Former Little River Band members have responded to claims of a dispute with John Farnham in a new documentary that alleges the famous singer was \u201cover the top\u201d and thought he had to \u201ccarry\u201d the chart-topping group himself. <\/p>\n
LRB was one of Australia\u2019s most successful pop and rock exports with hits including Reminiscing, Lady, Help Is On Its Way, Home On A Monday and Happy Anniversary. <\/p>\n
But former members Graeham Goble, Beeb Birtles and David Hirschfelder are concerned about the way the band was portrayed in the doco film John Farnham: Finding The Voice.<\/p>\n
Claims made in that film included infighting, stage sabotage and comments by the band\u2019s former manager, the late Glenn Wheatley, that overseeing LRB was \u201clike managing World War III\u201d.<\/p>\n
Farnham was in LRB from 1982 to 1986. He replaced Glenn Shorrock. <\/p>\n
A new film, by doco-maker Dr Carolyn Bilsborow, sheds new light on disharmony in the band.<\/p>\n
Birtles said he couldn\u2019t harmonise effectively because Farnham had a higher singing voice. <\/p>\n
He also said, in a live setting, Farnham had \u201cso much energy and enthusiasm\u201d and spoke in a \u201cvery Australian accented voice and … very fast\u201d, adding: \u201cI don\u2019t think a lot of people understood what he was saying.\u201d <\/p>\n
Goble said: \u201cThe big mistake (Farnham) made was thinking that it was just him, and he had to carry it all. We were a band, he didn\u2019t need to do anything more than just to stand there and sing, but he went over the top through nervousness, trying to entertain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Birtles added: \u201cI had it firmly planted in my mind that once a solo star, always a solo star. I think there\u2019s a different mentality\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Goble, Birtles and Hirschfelder said the band started failing because they had no record company support, and the MTV era was dawning.<\/p>\n
Hirschfelder said Farnham blamed himself for LRB\u2019s demise. <\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Mate, it\u2019s not your fault. It\u2019s not anyone\u2019s fault. It\u2019s just the way it worked out. The band moved on and the audience didn\u2019t go with it\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy memory of any tension was minimal. All they said on John\u2019s documentary about managing World War III, I didn\u2019t see anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUp until the end. I loved John\u2019s energy,\u201d Goble said. \u201cHe was a joy to be around, totally professional and I can\u2019t say anything negative about the way I felt about John in the band.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original line-up of LRB sold 30 million records, and made history as one of the first Australian bands to crack America. <\/p>\n
Goble has been credited with being the creative force behind Farnham\u2019s 1980 album, Uncovered, which helped the singer evolve from former pop idol to adult artist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Little River Band members have responded to claims of a dispute with John Farnham in a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":939926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[399211,506422,376966,506455,421879,506441,506443,506440,506439,412034,506461,443734,506462,451324,506466,376730,506446,407757,506450,379486,506451,506423,2095,506444,64,63,506458,506428,506435,5794,506420,506448,38283,506437,134,466134,506442,438856,506447,506425,506459,506434,36535,506465,1571,84856,191,368842,399622,5585,63349,90100,506426,506449,506467,506418,506453,393594,506424,481860,506427,506431,1861,506438,506464,81330,506456,506421,448513,380250,133661,506436,506463,506445,506430,506419,215379,506468,506432,506452,506457,506460,377935,377466,506429,506454,214758,506433,425791],"class_list":["post-939925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-s-energy","tag-s-1980-album","tag-s-demise","tag-s-documentary","tag-s-fault","tag-s-former-manager","tag-1982-to-1986","tag-30-million-records","tag-a-very-australian-accented-voice","tag-a-band","tag-a-different-mentality","tag-a-dispute","tag-a-higher-singing-voice","tag-a-joy","tag-a-live-setting","tag-a-lot","tag-a-monday","tag-a-new-documentary","tag-a-new-film","tag-a-row","tag-a-solo-star","tag-adult-artist","tag-america","tag-any-tension","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beeb-birtles","tag-birtles","tag-birtles-and-hirschfelder","tag-claims","tag-david-hirschfelder","tag-disharmony","tag-dispute","tag-doco-maker-dr-carolyn-bilsborow","tag-entertainment","tag-farnham","tag-former-little-river-band-members","tag-former-members","tag-former-members-graeham-goble","tag-former-pop-idol","tag-glenn-shorrock","tag-goble","tag-happy-anniversary","tag-help-is","tag-history","tag-hits","tag-home","tag-infighting","tag-its-way","tag-john","tag-john-farnham","tag-lady","tag-little-river-band","tag-little-river-band-members","tag-lrb","tag-managing-world-war-iii","tag-my-memory","tag-my-mind","tag-nervousness","tag-new-doco","tag-new-light","tag-no-record-company-support","tag-people","tag-pop-and-rock-exports","tag-reminiscing","tag-rumours","tag-so-much-energy-and-enthusiasm","tag-stage-sabotage-and-comments","tag-that-film","tag-the-audience","tag-the-band","tag-the-band-birtles","tag-the-big-mistake","tag-the-chart-topping-group","tag-the-creative-force","tag-the-doco-film-john-farnham","tag-the-end","tag-the-famous-singer","tag-the-first-australian-bands","tag-the-late-glenn-wheatley","tag-the-mtv-era","tag-the-original-line-up","tag-the-singer","tag-the-top","tag-the-voice-singer","tag-the-voice-claims","tag-the-way","tag-uncovered","tag-your-fault"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}