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 ==