Beeb Birtles

Beeb Birtles (born Gerard Bertelkamp, 28 November 1948) is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist.

Beeb Birtles was born on 28 November 1948 as Gerard Bertelkamp in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Gerard Bertelkamp, Sr (30 May 1923 – 4 May 2000), a carpenter and building contractor, and Elisabeth Hendrika (née Deubel; 8 January 1924 – 2 December 2015 ).

He has a younger sister, Elisabeth H (born 17 September 1952).

Birtles later recalled seeing his parents singing in an amateur operetta in Amsterdam, saying that "I was very young and I went with my grandparents. They took me to the theatre to see my parents, and, er, I was so young that I actually called out my mother's name from the audience!"

The Bertelkamp family emigrated to Australia in September 1959 aboard MS Willem Ruys.

The family settled in Adelaide where Birtles attended Netley Primary School – he was held back a year due to his language problems.

He discovered a passion for music while attending Plympton High School.

His mother taught him to sing: "after dinner at night, we would sing together. And she would take the melody and I would take the harmony."

While at high school he was nicknamed "B. B. Eyes", after a Dick Tracy character from the associated TV cartoon show, it soon became "BB" and later "Beeb".

In 1966 after high school Beeb Birtles, initially on lead guitar and harmony vocals, formed his first group, Times Unlimited, with his school mate John D'Arcy on guitars and vocals; they were joined by Ted Higgins on drums and a bass guitarist.

D'Arcy was from Manchester and introduced Birtles to the music of the Hollies.

When the bass guitarist left, Birtles took over that instrument and soon they asked Darryl Cotton to join on lead vocals.

Times Unlimited changed their name to Down the Line in homage to the Hollies' cover version of Roy Orbison's "Go Go Go (Down the Line)".

During 1966, Down the Line played regular gigs in their home town, Adelaide, including a Friday night residency at Scot's Church, performing covers of English Mod groups: the Hollies, the Move, the Who and the Small Faces.

He has been a member of various Australian groups including Zoot (1967–71), Mississippi (1972–74), Little River Band (1975–83) and Birtles Shorrock Goble (2002–07).

By May 1967 they backed English-born singer Johnny Farnham and as session musicians they were used on demos, which secured Farnham's contract with EMI Records.

One of the demos, "In My Room", became the B-side of Farnham's debut single, "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" (November 1967).

By June 1967 the group had changed their name to Zoot.

They moved to Melbourne by mid-1968, where they recorded their debut single, "You'd Better Get Goin' Now".

At this time Birtles adopted his professional name: Cotton had shortened his nickname to "Beeb", and Birtles anglicised the first two syllables of Bertelkamp.

Birtles and Cotton co-wrote "Little Roland Lost", which was issued as the B-side of Zoot's June 1969 single, "Monty & Me".

As a member of Zoot, Birtles appeared on all their recorded material including both of their studio albums, Just Zoot (1970) and Zoot Out (1971), but they broke up in May 1971.

After Zoot, Birtles and Cotton performed together as an eponymous pop, soft rock duo, Daryl and Beeb, which were renamed as Frieze for their sponsors – a clothing company.

A teenage-themed newspaper, Go-Set, published its annual reader pop poll in July where Birtles appeared second as Best Bass Guitarist behind the Masters Apprentices member Glenn Wheatley.

The duo issued an album, 1972 B. C., in May 1972, which was produced by Brian Cadd, but they disbanded in the next month.

In July 1972, Birtles was asked to join a folk rock band, Mississippi, which like Zoot had moved from Adelaide to Melbourne.

The new line-up with Birtles on vocals and guitar, by October, were three of its founders, Graham Goble on vocals and guitar; Russ Johnson on vocals and guitar; John Mower on lead vocals (all ex-Allison Gros); and fellow new members Colin DeLuca on bass guitar (ex-Fugitives); and Derek Pellicci on drums (ex-Ash).

During 1973 the group issued a single, "Early Morning", which had been co-written by Birtles with Goble and Johnson.

It peaked at No. 56 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.

In January 1974 Mississippi appeared at the Sunbury Pop Festival and then released another single, "Will I?", which was co-written by Birtles and former bandmate, Cotton.

It reached No. 26.

They toured the United Kingdom from May that year, where they "made little headway" and various members left the group.

In London they met with fellow Australian musicians Glenn Shorrock (ex-Twilights) and Wheatley – both expressed a desire to return to Australia and work on a new version of Mississippi.

In early 1975 Mississippi band members Birtles, Goble, and Pellicci, had returned to Australia where they recruited Shorrock on lead vocals and Wheatley as their manager.

They soon changed their name to Little River Band (LRB) and by year's end included Ric Formosa on guitar and Roger McLachlan on bass guitar.

This line-up released their debut self-titled album in November, which was co-produced by Birtles, Goble, Shorrock and Wheatley.

It peaked at No. 12 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart.

Their lead single, "Curiosity (Killed the Cat)", which was written by Birtles, appeared ahead of the album in September and reached No. 15 on the related singles chart.

He has also worked as a solo artist, including releasing an album, Driven by Dreams (2000).

In 2004, Birtles and other members of the classic line-up of Little River Band were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.