Derek Pellicci
Encyclopedia
Derek Allan Pellicci is an Australia
n pop music drummer. He is best known as a founding member of Little River Band
. Pellicci currently lives in Melbourne
with his wife, Anne and son, Joel.
”.
In 1964, his older brother John took the then 11-year-old Pellicci to see The Beatles
greet their “sea” of fans from the balcony of Melbourne’s Southern Cross Hotel. Pellicci said he was spellbound by the experience and it moulded his career path. Shortly after, John bought him a Trixon drum kit which had been traded in at a local car dealer. With his passion for music now fully determined, Pellicci’s school attendance took second billing to his beloved drum practice (which entailed playing along with every pop record he could get his hands on!)
After the family moved to King Island, Tasmania
in 1966, Pellicci attended the local high school while John and Arthur took jobs at the King Island Scheelite mine. This rural culture shock was magnified by the fact that Pellicci was passionate about music but had to wait up to a month for the latest pop 45s to be freighted over from mainland Victoria.
The breakup of Plum led to stints with various groups: Ash (initially under the name Derek Allen), Arthur & The Argonauts, Island, Blackfeather
and New Zealand Highway.
(featuring future Little River Band members, Graeham Goble
and Beeb Birtles
). Mississippi not only served to develop his studio skills, but also was an orientation into the gruelling road tours that lay ahead. This led to more studio experience, both in recordings with Mississippi and session work in radio jingles and recordings with other artists.
In 1974 Mississippi sailed for England (ironically on the same ship that had brought Pellicci to Australia, the Fairsky
). Whilst in the U.K., Pellicci was stunned to learn he had been adopted as a baby. In 2003 he learnt that his birth mother, Gladys Sylvia Hadley had died in Jerusalem on 29 May 1990. Pellicci never met either of his biological parents.
, subsequently changing their name to Little River Band. Three years later, in 1978, two significant events occurred in Pellicci's life. In May he suffered a serious burns accident which hospitalised him for two months. In December of that year, he married his longtime girlfriend, Anne Deacon.
Pellicci played drums on John Farnham
's adult contemporary album Uncovered
with guitarists Tommy Emmanuel
, David Briggs
, Barry Sullivan, Mal Logan and Peter Jones in 1980.
In April 1981, Pellicci and the other band members flew out to the Caribbean island of Montserrat
to record the album Time Exposure
with legendary Beatles producer, George Martin
.
After the departure of Beeb Birtles from Little River Band, in 1984, Pellicci also quit the band and he and his wife Anne moved to Los Angeles
to focus on his songwriting. Cold Chisel
’s Stephen Prestwich replaced Pellicci. Pellicci played on all 13 of Little River Band’s Top 40 U.S. hits.
Pellicci and Anne moved back to Australia for the birth of their son Joel in 1985. Over the next few years Pellicci worked on projects with well-known artists including Colin Hay
, Darryl Braithwaite, Stevie Wright, Shirley Strachan, Ross Wilson, Marc Hunter
, Stephen Cummings
, Joe Camilleri
, Renee Geyer
, Eddie Rayner
and Goanna
, amongst others. He also composed lyrics for Japanese pop star, Yōsui Inoue
’s ‘English language’ album.
In 1988 Pellicci reunited with Little River Band (Birtles, David Briggs
and George McArdle did not participate) for a triumphant show at the opening of the Brisbane
World Expo 88 with a special guest, Eagle
's member Glenn Frey
. Little River Band performed with Warren Zevon
and Christopher Cross
as special guest members and continued to tour internationally for at least three months every year after the Brisbane Expo. At this time he co-wrote three songs for Little River Band’s album Monsoon
, and in a joint acknowledgement of their emigration experience, co-wrote “I Dream Alone” with Glenn Shorrock for the Get Lucky
album.
After the completion of a successful U.S. tour in 1997, Pellicci played his last show with Little River Band in Biloxi, Mississippi
and subsequently retired from the music business.
The classic line-up of Goble, Birtles, Pellicci, Shorrock, Briggs and McArdle reunited for a live performance of "Help Is on Its Way
" at Little River Band's induction into the ARIA Hall Of Fame
in 2004.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n pop music drummer. He is best known as a founding member of Little River Band
Little River Band
Little River Band is an Australian rock band, formed in Melbourne in early 1975.The group chose the name after passing a road sign leading to the Victorian township of Little River, near Geelong, on the way to a performance. Little River Band enjoyed sustained commercial success in not only...
. Pellicci currently lives in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
with his wife, Anne and son, Joel.
