George Baker (Dutch singer and songwriter)
Encyclopedia
George Baker is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
) is a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
best known for his global hit Paloma Blanca
Paloma Blanca
Paloma Blanca, often called Una Paloma Blanca, is a 1975 song written by the Dutch musician George Baker and first recorded by his band The George Baker Selection. The single was a hit throughout Europe, and was taken from the group's fifth album of the same name.The song became a #1 hit on the U.S...
. He was the lead singer of the pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
musical ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, George Baker Selection. He is now a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
artist
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
George Baker Selection
In 1967, Bouwens joined the band Soul Invention, which later changed its name to "George Baker Selection." Their first albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Little Green Bag (1970), gave them their first hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
. Their debut single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Little Green Bag
Little Green Bag
"Little Green Bag" is a 1969 song written by Dutch musicians, Jan Visser and George Baker , and recorded by the George Baker Selection at the band's own expense. The 7" single debut of the George Baker Selection was released by the label Negram. The B-side was "Pretty Little Dreamer"...
" reached the #16 position on the Cash Box magazine
Cash Box magazine
Cashbox magazine was a weekly publication devoted to the music and coin-operated machine industries in the USA which was published from July 1942 to November 16, 1996...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
and #21 in the Billboard Top 100 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. This disc
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
sold over one million copies globally, and received a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
By 1972 the band had sold over 5 million records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
.
Their fifth album Paloma Blanca was released in 1975, and the single "Paloma Blanca
Paloma Blanca
Paloma Blanca, often called Una Paloma Blanca, is a 1975 song written by the Dutch musician George Baker and first recorded by his band The George Baker Selection. The single was a hit throughout Europe, and was taken from the group's fifth album of the same name.The song became a #1 hit on the U.S...
" reached #1 in the charts in several countries.
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 1985, which stayed together until 1989. The band has released twelve albums and several compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s.
The band experienced a brief return to the international charts in 1992, when the song "Little Green Bag
Little Green Bag
"Little Green Bag" is a 1969 song written by Dutch musicians, Jan Visser and George Baker , and recorded by the George Baker Selection at the band's own expense. The 7" single debut of the George Baker Selection was released by the label Negram. The B-side was "Pretty Little Dreamer"...
" was used in the title sequence of the film Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
, and a Chilean soap opera.
Solo career
After the George Baker Selection split up in 1978, Baker performed as a solo artist until 1985, when he briefly returned with a new George Baker Selection. Since 1989 he has once again worked solo. In 2005 he released a remixRemix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
of the song "Una Paloma Blanca" for the film Too Fat Too Furious
Too Fat Too Furious
Too Fat Too Furious is a 2005 Dutch action comedy film. The film received a Golden Film for 100,000 visitors....
. As a solo artist, he has released nine albums, and is currently managed by Jaap Buijs.
George Baker Selection albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
CAN | ||
| 1970 | Little Green Bag | 107 | — |
| Love in the World | — | — | |
| 1972 | Now | — | — |
| 1974 | Hot Baker | — | — |
| 1975 | Paloma Blanca | 153 | 50 |
| A Song for You | — | — | |
| 1976 | River Song | — | — |
| So Lang die Sonne Scheint | — | — | |
| 1977 | Summer Melody | — | — |
| 1983 | Paradise Island | — | — |
| 1985 | Santa Lucia by Night | — | — |
| 1987 | Viva America | — | — |
| 1988 | From Russia with Love | — | — |
George Baker albums
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1978 | In Your Heart |
| Another Lonely Christmas Night | |
| 1979 | Sing for the Day |
| 1980 | Wild Flower |
| 1981 | The Winds of Time |
| 1989 | Dreamboat |
| 1991 | Love in Your Heart |
| 1993 | Memories |
| 2000 | Flashback |
| 2009 | Lonely Boy |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US AC Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
CAN Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
CAN AC | CAN Country | |||
| 1969 | "Little Green Bag Little Green Bag "Little Green Bag" is a 1969 song written by Dutch musicians, Jan Visser and George Baker , and recorded by the George Baker Selection at the band's own expense. The 7" single debut of the George Baker Selection was released by the label Negram. The B-side was "Pretty Little Dreamer"... " |
21 | — | — | 16 | — | — | Little Green Bag |
| 1976 | "Paloma Blanca Paloma Blanca Paloma Blanca, often called Una Paloma Blanca, is a 1975 song written by the Dutch musician George Baker and first recorded by his band The George Baker Selection. The single was a hit throughout Europe, and was taken from the group's fifth album of the same name.The song became a #1 hit on the U.S... " |
26 | 1 | 33 | 10 | 1 | 36 | Paloma Blanca |