George Baker Selection
The George Baker Selection is a Dutch pop band . The group began in 1967 under the name Soul Invention. It was renamed in 1969 after the singer and composer George Baker (born December 8, 1944, real name Johannes "Hans" Bouwens).
Band members
In addition to the founder George Baker, Johannes "Hans" Paul Bouwens (born December 8, 1944), son of an Italian occupation soldier, whose stage name is based on a British actor of the same name from the three James Bond films You only live twice , In your secret service Majesty and The Spy Who Loved Me , who embodied various characters there, belonged to the band in the first line-up: Eric Bardoen, Job Netten, Toni Vredenburg, Henk Kramer and Cor Veerman.
Later came: Jan Hop (* June 21, 1949), Jacobus Anthonius "Jacques" Greuter (* August 18, 1942), George The (* April 25, 1949), Jan Gerbrand Visser, Martin Schoen (* March 23, 1944 ). The blonde singer Lida "Lydia" Yonkman Bond (born July 30, 1952) joined the band in 1974 after she had her first single in 1961 and in 1966/1969 with Jan Keijzer (later singer at BZN ) and Piet Keijzer (later member of The Cats ) had sung at the Volendamer Q-Tips .
1985/1989 then belonged to the Reunion formation Nelleke Brzoskowski (born November 8, 1958), Elly Bloothoofd (born July 7, 1956) and Pieter Goeman (born December 25, 1961). After the band broke up in 1989, the rest of the band with the singers Willy Delano and Nathalie More continued under the name The Selection and released only one single written by George Baker.
successes
The Dutch had been successful across Europe since the early 1970s, and even in the USA they were able to place hits such as Little Green Bag (1969), Dear Ann , Fly Away, Little Paraquayo (1974) and Paloma Blanca (1975). After the world hit Paloma Blanca , this success could no longer be achieved, but other chart successes such as Morning Sky , Wild Bird and Santa Lucia By Night achieved . The band has sold more than 20 million records worldwide.
The song Paloma Blanca was recorded in 300 versions by almost as many performers. George Baker himself sang 21 albums and 48 singles. In the past 40 years he composed a total of 602 songs.
Baker now lives with his wife Blanche near the town of Gouda . He has seven children from two marriages.
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 NL
|
|||
| 1974 | Hot Baker | - | - |
NL2 (11 weeks) NL |
|
| 1975 | Paloma Blanca |
DE1 (8 months) DE |
AT4 (3 months) AT |
NL1 (19 weeks) NL |
|
| Morning Sky - Mein Lied für Sie (DE) A Song for You (NL) |
DE22 (4 months) DE |
- |
NL1 (16 weeks) NL |
||
| 1976 | River Song |
DE43 (1 month) DE |
- |
NL1 (12 weeks) NL |
|
| 1977 | Summer Melody | - | - |
NL2 (13 weeks) NL |
|
| 1978 | In your heart | - | - |
NL10 (11 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| Another lonely Christmas night | - | - |
NL23 (3 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
|
| 1979 | Sing for the day | - | - |
NL18 (13 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| 1980 | Wild flower | - | - |
NL13 (7 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| 1982 | The Winds of Time | - | - |
NL37 (3 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| 1983 | Paradise Island | - | - |
NL28 (9 weeks) NL |
|
| 1985 | Santa Lucia by Night | - | - |
NL4th  (23 weeks)NL |
|
| 1987 | Viva America | - | - |
NL8 (15 weeks) NL |
|
| 1988 | Dreamboat | - | - |
NL21 (11 weeks) NL |
|
| 1989 | From Russia with Love | - | - |
NL81 (3 weeks) NL |
|
More albums
- 1969: Charles I 1649 Court and Commons (The Apollo Society, George Rylands, Peter Orr, Robert Spencer and George Baker) (box with 2 LPs)
- 1970: Little Green Bag
- 1970: Midnight
- 1971: Love in the World
- 1971: Now!
