George Baker (born Hans Bouwens) is the founder of George Baker Selection, a Volendam outfit which, in the 1970s, became one of the very few Dutch groups to became world famous, probably by moving to a more middle-of-the-road Dutch folk-tinged pop repertoire. Their line-up in 1967, then still called Soul Invention, featured: Hans Bouwens (v, g, p, o, fl), Eric Bardoen (s), Job Netten (g, later to Instant People and Lucifer), Henk Kramer (s), Ton Vredenburg (dr), Jan Visser (b), Sjaak Greuter (v, o, fl, acc).
1969 brought the group's first breakthrough hit (see chart information below), "Little Green Bag", and the story of George Baker Selection really began. In 1970, the line-up featured: Hans, Jan, Sjaak, Jan Hop (dr, ex-Kiss Kiss) George The (v, g, b). A year later, Jan Visser went to Fisher & Friends, and was replaced by Cor Veerman (ex-Left Side).
In the years 1974-1978 (until George decided to go solo), the line-up remained: Hans, Jan Hop, Sjaak, George, Lydia Bont aka Lida Bond (v, ex-Q-Tips) Martin Schoen (b, ex-Rob Hoeke).
1969 Little green bag/Pretty little dreamer Negram NG 159
1970 Dear Ann/Fly 166
Midnight/Sunday lover 190
Over and over/Cindy 207
LP All the love in the world NELP 083
LP Little green bag (also: US Colossus) NELS 551
1971 Nathalie/Jesus told us NG 228
Tonight/Susanna 242
Mamma oh mamma/1954 259
LP George Baker Selection NELS 558
LP Now NQ 20046
1972 Holy day/Where is my baby tonight NG 273
I'm on my way/Mademoiselle 289
Marie Jeanna/Halleluhah 307
The prisoner/Little green bag/Dear Ann 304
LP Greatest hits ELS 939
1973 Morning light/Blue eyes NG 339
Drink drink drink/Down by the riverside 367
Baby blue/Melodie d'amour 386
LP Greatest hits vol.2 ELS 972
1974 Fly away little paraguayo/We'll make it right someday NG 419
Canta libre/We'll make it right someday 420
Sing a song of love/I've been away too long 458
LP Hot Baker NY 14
LP Vijf jaar hits ELD 987
LP Greatest hits vol.2 SPLO 111
1975 Una paloma blamca/Dream boat NG 496
Morning sky/Don't forget me 2053
Interview met Hans Mondt/met Lex Harding 2058
LP Una paloma blanca NG 106
LP A song for you NK 201
1976 Wild bird/If you understand NG 2123
Manana mi amor/As long as the sun will shine 2165
LP River song NK 205
1977 Beautiful rose/Jimmy NG 2227
Marja 2254
LP Summer melody NN 1
LP The best of Baker NX 3
1978 LP In Your Heart (as George Baker)
1979 LP Sing for a Day (as George Baker)
1980 LP Wild Flower (as George Baker)
1982 LP Winds of Time (as George Baker)
1983 LP Paradise Island
1985 LP Santa Lucia By Night (Jupiter, re-released in 1988 on CD by
Castle as "Castle Masters Collection")
1987 LP Viva America
1988 LP Dreamboat
1991 LP Love in your heart (as George Baker)
Many differing foreign records exist. Some examples are:
1969 Bolsita verde/Linda pequena sonodora (Spanish) Hispavox H 597 1972 Marie Jeanne/Mademoiselle (USA) Reprise REP 14223 1975 Baby blue/Morning sky (USA) Warner Bros WB 8207
[25-10-1969]^9*11 LITTLE GREEN BAG george baker selection [14-02-1970]^2*14 DEAR ANN george baker selection [18-07-1970]^12*10 MIDNIGHT george baker selection [07-11-1970]^7*11 OVER AND OVER george baker selection [20-03-1971]^11*8 NATHALIE george baker selection [17-07-1971]^14*7 TONIGHT george baker selection [20-11-1971]^9*9 MAMA OH MAMA george baker selection [11-03-1972]^10*6 HOLY DAY george baker selection [19-08-1972]^7*10 I'M ON MY WAY george baker selection [09-12-1972]^9*10 MARIE-JEANNE george baker selection [19-05-1973]^20*6 MORNING LIGHT george baker selection [15-09-1973]^18*6 DRINK DRINK DRINK george baker selection [12-01-1974]^8*7 BABY BLUE george baker selection [18-05-1974]^2*14 (FLY AWAY) LITTLE PARAGUAYO george baker selection [26-10-1974]^1*12 SING A SONG OF LOVE george baker selection [22-03-1975]^1*14 PALOMA BLANCA george baker selection [25-10-1975]^1*10 MORNING SKY george baker selection [07-08-1976]^3*10 WILD BIRD george baker selection [27-11-1976]^5*8 MANANA (MI