Great Big Sea (often shortened to GBS) is a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage.

The band played its first official gig on March 11, 1993, opening for the Irish Descendants at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland.

The founding band members included Alan Doyle (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin), Séan McCann (vocals, bodhrán, guitar, tin whistle), Darrell Power (vocals, bass, guitar, bones), and Bob Hallett (vocals, fiddle, accordion, mandolin, concertina, bouzouki, whistles, bagpipes).

Power, McCann and Hallett had already been playing together with a woman named Jackie St. Croix in a band called "Rankin Street." According to Doyle, Rankin Street owned a PA, and he owned a van, which made Great Big Sea "a match made in heaven."

Power retired from Great Big Sea in 2003 to spend more time with his family and friends.[3] Supporting members of the band include Kris McFarlane (2003) (drums, accordion, guitar, backing vocals) and Murray Foster (2003, formerly of the band Moxy Früvous) (bass, backing vocals).

The band won the Entertainer of the Year award at the East Coast Music Awards for every year between 1996 and 2000.

In 2001, they decided not to submit their name for nomination in order to allow other bands to compete. They have also been nominated for several Juno Awards, including Group of the Year in 1998 and 2005.
http://www.greatbigsea.com/