Born Gerard 'Beeb' Bertelkamp in the Netherlands, Beeb's parents decided to move to Australia where they settled in Melbourne. In the late 60s Beeb was a member (voc, guit) of the popular Zoot (together with Rick Springfield), but terminated his membership in 1970 to form Frieze, a duo together with Darryl Cotton (the former lead singer of Zoot). In 1972 he got a call from Graham Goble, who founded a band named Mississippi. Graham asked Beeb to join in, which he quickly agreed with.