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.

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."

Biography 1947-1960s: Early Life 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"

1966-1974: Early groups The Silence, Travis Wellington Hedge, Allison Gros & Drummond 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."

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". "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 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.

1975-1992: Little River Band (LRB)

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. Goble was one of the band's composers (Goble, Birtles, Shorrock and later addition David Briggs all wrote for the group, usually individually), and also acted as vocal arranger and co-producer (with the entire band). Due to his 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 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."

"If The Last Romance album had been successful, I expect that Beeb and I would have left Little River Band and recorded as a duo, e.g. Hall & Oates. Our record company (Capitol) were concerned about this possibility and so our album received little support. It was a great experience to record The Last Romance and it remains one of my favorite recordings."

In 1990, Goble released his debut solo album, Broken Voices, for which he was composer, producer, vocal arranger, harmony vocalist and acoustic guitarist.

This was followed in 1993 with Nautilus and in 1995 with Stop. In 1998, The New Nautilus was released - it's a limited edition album and a re-package of Nautilus with a slightly altered track listing.

A chance meeting between Goble and Glenn Shorrock in 2001 (and a subsequent telephone call to Beeb Birtles) would lead to these three original members of LRB reforming as a group and released a live album Full Circle, which was certified gold in Australia.

In 2006, Goble released The Days Ahead, in 2008, Let It Rain, which musicologist Ed Nimmervoll said "Ultimately Graeham Goble's album Let It Rain is the journey of a lifetime. Listening to it takes us on an exceptional journey of our own." Of the eleven tracks on Let It Rain, two have been heard previously (albeit in different contexts). "Heart & Soul" appeared on the Birtles Shorrock Goble live DVD Full Circle while "Let It Rain" had been performed at the Farmhand Concert for Drought Relief in 2002.

Personal life Goble has been seriously writing songs since he was 16:

"I still write my songs the same way as when I first began. Usually an idea comes while I'm playing my acoustic guitar, but songs often come to me at any time of the day when I'm not playing my guitar. I sometimes dream complete compositions." Graham Goble (1997)

Goble currently lives in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. "I think the quality of what I'm doing is very high and the songs are very meaningful because I've lived a lot now. I've written from the point of view of somebody who's been through the mill and come out the other side."

Solo discography Studio albums Title Details The Last Romance (with Beeb Birtles) Released: 1980 Label: Capitol Records (ST.12078) Format: LP, Cassette Broken Voices Released: 1990 Label: Format: CD, LP, Cassette Nautilus Released: 1993 Label: Castle Communications (CSC 7100) Format: CD, Cassette Stop Released: 1995 Label: Words & Music Format: CD, Cassette The New Nautilus Released: 1999 Label: Format: CD The Days Ahead Released: September 2006 Label: ORIGiN (OR 081) Format: CD, Digital download Let It Rain Released: May 2008 Label: ORIGiN Format: CD, Digital download Life Love Song Released: 2015 Label: Format: CD, Digital download

Compilation albums Title Details Beginnings (Before Little River Band) (with Glenn Shorrock & Beeb Birtles)Released: 1978 Label: Capitol Records Format: Vinyl Beginnings Vol. 2 (Before Little River Band) (with Glenn Shorrock & Beeb Birtles)Released: 1980 Label: Capitol Records Format: Vinyl

Awards APRA Gold Award The Australasian Performing Right Association gave Gold Awards to the best songs in Australia from 1982 to 1990. 1982 himself ("Reminiscing") APRA Gold Award 1985 himself ("The Other Guy") APRA Special Award ARIA Hall of Fame The ARIA Hall of Fame is to honour the growing number of legendary performers, producers, songwriters and others who have influenced music culture in Australia. 2004 Little River Band ARIA Hall of Fame Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame The Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 2004 to honour the lifetime achievements of some of Australia's greatest songwriters. 2006 himself Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame BMI Special Citation of Achievement Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the performing rights organisation, awards a special citation of achievement for songs played more than one million times on US radio and television. Goble has won five such awards: 2007 himself ("Take It Easy on Me") One Million-Air 2007 himself ("The Other Guy") One Million-Air 2014 himself ("Reminiscing") Five Million-Air 2017 himself ("Lady") Four Million-Air 2020 himself ("The Night Owls") One Million-Air

Mo Awards The Mo Awards, (technically The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards), are annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia. 2004 Birtles Shorrock Goble Classical Rock Performers of the Year South Australian Music Awards The South Australian Music Awards are an annual two-week celebration of live music, celebrating musical achievements of South Australia. 2018 himself Hall Of Fame