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Shokin blue. Biography of the group "Shocking Blue"

One day, the band's manager was at a party where the Bumble Bees were performing with the amazing vocalist Mariska Veres, and decided that she would be the perfect complement to "Shocking blue". Robbie was immediately attracted to her vocal style, which is very different from other performers. Mariska, half Hungarian, half German, often sang with her father, who played the violin in a gypsy orchestra.

Before the invitation to " shock blue"she recorded a solo single called "Topkapi" and gained experience in various groups. She replaced Wilde and, without a doubt, it was her vocals that became a magnet that attracted viewers and listeners; her ringing voice gave the music a distinct sound of rhythm and blues. Like said Robbie: "When Mariska came in, everything started to spin, and one of the first singles - "Venus" - became a great hit."

Shocking blue In Holland, "Venus" peaked at number three while topping the charts in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The recording attracted the attention of the newly founded American company Colossus. Label head Jerry Ross signed Shocking blue and was rewarded for his entrepreneurial spirit when Venus reached the top of the US charts in February 1970. It goes without saying that the band was extremely popular at home and had approximately fifty hits in the Dutch charts, while their records also sold well in France and Japan. The group's next single "Mighty Joe" went to number one in Holland and, like its predecessor, was present on all the charts.

"Never Marry a Railroad Man" also topped the Dutch charts; followed by "Hello Darkness", "Shocking You", "Long Lonesome Road", "Blossom Lady" and "Inkpot". "Shocking Blue" successfully combined beat and rhythm and blues with the oriental sound of the Indian sitar.

Shocking blueRobbie didn't mind if the band included a few cover versions of old songs on their albums, as they constantly write new material was too much of a burden for him. "We did everything ourselves, and radio station DJs would like to hear everything completely new from us every time. But a large number of albums led to the fact that the group was forced to supplement them with cover versions. It was extremely difficult for me to write all the music and words alone ". For several months in 1970-1971 guitarist Leo Van De Ketteridge played with the band. Mariska, Robbie, Cornelius and Claassier were together for three years: they toured the world, visiting such distant corners as Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South America. Despite the fact that the group continued to release excellent and often groundbreaking singles and to take places in the European charts, Robbie Van Lieven fell into depression. He was depressed by the limited success of the group, as a result of which quarrels began to occur within Shocking Blue.

Claassier left first, replaced in 1971 by Henk Smitskamp. In 1973, Van Lieven himself left the group for a while, and Martin van Wijk took his place. Without Robbie, "Shocking Blue" still held on, but in 1974 Mariska also left the group, deciding to start solo career, and the team finally broke up. In 1979, Robbie wanted to revive the group, but for some reason this did not happen then. However, at the end of 1984, Shocking Blue reunited and played two shows at the Back-to-the-Sixties festival.

