Pussycat

Pussycat are a Dutch country music band from the Netherlands. The group was fronted by the three Kowalczyk sisters: Toni Wille, Marianne Hensen, and Betty Dragstra. The girls were the daughters of a Polish miner and grew up in Limburg. They began their music career as The Singing Sisters in 1963 and sang German language songs. They subsequently changed their name to The BG's from Holland. The group changed their name a third time to Sweet Reaction and released the unsuccessful single "Tell Alain" in 1973. The band finally settled on the name Pussycat in 1975. Besides the Kowalczyk sisters, the other original band members were drummer Theo Coumans, bassist Theo Wetzels, and guitarist John Theunissen. Pussycat had a massive international smash with the beautiful "Mississippi;" the song not only was a #1 hit for four weeks straight in England, but also was a huge hit all over Europe and sold over four million copies worldwide. The equally fine follow-up songs "Georgie," "Smile," and "Hey Joe" all likewise did well. In 1977 the group had a #1 hit in the Netherlands with the song "My Broken Souvenirs." Pussycat continued to record albums and singles as well as perform all over the world throughout the late 70's and mid 80's before breaking up in 1985. Betty focused on raising a family, Marianne became the owner of a bar in Brunssum, and Toni has gone on to a highly successful solo career. In 1999 the band got back together to perform at several reunion concerts. More recently Pussycat contributed to the country band Major Dundee's single "Somewhere Someone" in 2005 and singer Dennis Jones' Dutch reggae cover of their signature hit song "Mississipi" in 2007.