Early life
In 1960 Pellicci’s family, his father Arthur, mother Jessie and older brother John, emigrated to Melbourne, Australia as “Ten Pound PomsTen Pound Poms
Ten Pound Poms is a colloquial term used in Australia to describe British subjects who migrated to Australia after the Second World War under an assisted passage scheme established and operated by the Government of Australia.The scheme, a follow-on to the unofficial Big Brother Movement,...
”.
In 1964, his older brother John took the then 11-year-old Pellicci to see The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
greet their “sea” of fans from the balcony of Melbourne’s Southern Cross Hotel. Pellicci said he was spellbound by the experience and it moulded his career path. Shortly after, John bought him a Trixon drum kit which had been traded in at a local car dealer. With his passion for music now fully determined, Pellicci’s school attendance took second billing to his beloved drum practice (which entailed playing along with every pop record he could get his hands on!)
After the family moved to King Island, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in 1966, Pellicci attended the local high school while John and Arthur took jobs at the King Island Scheelite mine. This rural culture shock was magnified by the fact that Pellicci was passionate about music but had to wait up to a month for the latest pop 45s to be freighted over from mainland Victoria.
Early career
In 1968 Pellicci returned to Melbourne to pursue his music career in earnest, first with the semi-pro band Recital, then his first professional group Plum.The breakup of Plum led to stints with various groups: Ash (initially under the name Derek Allen), Arthur & The Argonauts, Island, Blackfeather
Blackfeather
Blackfeather was an Australian rock group in the 1970s. The group had many members and went through two major incarnations - the earlier heavy rock version of the group, which recorded the album At The Mountains of Madness and the hit single "Seasons of Change", and the later piano-based lineup...
and New Zealand Highway.
Mississippi
In 1972 Pellicci joined a new band, MississippiMississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
(featuring future Little River Band members, Graeham Goble
Graeham Goble
Graeham George Goble is a musician, singer/songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of rock performers Little River Band ....
and Beeb Birtles
Beeb Birtles
Beeb Birtles , is a Dutch / Australian musician, one of the founding members of the Little River Band....
). Mississippi not only served to develop his studio skills, but also was an orientation into the gruelling road tours that lay ahead. This led to more studio experience, both in recordings with Mississippi and session work in radio jingles and recordings with other artists.
In 1974 Mississippi sailed for England (ironically on the same ship that had brought Pellicci to Australia, the Fairsky
Fairsky
Fairsky was a passenger ship managed by the Sitmar Line, best known for her service on the migrant passenger route from Britain to Australia from 1958 to the early 1970s. In her later career, she operated out of Australia as a popular cruise ship, until striking an unmarked wreck in 1977 which...
). Whilst in the U.K., Pellicci was stunned to learn he had been adopted as a baby. In 2003 he learnt that his birth mother, Gladys Sylvia Hadley had died in Jerusalem on 29 May 1990. Pellicci never met either of his biological parents.
Little River Band
In 1975 Mississippi returned to Australia and commenced rehearsals with new lead singer Glenn ShorrockGlenn Shorrock
Glenn Barrie Shorrock is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of pop groups The Twilights, Axiom and Little River Band as well as being a solo performer....
, subsequently changing their name to Little River Band. Three years later, in 1978, two significant events occurred in Pellicci's life. In May he suffered a serious burns accident which hospitalised him for two months. In December of that year, he married his longtime girlfriend, Anne Deacon.
Pellicci played drums on John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
's adult contemporary album Uncovered
Uncovered (John Farnham album)
Uncovered is a solo studio album by Australian singer John Farnham, produced by Little River Band's Graeham Goble, and released on 3 July 1980, which peaked at #20 on the Australian Kent Music Report Album Charts. Farnham's first single from the album was a reworking of The Beatles' song "Help!";...
with guitarists Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
, David Briggs
David Briggs (Australian musician)
David Briggs is an Australian musician and record producer, educated at Wesley College, Melbourne best known for his time as a guitarist in the rock band, Little River Band between 1976 and 1981.In 1976 he joined Little River Band. He wrote their hit single "Lonesome Loser", as well as "Happy...
, Barry Sullivan, Mal Logan and Peter Jones in 1980.
In April 1981, Pellicci and the other band members flew out to the Caribbean island of Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
to record the album Time Exposure
Time Exposure (Little River Band album)
- Track listing :#"The Night Owls" - 5:16#"Man on Your Mind" - 4:14#"Take It Easy on Me" - 3:45#"Ballerina" - 4:02#"Love Will Survive" - 4:38...
with legendary Beatles producer, George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
.
