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Alan Doyle, Sean McCann, Darrell Power and Bob Hallett got together to form a traditional, yet diverse Newfoundland group which features an energetic combination of Celtic rock and sing-along folk, while remaining unmistakably traditional.

Originally with the successful group Rankin Street, McCann and Hallett later met up with Power and Doyle to form Great Big Sea in 1991.

In 1992, Great Big Sea released their self-titled, self-produced album, which was later re-released by Warner Canada. Their second album, 'Up', was released in September 1995 and hit Platinum sales (100,000 copies sold) in Canada in July 1996.

Their third release, 'Play', took only three months to hit Platinum, then doubling to over 200,000 copies by February 1998. That same month Great Big Sea picked up five East Coast Music Awards (including their third consecutive 'Entertainer Of The Year' award) and followed immediately with two Juno Award nominations for 'Group Of The Year' and 'Best Roots and Traditional Album/Group'.