The band was founded in 1967 by guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen, a veteran of the famous Dutch rock bands The motions. The name "Shocking Blue" was inspired by Eric Clapton's Electric Blue lyrics from the song "Strange Brew". In addition to van Leeuwen, the band included drummer Cornelius van der Beek, bassist Klaasche van der Wal and vocalist Fred de Wilde. The group's second single "Lucy Brown Is Back in Town", which peaked at number 21 on the Dutch Top 40, was released on the Pink Elephant label. One day, the band's manager was at a party where the Bumble Bees were performing with amazing vocalist Mariska Veres, and decided that she would be the perfect addition to Shocking Blue (Robbie would agree with him at the first audition). Mariska, whose father was a Hungarian gypsy and her mother was a native of Germany French-Russian origin, she often sang with her father, who played the violin in a gypsy orchestra. Prior to being invited to Shocking Blue, she recorded a solo single called "Topkapi" and gained experience in various bands. She replaced Fred de Vilde, and, without a doubt, it was her vocals that became a magnet that attracted viewers and listeners; her ringing voice gave the music a distinct rhythm and blues sound. As Robbie said: "When Mariska came, everything immediately started spinning, and one of the first singles - Venus - became a great hit."
The group's next single "Mighty Joe" went to number one in Holland and, like its predecessor, was present on all the charts.
Shocking Blue successfully combined beat and rhythm and blues with the oriental sound of the Indian sitar.
Robbie didn't mind if the band included a few cover versions of old songs on the albums, as it was too much of a burden for him to write new material all the time. “We did everything ourselves, and radio station DJs would like to hear from us every time everything is completely new. But a large number of albums led to the fact that the group was forced to supplement them with cover versions. It was extremely difficult for me to write all the music and words alone.” For several months in 1970-1971 guitarist Leo van de Ketterey played with the band. Mariska, Robbie, Cornelius and Klache were together for three years: they toured the world, visiting such distant corners as Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South America. Despite the fact that the group continued to release excellent and often groundbreaking singles and to take places in the European charts, Robbie van Leeuwen fell into a depression. He was depressed by the limited success of the group, as a result of which quarrels began to occur within Shocking Blue.
Klaasche left first, replaced in 1971 by Henk Smitskamp. In 1973, van Leeuwen himself left the group for a while, and Martin van Wijk, who had previously played in two Dutch bands, Fairy Tale and Jupiier, took his place. He became the leader of Shocking Blue, and the new material was already the result of his research, bringing some glam rock and funk to the music of Shocking Blue.
Without Robbie, Shocking Blue still held on, but in 1974 Mariska also left the group, who decided to start a solo career, and the team finally broke up. In 1975, the last single "Gonna Sing My Song" was released. In 1979, Robbie wanted to revive the group, even the song "Louise" was recorded. However, the song was not released and the reunion never took place. However, in late 1984, Shocking Blue reunited and played two shows at the Back-to-the-Sixties festival.

Robbie van Leeuwen - guitar, sitar, backing vocals (1967-1973)
Fred de Wilde - vocals (1967-1968)
Klache van der Wal - bass guitar (1967-1971)
Kor van der Beek - drums (1967-1974)
Mariska Veres - vocals (1968-1974)
Leo van de Ketterey - guitar (1970-1971)
Martin van Wijk - guitar (1973-1974)
Henk Smitskamp - bass guitar (1971-1974)

The band was founded in 1967 by guitarist Robbie Van Lieven, a veteran of the famous Dutch rock band "Motion". The name "Shocking blue" was inspired by the Eric Clapton song "Electric Blue". In addition to Van Lieven, the band included drummer Cornelius van der Beek, bassist Claassier van der Waal and vocalist Fred De Wilde. The band's first single "Lucy Brown Is Back In Town", which peaked at number 21 on the Dutch Top 40, was released on the Pink Elephant label.

Prior to being invited to Shocking Blue, she recorded a solo single called "Topkapi" and gained experience in various bands. She replaced Wild and, without a doubt, it was her vocals that became a magnet that attracted viewers and listeners; her ringing voice gave the music a distinct rhythm and blues sound. As Robbie said: "When Mariska came in, everything immediately started spinning, and one of the first singles - "Venus" - became a great hit."

In the Netherlands, "Venus" peaked at number three, while also topping the charts in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The recording attracted the attention of the newly founded American company Colossus. Label head Jerry Ross signed Shocking blue and was rewarded for his entrepreneurial spirit when Venus reached the top of the US charts in February 1970. It goes without saying that the band was extremely popular at home and had approximately fifty hits in the Dutch charts, while their records also sold well in France and Japan. The group's next single "Mighty Joe" went to number one in Holland and, like its predecessor, was present on all the charts.

Robbie didn't mind if the band included a few cover versions of old songs on the albums, as it was too much of a burden for him to write new material all the time. "We did everything ourselves, and radio station DJs would like to hear everything completely new from us every time. But a large number of albums led to the fact that the group was forced to supplement them with cover versions. It was extremely difficult for me to write all the music and words alone ". For several months in 1970-1971 guitarist Leo Van De Ketteridge played with the band. Mariska, Robbie, Cornelius and Claassier were together for three years: they toured the world, visiting as far away as Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South America. Despite the fact that the group continued to release excellent and often groundbreaking singles and to take places in the European charts, Robbie Van Lieven fell into depression. He was depressed by the limited success of the group, as a result of which quarrels began to occur within Shocking Blue.

