Pussycat was a Dutch

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

and pop group led by the three Veldpaus-sisters:

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwe ...

, Betty, and Marianne. Other members of the band were guitarists Lou Willé (

's then-husband), Theo Wetzels, Theo Coumans, and John Theunissen. Their song "

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

" was a #1 hit in most European countries, including the UK, in 1975/76.

Career

Prior to forming the band, the three sisters were telephone operators in

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

, whilst Theunissen, Wetzles, and Coumans were in a group called Scum. Lou Willé played in a group called Ricky Rendall and His Centurions until he married

, and created the group Sweet Reaction that eventually became known as Pussycat. In 1975 they scored a big European

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

with the song "

". However they had to wait a further year for the single to make the British charts when it climbed to

number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in October 1976. Penned by Werner Theunissen, who had been the sisters' guitar teacher, it is estimated that "Mississippi" sold over five million copies worldwide. It was followed by "Smile" in 1976, and "Hey Joe" in 1978. Other hits were "If You Ever Come to Amsterdam", "Georgie", "Wet Day in September" and "My Broken Souvenirs". Their career in Europe spanned more than a decade and included some seventeen albums. By 1978 Hans Lutjens had replaced Coumans on drums, as the band continued to release albums and

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

, travelling as far afield as South Africa. They made regular appearances on the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

TV series, ''

Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' (german: The Music Shop) was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s '' Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour' ...

'', in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Band-members

* Toni Veldpaus (married Willé) – lead vocals (1975–85) * Betty Veldpaus (married Dragstra) – singing (1975–85) * Marianne Veldpaus (married Hensen) – singing (1975–85) * Lou "Loulou" Willé (Toni's then husband) – guitar (1975–85) * John Theunissen – guitar (1975–80) * Ferd Berger – guitar (1981–82) * Kees Buenen – keyboards (1981–82) * Theo Wetzels – bass guitar (1975–80) * Theo Coumans – drums (1975–78) * Hans Lutjens – drums (1978–80) * Frans Meijer – drums (1981–82)

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website Pussycat / Toni Willé

Pussycat biography by Amy Hanson, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Pussycat discography, album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Pussycat albums to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pussycat Dutch country music groups Dutch pop music groups Musical groups from Limburg (Netherlands) Brunssum Female-fronted musical groups