In 1965, during his freshman year in high school, Wayne Nelson, lead singer and bandleader for Little River Band, was cruising around with the guys when one of them started singing.
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“I put the harmony on top of it, and there we were singing three-part doo-wop in the car,” Nelson said. “The lightbulb went on.”
Today, Nelson has performed with Little River Band for more than 35 years, and said that special harmony is part of the glue that holds the rock/country crossover band together.
Little River Band comes to Genesee Theatre Sept. 15 to perform old songs and new ones with their long-lived iconic harmony, soft rock melodies and positive messages.
“There’s not a whole lot of harmony in 21st century pop music,” Nelson said, adding there’s also a lot of anger in today’s music, something he strives to keep out of Little River Band’s repertoire.
Nelson grew up in Illinois, singing in church and with school choirs as well as acting in local musicals.
He got his first break when a friend told him Loggins and Messina was looking for bass player. “They were a favorite of mine. They had a very interesting collection of instrumentation on their music. They had a great two-piece horn section. They used clarinets and flutes and did interesting acoustic songs. Kenny (Loggins) is one of the best singers in the world and Jim (Messina) harmonized with him well. I was thrilled to get that job.
“It lasted through one album and one tour,” he said.
That’s because Little River Band, which toured with Loggins and Messina, lost its bass player and asked Nelson to join the group. He’s been in the band longer than any other member, and none of the original members, which hailed from Australia, is part of today’s Little River Band.
Through it all, the music has remained “genuine,” Nelson said. “It’s not angry and it’s not based on a fad. It’s music that relates to so many people in so many walks of life.”
Nelson said in the early 1990s, the band struggled and considered breaking up. But then he met a Gulf War veteran at a concert.
The veteran told him, “Your music is very important to me. I drove a tank in the war, and little did we know, there were CD players in the tank. Every single day, we’d play ‘Help Is On Its Way’ and we’d play ‘Cool Change’ on the way back.'”
Nelson said that encounter “was very powerful and very meaningful to us. At that point, to be honest, the band’s career was headed downhill. We went through a very deep trough at that point. It could have all just fizzled at that point.”
Their newest album, “Cuts Like A Diamond,” includes a song called “The Lost and the Lonely,” which tells the story about a young person deciding whether to join the military. “It’s a powerful song,” said Nelson, whose father served in the Air Force during World War II. “Everybody in the band has somebody, a father or relative who has served in World War II or Korea,” he said.
“You’ll hear immediately straight out of the gate, four-part harmony to introduce the song. We dedicate those songs every night to not only military people, but also first responders, police, anybody in uniform. Being in a uniform is very dangerous.”
The band also has dedicated some of its concerts to raising money for charities, including dog rescue groups and Habitat for Humanity.
He said the members just don’t want to “get on the bus, play a show, get off the bus, play another show. Performing for all of those causes gives us a feeling of giving back.”
Nelson said concerts are like “interactive scrapbooks. People come wanting to hear their favorite two or three songs, and as the show goes on, you’ll see their heads turn and they’ll say, ‘I remember that one,’ and they’ll start singing along.
“After every show, we go out front — we’ll sign autographs and meet them and shake their hands and hear their stories.”
Little River Band has been inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame, an honor that has eluded the group in America. Last fall, the band won the musical arts of the year award in Las Vegas.
“To get that award was amazing, it was a strong validation of the quality of the show at the 40-year mark,” Nelson said. He’s now aiming for the 45-year mark, plus he’d like to do a solo album featuring songs he’s written.
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer.
Little River Band
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When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15
Where: Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee St., Waukegan
Tickets: $29.50-$79.50
Information: 847-263-6300, www.geneseetheatre.com