George Baker Selection was a pop-rock band from

Assendelft Assendelft () is a town in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad. Assendelft was a separate municipality until 1974, when the municipality of Zaanstad was formed. However, Assendelft didn't want ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The band is best-known for the 1969 song "

Little Green Bag "Little Green Bag" is a 1969 song written by Dutch musicians Jan Visser and George Baker (born Hans Bouwens), and recorded by the George Baker Selection at the band's own expense. The track was released as the George Baker Selection's debut singl ...

" and the 1975 world-wide hit "

Paloma Blanca "Paloma Blanca" (Spanish for "white dove"), often called "Una Paloma Blanca", is a song written by Dutch musician George Baker (under his real name, Johannes Bouwens) and first recorded and released by his band, George Baker Selection. The sing ...

History

In 1968, Hans Bouwens from

Wormerveer Wormerveer is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 13 km northwest of Amsterdam. Wormerveer developed in the 15th century on the west bank of the Zaan river. It started t ...

joined the band "Soul Invention", a soul band that had been founded the previous year by Henk Kramer in

and played covers of songs by

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

and

Sam and Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The S ...

. The band consisted of Job Netten (guitar), Henk Kramer and Eric Bardoen (saxophone), Jacques Greuter (keyboard and flute), Theo Vermast and later Jan Visser (bass), and Ton Vredenburg (drums). Visser and Bouwens wrote the song "Little Greenback" (sic) in the summer of 1969. The band recorded their first album in September 1969, after which, considering this was no soul music, they changed their name to "The George Baker Selection", Bouwens naming himself for a character from a detective novel. This first album, ''Little Green Bag'' (1970), produced an immediate worldwide hit: their debut single, "

," reached No. 16 on the

Cash Box magazine ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and No. 21 on the

Billboard Top 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming i ...

in the United States. The success came as a surprise for Baker, who remembers hearing it on the radio while he was working in a lemonade factory. The single sold over one million copies globally and received a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. A string of singles and albums followed; the second single, "Dear Ann," was such a success that Baker resigned from his job in the lemonade factory and became a full-time musician. Not all band members followed suit and, besides Bouwens, the "Selection" from mid 1970 was formed by Jan Visser, Jan Hop (drums), Jacques Greuter and George Thé (voice, guitar, bass). In March 1971 Jan Visser left the band to be replaced by Cor Veerman.George Baker (Selection)
at "Zaanse Pophistory (in Dutch) Besides scoring hits with his own Selection, Baker also wrote songs for others, including

BZN BZN (''Band Zonder Naam''; Dutch for "Band Without Name") was a Dutch pop group that had a string of hits from 1966 to 2007 on. BZN recorded mostly in English and French, but also had success with material in Dutch and German. History BZN star ...

, The Shoes, Andy Star, and Next One. In 1974, singer Lida Bond joined the Selection, and combining her voice with Baker's proved highly successful. Their fifth album, ''Paloma Blanca'', was released in 1975, and the single "

" reached No. 1 on charts in several countries. It 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 album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s. The band experienced a brief return to the international charts in 1992 when the song "

" was used in the title sequence of the film ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunke ...

'' and in ''

Machos Machos ( el, Μάχος, ) is a community in the municipal unit of Vartholomio, northwestern Elis, Greece. The population was 470 in 2001. It is situated in a rural plain, 2 km west of Dimitra, 3 km southwest of Neochori and 2 k ...

'', a Chilean soap opera in 2003. The song is also featured in a Moto X smartphone commercial circa 2013.

Members

Hans Bouwens George Baker (born Johannes "Hans" Bouwens, 8 December 1944) is a Dutch singer and songwriter who, with his band George Baker Selection, scored two international hits in the 1970s, "Paloma Blanca" and "Little Green Bag". Baker also recorded as a ...

(as George Baker) (composer, vocals, guitar, mandolin, flute, piano and organ) 1968–1977, 1982–1989. *Elly Bloothoofd (vocals, guitar) 1982–1989. *Lida Jonkman-Bond (vocals) 1974–1977. *Nelleke Brzoskowsky (vocals) 1982–1989. *Willy Delano (vocals) 1977, 1982–1989. *Pieter Goeman (organ and piano) 1982–1989. *Jacques Greuter (vocals, organ, flute and piano) 1967–1982. *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) 1970–77, 1983–1989. *Cor Veerman (as Alan Decker) (bass) 1971–1974. *Theo Vermast (bass) 1967–1968. *Jan Visser (bass) 1968–1971. *Ton Vredenburg (drums) 1967–1970.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

* ''5 Jaar Hits'' (1974) NL No. 3 *''The Best Of Baker'' (1977) NL No. 8 *''Het komplete hitoverzicht'' (1986) NL No. 12 *''Dreamboat'' (1988) NL No. 21 * ''The Very Best Of'' (1999) NL No. 24 * ''George Baker Selection 100'' NL No. 67 * ''The Golden Years Of Dutch Pop Music'' NL No. 68

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George Baker Selection Dutch musical groups Musical groups established in 1967 Musical groups disestablished in 1989