AMOR) george baker selection [14-05-1977]^3*11 BEAUTIFUL ROSE george baker selection [06-08-1977]^11*7 MARJA george baker selection [25-03-1978]^7*10 ROSITA george baker [19-05-1979]^10*9 SING FOR THE DAY george baker [08-09-1979]^33*4 OH MAGDALENA george baker [26-07-1980]^22*6 NINO DEL SOL george baker [01-11-1980]^13*8 ALL MY LOVE george baker [24-01-1981] tip YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE george baker [09-01-1982]^36*3 LOVE IS THE SWEETEST ROSE george baker [08-05-1982] tip PAPILLON george baker [20-11-1982]^23*4 WHEN WE'RE DANCING george baker selection [26-02-1983]^19*5 THE WIND george baker selection [06-07-1985]^7*13 SANTA LUCIA BY NIGHT george baker selection [02-11-1985]^30*4 MANOLITO george baker selection [22-02-1986] tip WHEN YOU LEARN TO FLY george baker selection [27-06-1987]^25*6 VIVA AMERICA george baker selection [24-10-1987]^37*3 BELLA MARIA george baker selection [18-06-1988] tip MARIE-JULIE george baker selection [24-09-1988] tip QUE VIVA SUMMER HOLIDAY george baker selection [15-06-1991] tip LOVE IN YOUR HEART george baker selection
[09-01-1971]^38*2M LOVE IN THE WORLD george baker selection negram [03-08-1974]^2*21 HOT BAKER george baker selection negram [07-12-1974]^3*14 5 JAAR HITS george baker selection negram [26-04-1975]^1*42 PALOMA BLANCA george baker selection negram [06-12-1975]^1*26 A SONG FOR YOU george baker selection negram [11-09-1976]^2*18 RIVER SONG george baker selection negram [02-07-1977]^3*16 SUMMER MELODY george baker selection negram [10-12-1977]^13*11 THE BEST OF BAKER george baker selection negram [06-05-1978]^13*12 IN YOUR HEART george baker bovema/negram [07-07-1979]^22*11 SING FOR THE DAY george baker bovema/negram [15-11-1980]^20*9 WILD FLOWER george baker emi [21-03-1981]^21*9 DE GROOTSTE HITS george baker emi [06-02-1982]^28*8 THE WINDS OF TIME george baker ariola [09-04-1983]^23*8 PARADISE ISLAND george baker selection dureco [21-09-1985]^13*15 SANTA LUCIA BY NIGHT george baker selection cnr [15-11-1986]^20*11 HET COMPLETE HITOVERZICHT george baker selection [25-07-1987]^16*12 VIVA AMERICA george baker red bullet [16-07-1988]^25*14 DREAMBOAT george baker dino [04-05-1991]^86*4 LOVE IN YOUR HEART george baker rca
[21-03-1970]^21*13 LITTLE GREEN BAG george baker selection Colossus [20-06-1970]^93*2 DEAR ANN george baker selection Colossus [29-11-1975]^26*15 PALOMA BLANCA george baker selection Warner
Submitted by: Adri Verhoef (a3@a3.xs4all.nl-removespam)
The GBS had at least three hits in the german top 10 singles charts:
- Morning Sky: stayed 17 weeks, peaked to #2
- Wild Bird: stayed 3 weeks, peaked to #7
- Paloma Blanca: stayed 23 weeks, 13 of them on number one!!!
In 1989 they released the album "Save all your Love Songs" (the uppercase letters were written exactly that way) on the Austrian record label "Koch International". The ordering number is 122 278 E.
A few songs of it were played on the radio, "Save all your Love Songs" was shown twice on TV, but overall, it was not a very succesful album.
George Baker himself released in 1977 an album, where only the german versions of his hits were on it. The album was called "Solang' die Sonne scheint" and was released on Warner. Ordering no: 56 382
In 1991 (I think), G.B. started a solo carrear, with at least one minor hit: "Marie Luisa". But since that time, one didn't hear anything more of him.
Submitted by: Christoph Lorenz, lorenzc@informatik.tu-muenchen.de
George Baker Correspondence all over the world: Howard Hopkins, HHopk15447@aol.com
You can also address your GBS and Nederpop-related questions to a Dutch fan: Eric Van
Gorkom, ericg@stack.nl
Jan Hop was a member of Kiss Kiss, later drummer of the George Baker Selection.
1969 A lover is here/A lovely day for fishing Decca AT 10384 Follow the road/You're living easy Decca AT 10410
Dutch charts:
KISS KISS 21-6-69 SINGLE tip A LOVER IS HERE
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