De Greeuw speelde eind jaren '80 al geruime tijd in diverse bandjes en wist met de band Little Mary Big in 1990 de finale te bereiken van de Grote Prijs van Nederland. Little Mary Big kwam echter niet verder dan de tweede plaats achter La Lupa. Ruzie tussen Jacco de Greeuw en zangeres Marike Groot zorgen ervoor dat de band voortijdig werd opgeheven. Marike Groot deed hierna mee op het debuutalbum van The Gathering. De Greeuw vroeg jeugdvriend Remco Krull om deel te nemen in een nieuwe band, Visions of Johanna (vernoemd naar een nummer van Bob Dylan), waarmee zij in 1992 opnieuw een poging waagden in de Grote Prijs van Nederland. Zij strandden ditmaal echter reeds in de halve finales. Wel brachten ze nog een single uit: Swell. Na enkele bezettingswisselingen wegens muzikale meningsverschillen tekende de groep bij het label Electrolux, waar zij eind 1995 de single Swing uitbrachten, dat een jaar later op hun debuutalbum zou verschijnen. De band bestond op dat moment uit Jacco de Greeuw, Remco Krull, Wim Kwakman en Niels de Wit.
Little Mary Big was founded in 1990, and managed to reach the final of the Dutch music contest "Grote Prijs van Nederland" within months. The song "Too far gone" was picked as the best song of that year's edition of the contest.
Actually, Marike, Jacco and Antonino had already been playing together in the preceding band Thank God For Us for about a year. When the second guitarist and the bass player left the band, RJ was asked to fill in on bass. He came up with the new name as well. For acoustic sets, the band often asked celliste Maaike Veerman to join in. Maaike ended up playing electric sets too and joined the band in the studio, serving as an honorable member.
After gigging and demoing for about a year and a half, LMB disbanded in January 1992 after differences between Jacco and Marike. They still managed to put out two demo tapes, contributed two songs on the compilation album Eleven ways to get out and two more on the Grote Prijs van Nederland sampler CD, and appeared on Dutch national radio and TV.
Jacco went on to form Visions of Johanna, the band that is now widely known as Johan. Marike provided vocals for the Gathering's first album and is still active as a musician as well, just as RJ. Antonino moved back to his home country Italy, where he is still active as a drummer.
Four years after their demise, the original four members entered the studio to record four more demos. Just for keeps. But over the years people kept asking for copies of the music.
So in 2007, LMB agreed to make all of their studio demos available on CD. Those 14 songs will be accompanied by a second CD filled with live renditions, acoustic versions and rehearshals. The wretched thing should be ready this Spring.
