Shocking Blue
Shocking Blue was Dutch a rock'n'roll group made famous inter alia for the song Venus , Reprise again later by the group Bananarama with as much of success. It was characterized by a sound innovating for the time, by the capacities of showman of the guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen and by the voice of the singer Mariska Veres. Their title " Coil Buzz" was also taken again by the group of grunge American Nirvana.
The group was formed in 1967 by Robbie van Leeuwen, former guitarist of another Dutch group, The Motions, with the beater Cor van Beek, the bass player Klaassje van der Wal and the singer Fred de Wilde. This one was replaced one year later by Mariska Veres and one of the first individual ones of the new grinding of the group was Venus . The song occupied the first place of the sales in Belgium, in France, in Italy, in Spain and Germany, before taking down the first place in the United States in 1970. After some other successes which did not reach the world famous ( Never marry has railroad man , Inktpot , Hello Darkness , Mighty Joe ), Robbie van Leeuwen was shown more and more frustrated by the performances of the group in the classifications of sales. The group was dissolved in 1974.
Mariska Veres died on December 2nd, 2006 of the continuations of a cancer.