Port Augusta, South Australia
4/5/1975
Photo Curtesy of Stewart Horne: “This was the day I had the honor of escorting Beeb, Glenn and Roger to The School of the Air in Port Augusta to speak to the kids who were doing their lessons from their farms and cattle stations via short wave radio”
Little River Band & Glenn Wheatley – Interviewed on G.T.K. (1975)
Little River Band Crack the U.S market
The first Australian group to really make it in the U.S. – Little River Band.
Glenn Wheatley is interviewed about his endeavours to get Little River Band their first record contract. Michael Chugg, praises Little River Band and through archive footage Glenn Shorrock is also interviewed. Glenn Wheatley explains how he took Little River Band’s songs to Artie Mogull and got rejected, before the band was signed to EMI and took the US by storm.
Beeb Birtles In 1975
Little River Band Form
Beeb Birtles: “Little River Band formed in 1975 with this line-up.
Left to right: Glenn Shorrock, Derek Pellicci, Graeham Goble, Beeb Birtles, Ric Formosa and Roger McLachlan. Photo courtesy of Roger McLachlan.”
Mississippi EP
A1 ‘Will I’ Written-By – Birtles, Cotton
A2 ‘Mr. Moondog’ Written-By – Johnson
B1 ‘Kings Of The World’ Written-By – Goble
B2 ‘Early Morning’ Written-By – Birtles, Goble, Johnson
Beeb, Narelle Goble, Russ Johnson & Sparky The Cat
June 17, 1974 in London, UK. Narelle Goble, holding her kitten she named, ‘Sparky’, me and Russ Johnson when Mississippi travelled there to seek its fortune. Sparky sparked the idea for ‘Curiosity Killed The Cat’ when she was scampering around our living room.
Mississippi Arrive In England
May 30, 1974, Mississippi arrive in England. Derek Pellicci, Trevor, the band’s road manager, Beeb Birtles, Barry Earl, our manager, Charlie Tumahai and Harvey James.
Graeham Goble: “We toured Australia virtually for two years and we worked ourselves into the ground. And we believed, at that point, as every other band did, that England was the stepping stone to the States. So we just worked until we got enough money to go to England and we went. But after a very short time, about five or six weeks, we completely ran out of money. We were unable to score a record deal and the band essentially broke up. It was at that time I met Glenn Shorrock and Glenn Wheatley. We met the in England. They were planning to come home. Glenn Wheatley had two or three years experience in the States and he believed that it was possible to do it from Australia and we didn’t have to do it via England. There was no way of staying alive in England. There was just no live work. So we all decided to meet back in Australia, Glenn Shorrock, myself and Beeb, then find a bass player, drummer and lead guitarist and put the band together and record specifically to break into America. That was the aim of the whole band.”
Bound for England
Beeb Birtles:
In one of our cabins on the Fairsky. Charlie Tumahai, Graeham Goble, Derek Pellicci, Beeb Birtles and Harvey James. Photo courtesy of Philip Morris.
Hamming It Up On Board The Fairsky
L To R: Derek Pellicci, Trevor, the road manager, Graeham Goble, Beeb Birtles, Harvey James, Charlie Tumahai with Mal and Barry Earl, manager, in front.
