Nineties rockers Mr. Big have a reunion in their sights this year.
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The ensemble behind the 1991 hit “To Be With You” was a rock mainstay from the late ’80s into the early 2000s. Originally comprised of vocalist Eric Martin, guitarist Paul Gilbert, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Pat Torpey, the band first split in 2002 before reuniting in 2008. Torpey died a decade later from complications with Parkinson’s disease, forcing Mr. Big to find their footing once again.
Now, in a recent interview with The Metal Voice, the band’s frontman has explained Mr. Big’s return will be a sure thing in 2023.
“Well, look, Mr. Big is definitely gonna happen,” Martin said. “There’s no question about it.
“It’s gonna happen in the middle of 2023,” he detailed, adding a potential U.S. tour on the horizon sometime this summer. “Paul is involved – obviously, Paul Gilbert, the original guitar player. [Bassist] Billy Sheehan… the spirit of Pat Torpey. There will be a phenomenal drummer.”
While he gave few specifics, he confirmed former Mr. Big drummer and Torpey’s stand-in Matt Starr will not join them as the replacement behind the kit.
“I don’t want to mention the guy’s name until the press release comes out,” he said of the new percussionist. “But the guy really stepped up and everybody knows him and then one really really cool thing is that he was a big fan of Pat Torpey … I think Pat, he’d approve of this new mystery man.”
Over the course of their on-and-off-again, multi-decade career, the band has released nine studio albums. Their most recent release came in the form of the 2017 LP, Defying Gravity. After Torpey’s passing, there was talk of a final album that never materialized.
“It feels a little uncomfortable to keep going without Pat Torpey,” Martin explained at the time.
(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
