George Ross Watt - vocals, guitar.

Tam Lucas (Shifty) - bass.

Tommy McIntyre - piano and keyboards.

Gregg Orr - drums.

and various line ups through the years

Big George and the Business were a four piece Blues Rock Band from Glasgow. Over the years the band developed from a 3 piece to even a 7 piece band at one time. The band’s most successful line-up consisted of Big George (George Ross Watt) on Guitar and Vocals, Shifty (Tam McLucas) on Bass, Tommy (Fingers) McIntyre on Piano and Keyboards and Gregg (Orbit) Orr on Drums. With 3 studio albums, 2 live albums and 20+ years of experience of touring the western world, BGB rock ‘n’ rolled their audiences, leaving them with memories of being blown away by the sheer intensity and passion of their shows. George Ross Watt (Big George) was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1958 and brought up in the slums which housed the shipyard and engineering workers. It was a beginning that gave him a lust for life and made him uncompromising on the music he loved and composed, and as the years rolled on had shown that he had a god given talent to write and entertain. After playing in the typical local band circuit for many years, he was hired by one of his all time heroes, James Dewar. James Dewar was another Scot with a god given talent of performance and musical ability and played with such bands as Stone The Crows and The Robin Trower Band unfortunately after four years the partnership came to an end, when James Dewar was forced to retire through ill health. When this situation arose Big George knew the time was ripe to form his own band and as a consequence of these events "Big George and the Business" were born. In the initial stages Big George tried a number of different formats and local musicians until he found himself with a three piece band. He was joined by Greg Orr on Drums and Tam McLucas (Shifty) on Bass, Shifty also took over the management of the band and his organisational skills propelled the band onto the next level. This version was rapidly acclaimed for their raw, gutsy, uncompromising style of Blues, and it was only a short time before they were nationally recognised. Releasing their first album the ‘Alleged’ only further enhanced their growing reputation for a rockin' style of Blues, which no other UK band could match. With a good management structure and the release of the Alleged Album the band hit the touring circuit travelling extensively throughout the UK, Europe and Scandinavia. When time permitted the band eventually managed to return home long enough to write and record their second album, ‘All Fools Day’. By this time their reputation had spread across the Atlantic and they were invited to appear in the Montreal Jazz festival, Hard Rock Café, Theatre St Denis and other venues in Quebec and Ontario in 1992.  The band made frequent returns to Canada and America and graced many a stage with the likes of Buddy Guy, Larry Davis, John Campbell, Bo Diddley, Mick Taylor, to drop only a few names. While in Canada in the late 1990's the band recorded half of their next album, ‘Home Of The Wolfe’ in Montreal. The title track of which was inspired by Big George being made an honorary member of the Mohawk nation following a gig at the Kahnawake reservation. While the first album was gutsy and raw and the second saw the band expanding with piano and other instruments, the Home of the Wolf album explodes with the potential shown in the first two. It had now shown George graduating from an accomplished guitarist to one of the finest guitarists, singers, writers and Producers that was ever to grace a stage in the world of the Blues. In addition to his work in the Blues world George also worked widely in the world of television penning and performing for many highly acclaimed UK television programmes, the band made also made an ­appearance in Peter MacDougall’s TV play Down Among the Big Boys, which gave a starring role to Billy Connolly and up and coming actor Gary Lewis.    In between touring George also involved himself with the local community, teaching many kids in music and in particular guitar tuition. He also produced and recorded a number of young up and coming bands from all over Scotland in his custom built studio. His patience and diligence in this field earned him great praise from the local community in which he lived. Unfortunately after a few years with health issues  George Watt passed away in April 2013,   ‘He could be a wild man at times’ said bass player Tam McLucas. ‘But he was a gentleman, a very genuine and very kind man’    The band’s long term roadie Richard Devlin remembered Watt as ‘warm, witty and charming, he always had time for fans at gigs, he was also well-read with a keen interest in all sorts of music and art’   John Bruce guitarist with Scots blues band  Blues ’n’ Trouble, played with George on various occasions and described him as ‘hugely charismatic on and off stage, as a musician he had exceptional feel and skill, unbelievable ­dynamics, he also had a fantastic voice with smoky tones that would make Joe Cocker jealous and a style of guitar playing that would have had Stevie Ray Vaughan nodding in approval’   George was once described as ‘Billy Connolly meets Jimi Hendrix who combined onstage Glaswegian patter with a bluesman’s growl and incendiary guitar technique  He was an unforgettable performer who thrilled crowds all over the world, wherever his band travelled they took no prisoners and left no one in any doubt, that they were. The Business.  

The Big George and The Business profile was edited from articles written in The Scotsman and Last.fm.