Mariska Veres

Mariska Veres ( pronunciation ) (1 October 1947 – 2 December 2006) was a Dutch singer who was best known as the lead singer of the rock group Shocking Blue. Almost as notable as her eccentric and accented vocals, similar to that of a young Cher, was her striking appearance, featuring kohl-rimmed eyes, high cheekbones, and long jet black hair, which was actually a wig.

Veres was born in The Hague. Her father was the Hungarian Romani violinist Lajos Veres, and her mother, Maria Ender, was born in Germany of French and Russian parents. Veres often accompanied her father on the piano, along with her elder sister Ilonka, but her youngest sister, Irene, never had a career in music.

Veres began her career as a singer in 1963 with the guitar band Les Mysteres. In 1964 the band recorded an EP (GTB-label, 10 copies only) with Veres singing on side 1: Summertime (solo) and Someone (a duet). In 2010 the EP was re-released by record club Platenclub Utrecht (PLUT 009). In 1965 she sang with the Bumble Bees, and then with the Blue Fighters, Danny and his Favourites and General Four. Later in 1966 she sang with the Motowns with whom she also played organ. In 1968 she was invited to join Shocking Blue to replace lead singer Fred de Wilde who had to join the army. In 1969/1970 Shocking Blue gained worldwide fame with the hit single "Venus". The month of their arrival in the United States gossip columnist Earl Wilson referred to Veres as a 'beautiful busty girl.'

When 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 started the jazz group The Shocking Jazz Quintet in 1993, and recorded an album ('Shocking You') with pop songs from the 60s and 70s, now in a jazz version. From 1993 to 2006 she performed in yet another reincarnation of Shocking Blue (recorded the songs 'Body and Soul' and 'Angel', both produced by former member Robbie van Leeuwen), and also recorded an album with Andrei Serban in 2003, named 'Gipsy Heart', going back to her Romani roots. A version of "Venus" was posthumously released in 2007, a few months after her death, recorded with pianist/bandleader Dolf de Vries (on the album Another Touch). Veres recorded "Venus" four times: with Shocking Blue (1969), with the Mariska Veres Shocking Jazz Quintet (1993), with Formula Diablos (in English/Spanish, 1997), and with Dolf de Vries (a lounge version of "Venus", 2005/2006).

Veres in 1970 at the Hilton Amsterdam, having been presented with gold and platinum records by Albert Mol

Solo singles

• 1975 "Take Me High/I Am Loving You" (Pink Elephant, Polydor, Decca)
• 1976 "Tell It Like It Is/Wait Till' I Get Back To You" (Pink Elephant, Polydor)
• 1976 "Loving you/You Showed Me How" (Pink Elephant)
• 1977 "Little By Little/Help The Country" (Pink Elephant)
• 1978 "Too Young/You Don't Have To Know" (Seramble)
• 1978 "Bye Bye To Romance/It's A Long Hard Road" (CNR)
• 1980 "Looking out for number one/So Sad Without You" (CNR)
• 1982 "Wake Up City/In The Name Of Love" (EMI Records)

Albums

• 1993 Shocking You (Red Bullet) An Album by Mariska Veres Shocking Jazz Quintet
• 2003 Gipsy Heart (Red Bullet) An Album by Mariska Veres & Ensemble Andrei Serban

Mariska Veres died of cancer on 2 December 2006, aged 59. Despite her long-term relationship with guitarist André van Geldorp, she did not marry and had no children. Reminiscing to the Belgian magazine Flair, she remarked about her early fame, "I was just a painted doll (back in those days), nobody could ever reach me. Nowadays, I am more open to people."