GRAEHAM GOBLE

Graeham George Goble (born 15 May 1947 in Adelaide, Australia) is a musician, singer/songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little River Band (LRB). 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" and "The Other Guy" each played millions of times on radio. 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 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" Starting out as a drummer, Goble 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. 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 was recorded, and Goble fans are always keen to hunt down the vinyl. His next band was Mississippi.

The first single released by Mississippi would provide Goble with his first chart success as a songwriter, the song "Kings of the World" climbing to the Top 5. The album 'Mississippi' would attract further success, receiving the ARIA Award for Best Group Album of 1972, with "Kings of the World" awarded Best Group Single. Little River Band 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.

By 1976 Goble 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 in the Billboard chart at #3 with the memorable "Reminiscing". Freed of his commitment to LRB (and touring in particular), Goble was able to indulge his passion for carefully crafted and meticulous studio recordings. His first offering was the 1990 album 'Broken Voices' for which he was composer, producer, vocal arranger, harmony vocalist and acoustic guitarist. Goble recruited Susie Ahern to provide lead vocals. On his next two offerings Goble again eschewed the role of lead vocalist, offering that responsibility to Steve Wade on the albums 'Nautilus' (1993) and 'Stop' (1995). 

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. Goble has achieved more than 50 awards across four decades for songwriting, recording and performing,

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeham_Goble