1976 Mr.Big – Photographic Smile

Mr Big were a British pop rock band, active in the 1970s and 1990s. They were formed by Jeffrey Robert Pain (aka Dicken) and best known for their 1977 Top 5 hit, “Romeo”. The band was originally active from 1972–78 and then for a second period from 1990–98.

The members of Mr Big had been playing together since the late 1960s, under the name ‘Burnt Oak’. They first played under the name, ‘Mr Big’, in 1972, at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London, when the manager billed them as Mr Big instead of Burnt Oak. The manager refused to change it, so it stuck for the rest of the band’s career.

In 1976, Mr Big embarked on their own UK headline tour and supported Sweet on their tour of Europe, performing on TV in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK. Mr Big were also the first British band to be signed to Clive Davis’s Arista Records in America. They recorded their second album, Mr Big, in Los Angeles, California, with Val Garay.