Did 'The Tonight Show' Book the Wrong Little River Band?

The oft-asked question of who has the rights to a band’s name has just added a new wrinkle. On Jan. 12, the Little River Band will appear on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,’ even though the current version of the Australian soft-rock band contains no original members.

As Noise11 notes, “The last man out of the original line-up was drummer Derek Pellicci in 1997. [The] Current owner of the name, Steve Housden, joined in 1981.” According to them, this means that “Fallon has basically booked a ‘covers’ band” because “Little River Band has never had a hit record without a founding member.”

Complicating matters is that bassist Wayne Nelson, who joined in 1980, has been fronting his own version of the band (pictured above, with Nelson in the center) that he assembled beginning in 2000. That linuep will embark on an American tour beginning Jan. 17.

Three of the group's founding members -- Beeb Birtles, Glenn Shorrock and Graeham Goble -- toured as a self-named group from 2002-2007. Goble's 2006 song, 'Someone's Taken Our History,' deals with the legal struggles for the rights to the name, and legacy, of the Little River Band.

Between 1975 and 1983, the Little River Band were one of the most reliable hitmakers around, with 13 Top 40 singles including ‘Reminiscing,’ ‘Lonesome Loser,’ ‘The Other Guy’ and ‘The Night Owls.’ Their four albums released from 1977 to 1981 have been certified either gold or platinum, with their 1982 ‘Greatest Hits’ selling more than two million copies.