The Very Best of George Baker

Biography

George Baker Selection was a rock band from Hoorn, the Netherlands. George Baker (born Johannes Bouwens, The Netherlands) is the singer, songwriter, and founder of the Dutch pop music band, the George Baker Selection in 1969. They have sold over 20 million records worldwide. The band acquired international fame with the two major hit singles; the psychedelic rock-style Little Green Bag (1969), and Paloma Blanca (1975). In 1982, Paloma Blanca was used in the TV movie The Executioner's Song. In...

George Baker Selection was a rock band from Hoorn, the Netherlands.

George Baker (born Johannes Bouwens, The Netherlands) is the singer, songwriter, and founder of the Dutch pop music band, the George Baker Selection in 1969. They have sold over 20 million records worldwide.

The band acquired international fame with the two major hit singles; the psychedelic rock-style Little Green Bag (1969), and Paloma Blanca (1975).

In 1982, Paloma Blanca was used in the TV movie The Executioner's Song. In 1992, Little Green Bag again topped the international charts after it was used in Quentin Tarantino's motion picture Reservoir Dogs. Little Green Bag was also used in Chilean telenovela "Machos" as the main theme, and in a commercial for a norwegian pizza called "Grandiosa".

In 1967, Johannes Bouwens was living in Wormerveer and joined the band Soul Invention, a soul band which played covers of songs by Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. They changed their name to "George Baker Selection", Bouwens naming himself for a character from a detective novel. The band consisted of Jan Hop, Jac. (Sjaak) Greuter, George Thé, and Jan Visser. Their first album, Little Green Bag (1970), produced an immediate worldwide hit: their debut single, "Little Green Bag" reached No. 16 on the Cash Box magazine chart and No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in the United States. The success came as a surprise for Baker, who remembers hearing it on the radio at work, in a lemonade factory. The single sold over one million copies globally, and received a gold disc. A string of singles and albums followed; the second single, "Dear Ann", was such a success that Baker quit his job in the lemonade factory and became a full-time musician. Besides scoring hits with his own band, he also wrote songs for others, including BZN, The Shoes, Andy Star, and Next One. In 1974 singer Lida Bond joined the band, and combining her voice with Baker's proved highly successful.

Their fifth album, Paloma Blanca, was released in 1975, and the single "Paloma Blanca" reached No. 1 on charts in several countries. "Paloma Blanca" sold more than seven million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful Dutch singles ever.

In 1978, the George Baker Selection split up because "the pressure had become too much." The band has sold over 20 million records worldwide. George Baker formed a new George Baker Selection in 1982, which stayed together until 1989. The band has released twelve albums and several compilation albums.

The band experienced a brief return to the international charts in 1992 when the song "Little Green Bag" was used in the title sequence of the film Reservoir Dogs and in "Machos", a cheesy Chilean soap opera in 2003. The song is also featured in a Moto X smartphone commercial circa 2013.

Members

Johannes Bouwens (as George Baker) (composer, vocals, guitar, mandolin, flute, piano and organ) 1967–1977, 1982–1989.
Elly Bloothoofd (vocals, guitar) 1982–1989.
Lida Jonkman-Bont (vocals) 1974–1977.
Nelleke Brzoskowsky (vocals) 1982–1989.
Willy Delano (vocals) 1977, 1982–1989.
Pieter Goeman (organ and piano) 1982–1989.
Sjaak Greuter (vocals, organ, flute and piano) 1967–1982. (died in March, 2018)
Jan Hop (drums) 1969–77, 1983–1989.
Henk Kramer (saxophone) 1967–1970.
Nathalie Más (vocals) between 1977 and 1982.
Job Netten (guitar) 1967–1970.
Martin Schoen (bass) between 1974 and 1982.
George Thé (vocals, guitar and bass) 1969–77, 1983–1989.
Cor Veerman (as Alan Decker) (bass) 1971–1974.
Theo Vermast (bassoon) 1967–1968.
Jan Visser (bass) 1968–1971.
Ton Vredenburg (drums) 1967–1970.
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