After the departure of Beeb Birtles from Little River Band, in 1984, Pellicci also quit the band and he and his wife Anne moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to focus on his songwriting. Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...
’s Stephen Prestwich replaced Pellicci. Pellicci played on all 13 of Little River Band’s Top 40 U.S. hits.
Pellicci and Anne moved back to Australia for the birth of their son Joel in 1985. Over the next few years Pellicci worked on projects with well-known artists including Colin Hay
Colin Hay
Colin James Hay is a Scottish-Australian musician, who made his mark during the 1980s as lead vocalist of the Australian band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist.- Early life and Men at Work :...
, Darryl Braithwaite, Stevie Wright, Shirley Strachan, Ross Wilson, Marc Hunter
Marc Hunter
Marc Alexander Hunter was a New Zealand rock and pop singer best known as the lead vocalist with Dragon, a band formed by his older brother Todd in Auckland in 1973....
, Stephen Cummings
Stephen Cummings
Stephen Donald Cummings is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and writer. He was lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band, The Sports, during 1976–1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success...
, Joe Camilleri
Joe Camilleri
Joseph Vincent "Joe" Camilleri, aka Jo Jo Zep or Joey Vincent, is an Australian vocalist, songwriter and saxophonist. Camilleri has recorded as a solo artist and as a member of Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and The Black Sorrows...
, Renee Geyer
Renée Geyer
Renée Rebecca Geyer is an Australian singer who has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with "It's a Man's Man's World", "Heading in the Right Direction" and "Stares and Whispers" in the 1970s and...
, Eddie Rayner
Eddie Rayner
Eddie Rayner , is a New Zealand musician who has played in bands such as Split Enz, Space Waltz, Crowded House, The Makers and 801....
and Goanna
Goanna
Goanna is the name used to refer to any number of Australian monitor lizards of the genus Varanus, as well as to certain species from Southeast Asia.There are around 30 species of goanna, 25 of which are found in Australia...
, amongst others. He also composed lyrics for Japanese pop star, Yōsui Inoue
Yosui Inoue
is a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, guitarist and record producer, who is an important figure in Japanese music. He is renowned for his unique tone, eccentric lyrics, and dark sunglasses which he always wears....
’s ‘English language’ album.
In 1988 Pellicci reunited with Little River Band (Birtles, David Briggs
David Briggs (Australian musician)
David Briggs is an Australian musician and record producer, educated at Wesley College, Melbourne best known for his time as a guitarist in the rock band, Little River Band between 1976 and 1981.In 1976 he joined Little River Band. He wrote their hit single "Lonesome Loser", as well as "Happy...
and George McArdle did not participate) for a triumphant show at the opening of the Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
World Expo 88 with a special guest, Eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
's member Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
. Little River Band performed with Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
and Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammys. He is perhaps best known for his Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme ", the last of which he performed for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore...
as special guest members and continued to tour internationally for at least three months every year after the Brisbane Expo. At this time he co-wrote three songs for Little River Band’s album Monsoon
Monsoon (Little River Band album)
- Track listing :#"It's Cold Out Tonight" 4:38#"Parallel Lines" 3:23#"Love is a Bridge" 4:04#"Rhythm King" 4:25#"Face in the Crowd" 4:45#"Cruel Madness" 4:50#"Inside Story" 4:40#"Son of a Famous Man" 4:49#"Soul Searching" 4:22#"Great Unknown" 4:56...
, and in a joint acknowledgement of their emigration experience, co-wrote “I Dream Alone” with Glenn Shorrock for the Get Lucky
Get Lucky (Little River Band album)
- Track listing :#"If I Get Lucky" - 4:12#"There's Not Another You" - 3:49#"Second Wind" - 4:14#"Every Time I Turn Around" - 4:35#"I Dream Alone" - 4:50#"Time and Eternity" - 4:08#"Two Emotions" - 4:28#"As Long as I'm Alive" - 4:35...
album.
After the completion of a successful U.S. tour in 1997, Pellicci played his last show with Little River Band in Biloxi, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and subsequently retired from the music business.
The classic line-up of Goble, Birtles, Pellicci, Shorrock, Briggs and McArdle reunited for a live performance of "Help Is on Its Way
Help Is on Its Way
"Help Is on Its Way" was written by Glenn Shorrock and was a hit single by the Australian group Little River Band in 1977. It was featured on the album Diamantina Cocktail. The song went to number one in Australia on the Kent Music Report singles chart. The song was the fourth highest selling...
" at Little River Band's induction into the ARIA Hall Of Fame
ARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
in 2004.