Mr. Big

US rock band Mr. Big were formed in Los Angeles in 1988 by bass guitarist Billy Sheehan. Sheehan, who had recently left David Lee Roth's band, was looking for a new musical project for his considerable talents (he is a five-time winner of the 'Best Rock Bass Player' poll in Guitar magazine). The bassist recruited Pat Torpey on drums (fresh from playing with Robert Plant, Ted Nugent, Montrose and Belinda Carlisle), Paul Gilbert on guitar and the relatively unknown Eric Martin on vocals. After hiring the ex Journey and Santana manager Herbie Herbert to handle their affairs, the band signed to Atlantic and set to work on their self-titled debut album. The band was launched to great expectations during the height of the 'big hair' era in American rock, a genre which Mr Big fitted into particularly well.

Despite the hype they failed initially to make a significant impact on mainstream US rock audiences but were very well received in Japan and throughout the rest of Mr Big's history they continued to do very well in the Asian market. With the release of their second album 'Lean Into It' in 1991 the band finally started to deliver the commercial success expected of them. The final track on the album was the ballad 'To Be With You', a song written by Eric Martin whilst he was a teenager. The song went to number one in 15 countries and became the band's biggest selling single and their only US number one. The group disbanded in 2002 but reformed in 2008 following a reunion gig. Since reforming they have recorded three more studio albums including the 2017 release 'Defying Gravity'.