In the mid-seventies, Robbie returned to music industry with Galaxy Lyn, more folk and jazz oriented than Shocking Blue. He also became the producer of Mariska's solo single called "Too Young". Subsequently, Robbie released several hits at the studio "Mistral". The team disbanded in the early eighties, and in 1983 the guitarist moved from The Hague to Luxembourg, where he lived away from the music business. In 1996 he returned to Holland.

In 1979, Robbie wanted to revive the group, but for some reason this did not happen then. However, at the end of 1984, Shocking Blue reunited and played two shows at the Back-to-the-Sixties festival. They proved worthy of our memory: van Leuwen still keeps his style, and Mariska has one of the most wonderful female voices. And their interpretations of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit" are as strong as their own.

In September 1993, Mariska Veres decided to breathe in "Shocking Blue" new life. But from former musicians no one returned to the group. Robbie van Leeuwen allowed Mariska to keep the name "Shocking Blue" for her new group and even became the producer of the CD single "Body & Soul", released in 1994. The band performed at many festivals in the sixties and seventies, mostly in Germany.

Shocking Blue is a Dutch rock band best known for their 1969 hit Venus. For a short time of its existence, the team became the most popular in its country, but never achieved wide popularity outside of it. The composition of the Shokin Blue group, its history and discography - later in this article.

Creation

The Dutch guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen, already known in his homeland for his participation in The Motions, decided to form his own band. The names of the participants of "Shokin Blue" in the original composition, in addition to Leuven:

Fred de Wilde (vocals)
Clasche van der Wal (bass)
Cornelius van der Beek (drums)

Robbie himself took the place of the guitarist and acted as the author of all the songs, he also came up with the name for the newly minted ensemble - at first it sounded like "Electric Blue", according to a line from Eric Clapton's song Strange Brew, but then "electric blue" turned into "shocking" . This suited all the members of the group. In this composition, the musicians released two singles and one album. The photo below shows the cover of this album, which was called "Shokin Blue". It is interesting because you can see the original composition of the group on it.

The arrival of Mariska Veres

However, both the participants themselves and the manager understood that the Shocking Blue group was missing something. The lyrics are good, the arrangements too, but overall the music is mediocre. And so, in 1968, when he saw the performance of the aspiring singer Mariska Veres at one of the musical parties, the manager immediately realized what exactly the group lacked. This girl with gypsy, Hungarian, German and Russian roots had a truly unique vocals, and the manager suggested that she be included in the line-up instead of Fred de Wilde. It took the participants one listening session to agree immediately. Below is a photo of "Shokin Blue", taken during one of the first performances with the participation of Mariska.

The success of the group with the arrival of the vocalist began to grow noticeably - in the new composition of "Shokin Blue" they released two fairly successful singles, and then the main hit of the group was born, by which it is recognized to this day.

Venus

This song, released as a single in 1969, was a musical cover version of the 1963 hit years Banjo song recorded by The Big three. The lyrics and new arrangement were composed by Robbie van Leeuwen. In Holland, the homeland of the musicians, the song took only the third line of the hit parade, but in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium it was in first place. In 1969, the band's second album, At Home, was released - and, of course, Venus was included in its track listing. This contributed to the high sales of At Home itself, as well as several subsequent singles and albums.

But the real success for the song (and, accordingly, the group) came in 1970, when the head of the American label Colossus, Jerry Ross, signed a contract with Shokin Blue to release an American single with the song Venus. He did not fail - the hit took first place in the main American Billboard 100 chart and did not leave the top of several other charts for several months. This year it again took first place in the charts in Switzerland and Belgium and second place in the charts in Austria, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands. See the performance famous song"Shokin Blue" can be seen in the video below.

In Russia and countries former USSR the song is often called "Shizgara" - by the sound of the line She "s got it, with which the chorus begins. This was also facilitated by the song of the domestic rock band "Mongol Shuudan", which recorded its version of the song in Russian, but with the original English chorus preserved, under the name "Shizgara".

Further creativity and breakup

Despite the innovative sound of melodies and unique vocals in subsequent compositions "Shokin Blue", the band failed to repeat the success of the Venus song. In the style of the psychedelic ensembles of the time, Robbie van Leeuwen very successfully combined the sounds of rhythm and blues guitar and Indian sitar, which he played on his own, in his arrangements. Some compositions of "Shokin Blue" were highly appreciated American group Jefferson Airplane playing like this musical direction, however, this did not affect them in any way. commercial success.