- 1972: Holy Day
- 1975: George Baker Selection - Paloma Blanca and Other Hits
- 1980: Sing a Song of Love
- 1991: Love in Your Heart (as George Baker)
- 1992: Memories (as George Baker)
- 2000: Flashback (as George Baker)
- 2003: Paloma Blanca
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
NL
|
|||
| 1974 | 5 jaar hits | - | - |
NL3 (10 weeks) NL |
|
| 1978 | The Best of Baker | - | - |
NL8 (10 weeks) NL |
First published: 1974
|
| 1981 | The greatest hits | - | - |
NL13 (19 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| 1986 | Het complete hitoverzicht | - | - |
NL12 (10 weeks) NL |
2 LPs
|
| 1993 | The very best of | - | - |
NL24 (25 weeks) NL |
|
| 2009 | George Baker Selection 100 | - | - |
NL67 (3 weeks) NL |
|
| 2016 | The Golden Years of Dutch Pop Music | - | - |
NL68 (1 week) NL |
|
More compilations
- 1971: Greatest Hits
- 1972: The Golden World of the George Baker Selection
- 1973: Greatest Hits
- 1973: Greatest Hits 2
- 1983: Collection
- 1993: Santa Lucia by Night
- 1993: The Very Best Of (as George Baker)
- 1994: 25 Years (as George Baker)
- 1997: Paloma Blanca / In Your Heart (2 CDs)
- 1999: The Very Best Of (2 CDs)
- 1999: Little Green Bag
- 2000: Best of George Baker Selection
- 2001: George Baker (as George Baker)
- 2002: Una Paloma Blanca (Selection) (as George Baker)
- 2003: Greatest Hits
- 2003: George Baker (as George Baker)
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
NL
|
|||
| 1969 | Little Green Bag Little Green Bag |
- | - | - | - |
US21 (13 weeks) US |
NL9 (17 weeks) NL |
|
| 1970 | Dear Ann Little Green Bag |
- | - | - | - |
US93 (2 weeks) US |
NL2 (14 weeks) NL |
|
| Midnight Midnight |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL12 (10 weeks) NL |
||
| Over and Over Love In The World |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL7 (12 weeks) NL |
||
| 1971 | Nathalie Now! |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL11 (8 weeks) NL |
|
| Tonight Now! |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL14 (7 weeks) NL |
||
| Mama Oh Mama Now! |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL9 (9 weeks) NL |
||
| 1972 | Holy Day Holy Day |
DE31 (4 weeks) DE |
- | - | - | - |
NL10 (6 weeks) NL |
|
| I'm on My Way Holy Day |
DE33 (1 week) DE |
- | - | - | - |
NL7 (10 weeks) NL |
||
| Marie-Jeanne |
DE49 (1 week) DE |
- | - | - | - |
NL9 (10 weeks) NL |
||
| 1973 | Morning Light Hot Baker |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL20 (6 weeks) NL |
|
| Drink Drink Drink Hot Baker |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL18 (6 weeks) NL |
||
| 1974 | Baby Blue Hot Baker |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL8 (7 weeks) NL |
|
| (Fly Away) Little Paraquayo Hot Baker |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL2 (14 weeks) NL |
||
| Sing a Song of Love Paloma Blanca |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL1 (12 weeks) NL |
||
| 1975 | Paloma Blanca Paloma Blanca |
DE1 (37 weeks) DE |
AT1 (9 months) AT |
CH1 (24 weeks) CH |
UK10 (10 weeks) UK |
US26 (15 weeks) US |
NL1 (14 weeks) NL |
Entry into the US chart in 1976
|
| Morning Sky Paloma Blanca |
DE2 (26 weeks) DE |
AT4 (5 months) AT |
CH3 (14 weeks) CH |
- | - |
NL1 (10 weeks) NL |
||
| 1976 | Wild Bird River Song |
DE7 (18 weeks) DE |
AT19 (1 month) AT |
- | - | - |
NL3 (10 weeks) NL |
|
| Mañana (Mi amor) Summer Melody |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL5 (8 weeks) NL |
||
| 1977 | Silver Sing A Song Of Love |
DE34 (4 weeks) DE |
- | - | - | - | - | |
| Beautiful Rose Summer Melody |
DE24 (11 weeks) DE |
- |
CH8 (11 weeks) CH |
- | - |
NL3 (11 weeks) NL |
||
| Marja Summer Melody |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL11 (7 weeks) NL |
||
| 1978 | Rosita |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL7 (10 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| 1979 | Sing for the Day Sing for the Day |
DE48 (1 week) DE |
- | - | - | - |
NL10 (9 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| Oh Magdalena Sing For The Day |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL33 (4 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
|
| 1980 | Niño del sol Greatest Hits |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL22 (6 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| All My Love Wild Flower |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL13 (8 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
|
| 1982 | Love Is the Sweetest Rose The Winds Of Time |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL36 (3 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
| When We're Dancing Paradise Island |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL23 (4 weeks) NL |
||
| 1983 | The Wind (Ay, Ay, Ay, Maria) Paradise Island |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL19 (5 weeks) NL |
|
| 1985 | Santa Lucia By Night Santa Lucia By Night |
DE31 (15 weeks) DE |
- | - | - | - |
NL7 (13 weeks) NL |
|
| Manolito Santa Lucia By Night |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL30 (4 weeks) NL |
||
| 1987 | Viva America Viva America |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL25 (6 weeks) NL |
|
| Bella Maria Viva America |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL37 (3 weeks) NL |
||
| 2005 | As ever, you can do |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL1 (9 weeks) NL |
with Artiesten voor Azië (charity project)
|
| Una Paloma Blanca 2005 (Vet Hard Remix) |
- | - | - | - | - |
NL32 (4 weeks) NL |
as George Baker
|
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More singles
- 1970: I Wanna Love You
- 1971: Esta noche (Tonight)
- 1974: Merry Christmas
- 1975: Sing me our song
- 1977: Mañana (tomorrow everything may be different)
- 1983: Paradise Island
- 1983: Gipsy Woman
- 1984: How Can I Live without Your Love
- 1984: Bye-Bye My Love
- 1985: When You Learn to Fly
- 1986: True Love
- 1988: Que Viva Summer Holiday
- 1988: Marie-Julie
- 1988: Dreamboat
- 1988: Que Viva Summer Holiday
- 1989: From Russia with Love
- 1989: So Sad
- 1990: Save All Your Love Songs
- 1991: Marie Louisa (as George Baker)
Video albums
- 2003: The DVD Collection
- 2008: George Baker - 40 jaar live
literature
- (Dutch) Rutger Vahl: Nu weet ik het zeker, ik hou van George Baker. Nederlands succesvolste popartiest en de smaakpolitie . Amsterdam, Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2018. ISBN 9789038805399 .
swell
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: Singles DE, AT, CH, UK, US NL / Alben DE, AT NL / Artiesten voor Azië NL
- ↑ Awards for Music Sales: NL
Web links
- Official website
- George Baker Selection at Allmusic (English)
- George Baker Selection at Discogs (English)
- George Baker at Discogs (English)
- Discography at austriancharts.at
- fan page