Johannes "Hans" Bouwens (born 8 December 1944), known as George Baker, is a Dutch singer and songwriter who, with his band George Baker Selection, scored three international hits: "Little Green Bag" (1969), "Paloma Blanca" (1975) and "Santa Lucia by Night" (1985).

Childhood

Bouwens was born near the end of World War II on 8 December 1944 as the son of a single mother on the Gravenstraat in Hoorn, at or near the location where Jan Pieterszoon Coen was born in 1587. Months before Bouwens was born, his father, Peppino Caruso, a former Italian soldier from Calabria put to labor by the Germans in nearby Grosthuizen, had been killed while attempting to escape when he was to be transferred to Germany.

Bouwens was raised by his mother and his grandparents, Willemke Woudstra and Johannes Bouwens (1886–1952), first in Hoorn and from 1957 on the Wandelweg in Wormerveer. but at the age of 14 he left school and took jobs unloading ships on the Zaan and eventually as a factory worker at a lemonade factory. In 1961, he took the stage name "Body" and formed the band Body and the Wild Cats, with Bob Ketzer and his brother Ruud as well as Gerrit Bruyn on bass, all from Wormerveer. The band recorded their first album in September 1969, after which, considering this was not 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:

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. Besides scoring hits with his own Selection, he also wrote songs for others, including BZN, 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.

Solo career

After he disbanded the Selection in 1978, Baker performed as a solo artist until 1985, when he briefly returned with a new roster of the Selection. In 1989, he returned to solo work.

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1978

| In Your Heart

| align="center"| 10

|-

|Another Lonely Christmas Night

| align="center"| 23

|-

|1979

|Sing for the Day

| align="center"| 18

|-

| 1980

| Wild Flower

| align="center"| 13

|-

| 1982

| The Winds Of Time

| align="center"| 37

|}

Solo singles

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="5"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Album

|-

! width="40"| NL<br />Top 40

! width="40"| NL<br />Top 50/100

! width="40"| AUS

! width="40"|BE <br />(Fl)

! width="40"|GER

|-

| 1978

| "Rosita"

| align="center"| 7

| align="center"| 12

| align="center"| 98

| align="center"| 8

| align="center"| —

| rowspan="1" align="center"| In Your Heart

|-

| rowspan="2"|1979

| "Sing for the Day"

| align="center"| 10

| align="center"| 8

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| 13

| align="center"| 48

| rowspan="2" align="center"|Sing for the Day

|-

| "Oh Magdalena"

| align="center"| 33

| align="center"| 20

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| 28

| align="center"| —

|-

|rowspan="2"|1980

|"Niño Del Sol"

| align="center"| 22

| align="center"| 21

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

|-

|"All My Love"

| align="center"| 13

| align="center"| 8

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| 14

| align="center"| —

| align="center"|All My Love

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1981

|"You Don't Love Me Anymore"

| align="center"| <small>Tip</small>

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

|-

|"Papillon"

| align="center"| <small>Tip</small>

| align="center"| 47

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

|-

| 1982

|"Love is the Sweetest Rose"

| align="center"| 36

| align="center"| 35

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

| align="center"|The Wind of Time

|-

| 1991

|"Love in Your Heart"

| align="center"| <small>Tip</small>

| align="center"| 73

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| —

|-

| 2005

|"Una Paloma Blanca 2005 (Vet Hard Remix)"

| align="center"| 32

| align="center"| 19

| align="center"| —

| align="center"| <small>Tip</small>

| align="center"| —

|-

| colspan="8" align="center" style="font-size:85%"| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released.

|}

Notes

References

  • George Baker