In 1967, Johannes Bouwens was living in Wormerveer and joined the band Soul Invention, a soul band which played covers of songs by Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. They changed their name to "George Baker Selection", Bouwens naming himself for a character from a detective novel.^[1] The band consisted of Jan Hop, Jacobus Greuter, George Thé, and Jan Visser. Their first album, Little Green Bag (1970), produced an immediate worldwide hit: their debut single, "Little Green Bag" reached No. 16 on the Cash Box magazine chart and No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in the United States. The success came as a surprise to Baker, who remembers hearing it on the radio at work, in a lemonade factory. The single sold over one million copies globally, and received a gold disc. A string of singles and albums followed; the second single, "Dear Ann", was such a success that Baker quit his job in the lemonade factory and became a full-time musician. Besides scoring hits with his own band, he also wrote songs for others, including BZN, The Shoes, Andy Star, and Next One. In 1974 singer Lida Bond joined the band, and combining her voice with Baker's proved highly successful.

Their fifth album, Paloma Blanca, was released in 1975, and the single "Paloma Blanca" reached No. 1 on charts in several countries. "Paloma Blanca" sold more than seven million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful Dutch singles ever.

In 1978, the George Baker Selection split up because "the pressure had become too much." The band has sold over 20 million records worldwide. George Baker formed a new George Baker Selection in 1982, which stayed together until 1989.^[2] The band has released twelve albums and several compilation albums.

The band experienced a brief return to the international charts in 1992 when the song "Little Green Bag" was used in the title sequence of the film Reservoir Dogs and in "Machos", a cheesy Chilean soap opera in 2003. The song is also featured in a Moto X smartphone commercial circa 2013.