Mariska Veres
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Mariska Veres (pronunciation (help·info)) (1 October 1947 - 2 December 2006) was a Dutch singer who was best known as the lead singer of the pop group Shocking Blue.
Veres was born in Den Haag. Her father was the Hungarian violinist Lajos Veres; her mother was born in Germany of French and Russian parents. Mariska began her career as a singer in 1963 with the guitarband Les Mysteres, later singing with the Bumble Bees in 1965, the Blue Fighters, Danny and his Favourites and General Four in 1966, and the Motowns later in 1966. She also played organ in the last band. In 1968 she was invited to join Shocking Blue to replace lead singer Fred de Wilde because he had to join the Dutch army. In 1969/1970 Shocking Blue gained worldwide fame with the hit single "Venus".
Shocking Blue split up on 1 June 1974; Veres continued in a solo career until the band was reunited in 1984. This comeback turned out to be successful, but one of the other original members, Robbie van Leeuwen, stepped back from the group, partly because he had moved to Luxembourg but also because of the success of Bananarama's cover of "Venus".
Mariska Veres joined the jazz group The Shocking Jazz Quintet in 1993 as their lead singer. From 1993 to 2006 she performed in yet another reincarnation of Shocking Blue, and also recorded an album with Andrei Serban in 2003.
Mariska Veres died of cancer on 2 December 2006, aged 59.[1]
[edit] Reference
- ^ "Original 'Venus' singer dies", ABC News / AFP, December 3, 2006. Retrieved on December 6, 2006.
