Great Big Hits is the 11th album by popular children's entertainers Sharon, Lois & Bram, originally released in 1992. The album features 31 favorite Sharon, Lois & Bram songs, most released on previous albums, although the trio did re-recorded several songs especially for this album to give them more of a "Sharon, Lois & Bram sound".
Releases
The original release was in 1992 under Elephant Records in Canada, and under A&M Records in the United States. Then in 2004, Great Big Hits was re-released under Casablanca Kids Inc. The album is also available in a 2-Disc BoxSet released by Casablanca Kids in 2004.
1992 (Elephant Records/A&M Records)Cassette/CD
2004/2005/2008 (Casablanca Kids Inc.) CD
Touring and promotions
To promote the album, Sharon, Lois & Bram launched their "Great Big Tour" across Canada and the United States, presented by Nickelodeon US and Eaton's Canada. Pictures from the tour can be seen in the Sharon, Lois & Bram Photo Album that was published to sell at Great Big Hits concerts. The Great Big Tour sold over 200,000 seats across North America.
They also released a mini-compilation album to promote Great Big Hits. It was titled Kidbits and featured a selection of songs from their earlier albums as well as a special Skinnamarink Introduction where the trio personally welcomes you to the album and gives a brief description of their career and what to expect in terms of the Great Big Hits album. It is available only on cassette.
Great Big Hits proved that Sharon, Lois & Bram were rising stars and were an upward trend in popularity at the time because the album only took 2 months to "go gold", whereas their previous album, Sing A to Z, released in 1990, took 2 years to "go gold".[1]
In addition, a Songbook titled "Great Big Hits" was published by Warner-Chappell Music in 1993. It contains piano music, guitar chords, and lyrics to all of the songs found on the album, as well as a special 4-Hand Skinnamarink Duet for the piano.
Nominations and awards
Our Choice Award, Canadian Children's Book Centre (1992)