Mariska Veres

"She's got it," Mariska Veres sang in the enormously popular Shocking Blue song "Venus." Mariska most certainly had it--a sensuous and charismatic stage presence that could transfix an audience with an absolute minimum of effort. A striking brunette beauty with long, jet-black hair, sparkling eyes, a sweetly comely face and a voluptuous figure, Veres was further blessed with an exceptionally captivating strong and sultry voice. She was born on October 1, 1947, in the Hague, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. Her father was gypsy Hungarian violinist Lajos Veres and her mother was born in Germany to French and Russian parents. Mariska often accompanied her father on piano. She began her music career in 1963 as a singer with the guitar band Les Mysteres. She was a member of the groups The Blues Fighters, The Bumble Bees, Danny and His Favorites, General Four and The Motowns prior to becoming the lead singer for the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue in 1968 (she replaced original lead singer Fred de Wilde). Shocking Blue scored a massive international success with the song "Venus," enjoyed a steady succession of Dutch radio hits for four years straight, and recorded several albums before splitting up in 1974. Veres went on to a less successful solo career (her lone hit song was "Take Me High" in 1975). Shocking Blue reunited in 1984 for a back-to-the-60's rock concert festival. Mariska was the lead singer for the jazz outfit the Shocking Jazz Quintet in the early 1990s and fronted a new version of Shocking Blue from 1993 to 2006. Mariska Veres died from cancer at the tragically young age of 59 on December 2, 2006; she is much loved and missed by her many fans all over the world.