The seeds for the original group were sown when bass player extraordinaire Billy Sheehan (often called the Eddie Van Halen of the bass) left David Lee Roth's solo band in 1988.  Sheehan began piecing together MR. BIG by recruiting former Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert, drummer Pat Torpey, and singer Eric Martin. By 1989, the newly formed quartet had inked a recording contract with Atlantic and began causing a huge buzz among musicians who immediately recognized that this would be a Rock Supergroup.  In 1991 the band released "Lean Into It", which included the melodic psychedelic rocker "Green Tinted Sixties Mind," as well as a pair of ballads that would become sizeable hit singles: the number one smash "To Be With You" and "Just Take My Heart.  The group's popularity continued to soar until Gilbert split from the group in the late '90s to pursue a solo career.

In regards to the decision to reunite, Billy Sheehan says, "We got together last fall. It was just one of those things, the timing was right. We played a gig at the House Of Blues in L.A. and we smoked the joint. Afterwards, we all kind of looked at one another and were like, 'OK, that was cool...Now what?'” he continued, "The way I look at it is, it's like getting back with an old girlfriend because you want to, not because you have to. All of us are doing fine in our solo careers. This is something that felt right, and after that one gig we were like, 'We should do more of these. This was fun!' “We're in this to play and have a good time. When you consider the amount of rehearsals you have to have with a band, how much time you have to spend together, how many hours you have to sit on planes and backstage and whatever, there's no amount of money that can make it worthwhile unless you really want to do it."


MR.BIG Biography

Mr. Big combined two popular musical trends of the rock scene in the 1980s: a particular brand of hard rock, focused on melodies and listener-friendly choruses, and impressive technical proficiency, then called shredding. The seeds for the group were sown when bass player Billy Sheehan (considered one of the top bassists of rock, often thought to be the bass equivalent of guitarist Eddie Van Halen) left David Lee Roth's solo band in 1988. Almost immediately after his exit, Sheehan began piecing together a new outfit, with the help of Mike Varney from Shrapnel Records, a label specialized in the shredding genre. The band comprised Shrapnel artist and former Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert, Pat Torpey on drums, and singer Eric Martin, who had a number of album releases throughout the 1980s with his Eric Martin Band. By 1989, the newly formed quartet had already inked a recording contract with Atlantic, resulting in the release of a self-titled debut the same year. Despite causing a buzz amongst musicians, the album failed to crossover to a mainstream rock audience stateside; however, Mr. Big was an immediate smash success overseas in Japan.