Biography
read full storyBig Mountain is an American reggae band, most famous for their cover version of Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way," which became a Top 10 hit single in the U.S. in early 1994 reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #2 in the UK shortly afterwards.
Big Mountain evolved from the mid-1980s band Rainbow Warriors in San Diego, California, in 1991, the original line-up including Joaquin McWhinney "Quino" (vocals), Jerome Cruz (guitar), Gregory Blakney (drums), Lance Rhodes (drums), Manfred Reinke (keyboards), and Lynn Copeland (bass guitar). The band first reached the charts with the song "Touch My Light" in the late spring of 1993, receiving major airplay on mainstream radio stations, such as B-100 and Q-106 in San Diego. "Baby, I Love Your Way" was included on the soundtrack for the film, Reality Bites, and peaked at number six in the Billboard Hot 100 and number two in the UK Singles Chart. The follow-up, "Sweet Sensual Love" reached number fifty-one in the UK, and the album Unity (with the line-up now featuring Jamaican guitarist Tony Chin and drummer Carlton "Santa" Davis) went on to sell over a million copies worldwide.
The band appeared at both the 1994 and 1995 Reggae Sunsplash festivals. After the band split up Joaquin McWhinney started to teach at Olympian High School which received the highest test scores on their CAHSEE exams Although their earlier success has not been repeated, they went on to work with Sly & Robbie.