Mississippi

Mississippi were an Australian soft rock band (1972–1975), which included Graham Goble on lead vocals and guitar, Beeb Birtles on lead vocals and guitar, and Derek Pellicci on drums. The band had started as Allison Gros in Adelaide in 1970 and moved to Melbourne in 1971 where they recorded as Allison Gros, Drummond and, early in 1972, became Mississippi. As Drummond they issued a cover version of "Daddy Cool" (July 1971), which peaked at No. 1 on the Go-Set National Top 40 for eight weeks. As Mississippi they reached No. 10 with "Kings of the World" (October 1972). In early 1975, with Birtles, Goble and Pellici aboard and the addition of Glenn Shorrock, the group were renamed Little River Band. History 1970–1972: Allison Gros and Drummond Mississippi developed from an Adelaide-based soft rock group, Allison Gros which formed in 1970 with Graham Goble on vocals and guitar, Russ Johnson on vocals and guitar, Rob Leedham on bass guitar, John Mower on lead vocals and Shane Simon on drums. The group were probably named after "Allison Gross", which is a traditional English folk ballad, with a widely recognised version recorded by Steeleye Span for their 1973 album, Parcel of Rogues. Allison Gros recorded a lone single, "Naturally", on the independent label, Gamba, which was released in 1970. It appeared on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart top 100. The band moved to Melbourne in 1971 and signed to Ron Tudor's Fable Records label and released two further singles: "If I Ask You" (July 1971) and "All the Days" (December 1971).