Graeham Goble

Graeham George Goble, (born 15 May 1947) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little River Band and Birtles Shorrock Goble.

As a performer, Goble was responsible for the vocal arrangements and high harmonies on eleven studio albums and numerous Top 10 singles with LRB.

As a songwriter he penned songs like "Reminiscing", "Lady", "Take It Easy on Me", "The Other Guy" and "The Night Owls", each played millions of times on radio.

A number of bands followed in quick succession: The Silence (1966–67), Travis Wellington Hedge (1968), Allison Gros (1969–71) and Drummond (1971).

Each of these bands recorded singles and or albums.

The members of Allison Gros were recruited to record the song "Daddy Cool" but their Chipmunk version was so atypical that they recorded under the fictitious name Drummond.

Drummond would provide Goble with his first Number 1 hit single with "Daddy Cool".

The group released five studio albums in the 1970s.

"Daddy Cool" would remain on top of the charts for seven weeks from 6 September 1971.

The success of the hit song "Daddy Cool" brought about greater awareness of Allison Gros/Drummond and led to a recording contract with the new record label Bootleg.

The band morphed yet again, this time adopting the name Mississippi.

Still consisting of Goble, Russ Johnson and John Mower, the band was augmented by session musicians for the recording of their first, self-titled album.

The first single released by Mississippi would provide Goble with his first chart success as a songwriter, the song "Kings of the World" peaking within the Australian top 10.

With a successful album and single behind them, Mississippi hit the road.

To fill out their live sound, the band was enhanced by the addition of top musicians including Beeb Birtles (an ex-member of the band Zoot).

The first appearance of the expanded Mississippi took place on 28 October 1972 at Corbould Hall, Ballarat.

With various personnel changes, but always including Goble, Birtles and Pellicci, Mississippi would go on to notch up over 400 live performances in 1972–74.

In 1974, Mississippi were disestablished.

The nucleus of Goble, Birtles, Pellicci, new boy Glenn Shorrock and manager Wheatley kicked off the revitalised venture.

Guitarists Ric Formosa and Roger McLachlan were recruited to complete the sound of the band.

The new group performed in public for the first time in March 1975, still known as Mississippi.

The new name Little River Band followed soon after, taken from a road sign to the town of Little River as the band travelled to a performance in Geelong.

As principal composer, vocal arranger and co-producer, and with strong interest in the band's on-stage performance and day-to-day administration, Goble would soon come to be known as the "father figure" of the band.

Glenn Shorrock put it less kindly, stating that "it's like having a policeman onstage with you every night".

The creative tension, competition and differing personalities within the band would also fuel its subsequent rise to international stardom.

As George Martin would later remark, "That's what makes these acts what they are. It's a matter of harnessing this energy they have."

"Graham was meticulous in every detail. He drove people crazy with his fanaticism but you had to respect and admire him for his absolute perseverance and his ability to write a good song. Without such songs we had nothing. Graham wrote some classics. He is also very intelligent, as I discovered in our many late-night discussions. Through all his quirks he is a very interesting human being."

In 1976, The little River Band's "It's a Long Way There" (written by Goble) became an international hit.

This was followed in 1978 with "Reminiscing".

It was Goble who acted as spokesman in moving to have foundation lead vocalist Shorrock replaced by John Farnham.

According to Goble, "that lineup [Goble, Nelson, Housden, Farnham, Prestwich and Hirschfelder] was the most talented LRB lineup that I had ever played in."

"The live performances were so inspiring that I enjoyed playing live as much as recording. I count myself privileged to have experienced playing and singing with this line-up."

As a producer, Goble's credits include John Farnham's Uncovered album in 1980 and his own catalog of recordings.

Goble is a keen student of concepts such as spirituality; he changed his first name from Graham to Graeham as a consequence of his interest in numerology and feng shui.

Goble was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2021 Australia Day Honours "for service to the performing arts as a singer, songwriter and producer."

Goble was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and was drawn to music, in particular its harmonies, at an early age.

"My early influences were bands like The Beatles, The Hollies, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Bread and I always wanted to be in a band with harmonies. ... From my very first band we had 3 part harmonies"

Goble started his music career as a drummer but quickly progressed to the banjo.

"As soon as I had a stringed instrument in my hands I suddenly had all these melodies."

Thereafter came the transition to guitar.