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They found immediate success in Australia, but individual members had greater ambitions. Like many other Australasian groups of the period, both Axiom and Mississippi had tried to break into the UK record market without success. After Axiom disbanded after moving to the U.K., Shorrock sang for a short period with the more progressive rock outfit Esperanto before meeting and joining forces with Birtles, Goble & Pellicci in 1974. They agreed to meet back in their homeland by early 1975. Their goal was to crack the US market with a new harmony-laden group.
Probably the most asked question of the band is about the origin of the name. On the way to the newly formed band's first performance in Victoria, Australia, they passed an exit sign for a small town called Little River. The suggestion was made that they should be called Little River Band for that night's performance...it stuck.
Fueled by a very successful Australian hit single "Curiosity Killed the Cat", the band began making promotional visits to the U.S. in 1976. This resulted in a U.S. hit single, "It's a Long Way There" (edited down from an album track over 8 minutes long), which broke into the Top 30.
Just before they began touring abroad in the fall of 1976, bassist Roger McLachlan, apparently not enthusiastic about touring outside of Australia, left the group and was replaced by George McArdle, while lead guitarist Ric Formosa, who quit the band in order to pursue other musical interests, was replaced by David Briggs. However, Formosa remained in touch with his former bandmates and conducted and wrote string parts for several Little River Band songs after he officially left the band. More concert performances in the US followed, and in 1977 "Help Is on Its Way" (an Australian number one single) and "Happy Anniversary" both narrowly missed the US Top 10.
In 1979, Bassist McArdle left to take up Bible study, eventually pursuing a path as a minister. Barry Sullivan took over on bass until American Wayne Nelson, currently the group's lead singer, joined in 1980. In 1981, Nelson provided lead vocals for their top ten US hit "Night Owls" the debut single from their Time Exposure album and shared duties with Shorrock on the next single "Take it Easy on Me". Guitarist Stephen Housden joined the band in August 1981 replacing David Briggs (who left after musical disagreements) right as Time Exposure was being released.
The pressures of success and constant touring took their toll on LRB and other members gradually left. John Farnham replaced Shorrock in 1982 and the first single with Farnham, "The Other Guy" (one of two new offerings on their Greatest Hits album) reached #11 in the U.S., while the next single "We Two", from LRB's album The Net, released in 1983, reached the peak of #22 in the U.S. That same year, "You're Driving Me Out of My Mind" became their last single to reach the U.S. Top 40.
In Australia, the band continued to be popular for a little while longer, and songs such as "Down On The Border" and "Playing To Win" were major hits. At this point the band sought to move towards a more "80s style sound", so they added keyboardist David Hirschfelder in September 1983.
Birtles left at the conclusion of the band's U.S. tour in October 1983 because he did not like the harder, more progressive musical path the band was taking. Pellicci too was not entirely comfortable with the new direction and left in February 1984. Steve Prestwich (formerly of Cold Chisel) was brought in as new drummer while Birtles was not replaced. The lineup of Farnham, Nelson, Housden, Goble, Hirschfelder, and Prestwich recorded two CDs. The first was Playing To Win in 1984, produced at Capitol's suggestion by Spencer Proffer, who had just produced Quiet Riot. Next was No Reins in 1986. The last US single released by Capitol in the US was "Time For Us", a Nelson composition. But the writing was on the wall that another major change was inevitable.
After Prestwich, Farnham, and Hirschfelder left the band in 1986, LRB was pretty much in limbo until the following year when Shorrock and Pellicci returned. With Shorrock and Pellicci back in the fold, the group released two LPs on MCA, Monsoon in 1988 (from which the single "Love Is a Bridge" was a moderate Adult Contemporary radio hit in the U.S.) and 1990's Get Lucky. (MCA released a compilation of tracks from those two LPs on their Curb Records imprint in 1991 as Worldwide Love). Goble ceased touring with the group at the end of 1989.
In 1990, two players were brought in to augment the touring lineup...Peter Beckett, former guitarist/lead singer of the group Player, and Tony Sciuto, a keyboardist/guitar player/singer from Baltimore, MD. They toured with the band for 8 years, both leaving at the end of the 1997 tour. In 1992, Nelson was forced to quit touring for personal reasons, returning only for the 1995 tour commemorating the band's 20th anniversary. In his absence, a New Zealand bassist named Hal Tupea took on the touring duties, also leaving the band in 1997.
During that 20th anniversary tour in 1995, "Reminiscing", a 2CD boxed set of the band's music, was released by Rhino Records. Hopes were high for the tour and the CD to spark new interest in LRB. But that was not to be the case at that time. In early 1996, Shorrock and Nelson both decided to leave the band, turning over the lead vocal duties to an Australian singer named Steve Wade. The lineup of Housden, Pellicci, Wade, Beckett, Sciuto, and Tupea toured in '96 and '97. But 1998 brought the second departure of Pellicci, again for personal reasons due to the extensive touring schedule. At this juncture, Housden decided to make a major change and create a band with all Australian members.
Housden brought in new players: Kevin Murphy (vocals, drums, percussion), Paul Gildea (vocals, guitars) and Adrian Scott (vocals, keyboards), as well as Roger McLachlan, the group's original bass player, who made a surprise return after 22 years. But McLachlan's second tenure was short lived. Both he and Scott departed after a year, not used to the band's heavy touring schedule abroad. Wayne Nelson then returned and Glenn Reither became the new keyboardist.
But the revolving door of personnel continued as Wade and Gildea were next to leave in early 2000. Greg Hind (vocals, guitars) then jumped aboard as Nelson took over most of the lead singing from this point on. The lineup of Housden, Nelson, Hind, Murphy & Reither was stable for almost five years and appeared on three releases: "Where We Started From" (2000), "One Night in Mississippi" (2002), and "Test of Time" (2004).
At the end of 2004, Glenn Reither and Kevin Murphy said goodbye to the band. Chris Marion was next to step up to the keyboard chair while Kip Raines took over drumming duties temporarily until Billy Thomas joined by early 2005. Housden decided to take a break from touring in 2006, though he retained ownership of the band's name. Rich Herring was called upon to take over lead guitar duties on tour. Mel Watts replaced Thomas on drums in 2007.
Things have gotten very busy for Little River Band in the last few years. From 2006 to 2009, the band has performed over 350 live shows (almost 250,000 bus miles...that's ten times around the planet!). There has also been a lot of studio activity in that time, with the recording of the following CDs: "Rearranged", "Standing Room Only", "Outback", a cover of the Beatles "In My Life" for a compilation CD, and LRB's first Christmas CD, "We Call It Christmas".
Little River Band is considered to be among Australia's most significant bands. In May 2001 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, named "Cool Change" as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time. According to BMI, Reminiscing has achieved 5 million airplay status on America radio, and Lady is close behind with over 4 million airplays. LRB was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame at the 18th Annual ARIA Music Awards of 2004.
The current lineup blends new energy and arrangements to the classic hits, making new memories for the audience out of each live performance. It's always fun to watch as people are swept up by the show's vitality and the volume of hits from LRB's history. You'll see plenty of people mouthing the words..."I love this song...I forgot it was one of Little River Band's hits!"