From 1970 to 1971, another guitarist, Leo van der Ketterey, joined the band, and with this line-up the musicians managed to tour several countries, including South America, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The maximum sales of records at that time were noted in the Japanese and French music markets. But this success did not satisfy Leuven - his dream of big performances in the USA remained unrealizable. Growing on this basis, internal scandals between the members forced the bass player Clashe van der Wal to leave the group in 1971. He was replaced by Henk Smitskamp.

Finally, in 1973, founding member and songwriter Robbie van Leeuwen left Shokin Blue. He was replaced by Martin van Wijk, who also became a guitarist and songwriter. Under his leadership, Last year of its existence, "Shokin Blue" from a psychedelic turned into a funk band. Finally, in 1974, Mariska Veres also left the team, deciding to take up solo work. On this, the existence of the most famous Dutch rock band ceased. sole member, who went all the way "Shokin Blue" from creation to disintegration, turned out to be drummer Cornelius van der Beek.

Reunification attempt

In 1979, Robbie van Leeuwen made an attempt to rejoin the band. He even prepared new material for recording, but none of former members did not support the idea of resurrecting Shokin Blue. However, after only 4 years, in 1983, Mariska Veres turned to Leuven for permission to use the name former group for her new team. He agreed, but all he did new composition"Shokin Blue" is one single and two concerts as part of the 1994 festival "Back to the Sixties".

Discography

During its existence from 1967 to 1974, the Shokin Blue group released 11 music albums. In addition to the first two albums mentioned above, they were:

Scorpio's Dance (1970).
Third Album (1971).
Inkpot (1972).
Live in Japan (1972).
Attila (1972).
Ever and the Apple (1972).
Dream on Dreamer (1973).
Ham (1973).
Good Times (1974).

party hosted by the Bumble Bees with amazing vocalist Mariska Veres and decided she would be the perfect complement to Shocking Blue. Robbie was immediately attracted to her vocal style, which is very different from other performers. Mariska, half Hungarian gypsy, half German, often sang with her father, who played the violin in a gypsy orchestra.

Prior to being invited to Shocking Blue, she recorded a solo single called "Topkapi" and gained experience in various bands. She replaced de Vilde, and, without a doubt, it was her vocals that became a magnet that attracted viewers and listeners; her ringing voice gave the music a distinct rhythm and blues sound. As Robbie said: "When Mariska came, everything immediately started spinning, and one of the first singles - Venus - became a great hit."

In the Netherlands, Venus peaked at number three while topping the charts in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The recording attracted the attention of the newly founded American company Colossus. Label head Jerry Ross signed with Shocking Blue and was rewarded for his entrepreneurial spirit when Venus topped the US charts in February 1970. It goes without saying that the band was extremely popular at home and had approximately fifty hits in the Dutch charts, while their records also sold well in France and Japan. The group's next single, Mighty Joe, went to number one in Holland and, like its predecessor, was present on all the charts.

Robbie didn't mind if the band included a few cover versions of old songs on the albums, as it was too much of a burden for him to write new material all the time. “We did everything ourselves, and the DJs of the radio stations would like to hear from us every time everything is completely new. But a large number of albums led to the fact that the group was forced to supplement them with cover versions. It was extremely difficult for me to write all the music and words alone.” For several months in 1970-1971 guitarist Leo van de Ketterey played with the band. Mariska, Robbie, Cornelius and Klache were together for three years: they toured the world, visiting such distant corners as Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South America. Despite the fact that the group continued to release excellent and often groundbreaking singles and to take places in the European charts, Robbie van Leeuwen fell into a depression. He was depressed by the limited success of the group, as a result of which quarrels began to occur within Shocking Blue.

Klache left first, replaced in 1971 by Henk Smitskamp. In 1973, van Leeuwen himself left the group for a while, and Martin van Wijk took his place. Without Robbie, Shocking Blue still held on, but in 1974 Mariska also left the group, who decided to start a solo career, and the team finally broke up. In 1979, Robbie wanted to revive the group, but for some reason this did not happen then. However, in late 1984, Shocking Blue reunited and played two shows at the Back-to-the-Sixties festival.

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