Shocking Blue was a Dutch quartet which emerged from The Hague, in 1967. Its initial membership was that of vocalist, Fred de Wilde; guitarist and backing vocalist, Robbie van Leeuwen; bass guitarist, Klaasje van der Wal; and drummer, Cor van der Beek.
Nevertheless, by the time its universally acclaimed single, “Venus”, entered the American Billboard Hot 100 chart, in December of 1969, Mariska Veres was the group’s vocalist. “Venus” became the Netherlands’ first No.1 hit in America, where it topped the chart for three weeks. Global sales of the recording were to exceed five million copies.
Shocking Blue disbanded in 1974, but not before it had released some eleven albums and twenty-five singles.
Today, “Venus”, with the passing of time, is more associated with the British female vocal duo, Bananarama, which also took it to No.1 internationally, in 1986.
Shocking Blue’s song, “Love Buzz”, was chosen by Nirvana to be its debut single, in 1988. “Love Buzz” is a psychedelic track on the album, ‘At Home’, which was first released in 1969.
Mariska Veres died from cancer, in December of 2006, at the age of fifty-nine.