Shocking Blue


Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. The band had a number of psychedelic rock hits throughout the counterculture movements era during the 1960s and early 1970s, including "Send Me a Postcard", "Love Buzz", and "Venus," the last of which became their biggest hit, and reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and many other countries during 1969 and 1970.
The band had sold 13.5 million records by 1973 but disbanded in 1974.

History

Shocking Blue was founded in 1967 by Robbie van Leeuwen. Other members of the group at this time were Fred de Wilde, Klaasje van der Wal and Cor van der Beek. The group had a minor hit in 1968 with "Lucy Brown is Back in Town". De Wilde left in 1968 after joining the Dutch army and van Leeuwen was introduced to Mariska Veres, singing at that time with a club band. He persuaded her to take over the vocals and the group charted a worldwide hit with the song "Venus", which peaked at No. 3 in the Netherlands in autumn 1969. The song was released in America and Great Britain at the end of the year and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. It subsequently sold 350,000 copies in Germany and topped the U.S. chart for three weeks, the first song from the Netherlands to do so. It sold over one million copies there by January 1970 and received a gold record awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America. Global sales exceeded five million copies.
Other hits include "Send Me a Postcard" in 1968/69 and "Long and Lonesome Road" in 1969.
"Venus" was followed by "Mighty Joe" in 1969 and "Never Marry a Railroad Man" in 1970, both of which sold over a million records. The latter became a top-ten hit in several countries around the world. Later songs – including "Hello Darkness", "Demon Lover", "Shocking You", "Blossom Lady" and "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Inkpot", "Rock in the Sea" and "Eve and the Apple" and "Oh Lord" were successful in Europe, Latin America and Asia, but failed to chart in the U.S or U.K.
Klaasje van der Wal left towards the end of 1971, following their first trip to Japan. In 1974 Robbie Van Leeuwen quit and, later that year, Mariska Veres left, leading to the band's split. Veres enjoyed a solo career until 1982. Her singles "Take Me High" and "Lovin' You" were popular mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. She also released the singles "Tell It Like It Is", a cover version of Dusty Springfield's "Little By Little", and "Too Young".
Shocking Blue reformed with its most famous line-up in 1979 and recorded "Louise" as their first single since their break-up in 1974. The song was never released, for reasons unknown. They did, however, perform live in 1980 with earlier songs such as "Venus" and "Never Marry a Railroad Man". They attempted another comeback in 1984 and recorded "The Jury and the Judge" with "I Am Hanging on to Love" as the B-side in 1986. That same year, they recorded another unreleased song, "Time Is a Jetplane".
Drummer Cor van der Beek died on 2 April 1998, at the age of 49, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Mariska Veres died of gallbladder cancer on 2 December 2006, at the age of 59 in The Hague, Netherlands. Bassist Klaasje van der Wal died on 12 February 2018 at the age of 69.

Cover versions

;The initial line-up consisted of:
;Later members were:
;Also:


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id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals
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id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass
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bar:Wilde text:"Fred de Wilde"
bar:Veres text:"Mariska Veres"
bar:Leeuwen text:"Robbie van Leeuwen"
bar:Beek text:"Cor van der Beek"
bar:Wal text:"Klaasje van der Wal"
bar:Smitskamp text:"Henk Smitskamp"
bar:Ketterij text:"Leo van de Ketterij"
bar:Wijk text:" Martin van Wijk"
bar:Geldorp text:" André van Geldorp"
bar:Schreuder text:" Michel Schreuder"
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width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:
bar:Wilde from:01/01/1967 till:01/10/1968 color:Vocals
bar:Veres from:01/10/1968 till:01/06/1975 color:Vocals
bar:Veres from:01/10/1980 till:01/01/2006 color:Vocals
bar:Leeuwen from:01/01/1967 till:01/01/1974 color:Guitar
bar:Leeuwen from:01/10/1980 till:01/11/1987 color:Guitar
bar:Beek from:01/10/1980 till:01/01/1984 color:Drums
bar:Beek from:01/01/1967 till:01/06/1975 color:Drums
bar:Wal from:01/10/1980 till:01/01/1984 color:Bass
bar:Wal from:01/01/1967 till:01/01/1972 color:Bass
bar:Smitskamp from:01/01/1972 till:01/06/1975 color:Bass
bar:Ketterij from:01/01/1970 till:01/01/1972 color:Guitar
bar:Wijk from:01/07/1973 till:01/06/1975 color:Guitar
bar:Geldorp from:01/11/1987 till:01/01/2006 color:Guitar
bar:Schreuder from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2006 color:Drums

Discography

Albums

Compilations

LPs
CDs