Top 40 hits and earned two rare "Million-Air" awards from BMI for one million American broadcasts each of "Reminiscing" and "Lady". In the ensuing years, "Reminiscing" has become such a standard on American airwaves that it has been recognized by a "Four Million-Air" award, an absolute first for an Australian-based writer. "Lady" has passed Two Million Airplays, and "The Other Guy" and "Take It Easy On Me" have been added to his Million-Air tally, giving Graeham the distinction of being the only Australian writer to be awarded four "Million-Air" awards from BMI. Graeham Goble left the ranks of Little River Band in 1990 to pursue musical projects close to his heart. Considerable inspiration is evident in the songs that Graeham is now writing, songs which will once again present him as a leading song craftsman. The new songs are very much an endeavour under his own control. All the new recordings feature the talents of Melbourne's finest Jazz, Rock and World Session Musicians. He built a recording studio and learnt the technical side of sequencing and recording so that he could make the sort of recordings he wanted to make."I always feel that my career is just beginning" he said. "There's so much that I want to do now and this is another beginning for me".
Visit Graeham's website at www.graehamgoble.com, and his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/graehamgoblemyspace.
Graeham's bio is now on WIKIPEDIA
Click on the icon below to be directed to Graeham's Wiki-bio
The Original Members Of Little River Band have sold 30,000,000 records world wide.
