Maria Elizabeth Ender, better known as Mariska Veres () (1 October 1947 – 2 December 2006), was a Dutch singer who was best known as the lead singer of the rock group

Shocking Blue Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in 1967 in The Hague. It was part of the music movement in the Netherlands that was generally known by the name Nederbeat. The band had a number of hits throughout the counterculture movement durin ...

. Described as being similar to a young

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...

, she was known for her sultry voice, eccentric performances, and her striking appearance which featured kohl-rimmed eyes, high cheekbones, and long jet black hair, which was actually a wig.

Biography

Family

Veres was born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital ...

, in the Netherlands. Her father was the Hungarian Romani violinist Lajos Veres (1912–1981), and her mother Maria Ender (1912–1986) was of French and Russian heritage.

Singing career

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

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 Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

". 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. Her singles "Take Me High" (1975) and "Lovin' You" (1976) were popular mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. She also released the singles "Tell It Like It Is" (1975), a cover version of Dusty Springfield's "Little By Little" (1976), and "Too Young" (1978). Shocking Blue reunited in 1984. This comeback turned out to be successful, but one of the other original members,

Robbie van Leeuwen Robbie van Leeuwen (born 29 October 1944) is a Dutch musician who was a guitarist, sitarist, background vocalist and main songwriter for Dutch bands, including The Motions and Shocking Blue. In 1967 he played guitar on the only single ever rele ...

, stepped back from the group, partly because he had moved to

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

but also due to the success of

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. Th ...

's cover of "Venus". Veres started the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

group ''The Shocking Jazz Quintet'' in 1993, and recorded an album (''Shocking You'') with pop songs from the 1960s and 1970s, 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 Diablo" (in English/Spanish, 1997), and with "Dolf de Vries" (a

lounge Lounge may refer to: Architecture * Lounge, the living room of a dwelling * Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby * Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar * Airport lounge, or train lounge (e.g., AMTRAK's Acela Lounge), a premiu ...

version of "Venus", 2005–2006).

Personal life and death

Veres had a long-term relationship with

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist , but never married or had 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". Veres died of

gallbladder cancer Gallbladder cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer, with an incidence of fewer than 2 cases per 100,000 people per year in the United States. It is particularly common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern In ...

on 2 December 2006 at age 59, just three weeks after the disease had been detected.

Discography

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), album by Mariska Veres Shocking Jazz Quintet *2003 ''Gipsy Heart'' (Red Bullet), album by Mariska Veres & Ensemble Andrei Serban

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Veres, Mariska 1947 births 2006 deaths Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands Dutch contraltos Dutch people of French descent Dutch people of Hungarian descent Dutch people of Russian descent Dutch Romani people English-language singers from the Netherlands Women rock singers Musicians from The Hague People of Hungarian-Romani descent Romani singers 20th-century Dutch women singers 21st-century Dutch women singers 21st-century Dutch singers Deaths from gallbladder cancer