Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band from The Hague formed in 1967. Their biggest hit, "Venus," went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970, and the group disbanded in 1974. Members The initial line-up consisted of: · Robbie van Leeuwen (b. October 29, 1944) (vocals, guitar, sitar) · Fred de Wilde (vocals) · Klaasje van der Wal (b. December 1, 1949) (bass guitar) · Cor van der Beek (d. April 8, 1998; drums) In 1968, Mariska Veres (b. October 1, 1947 d. December 2, 2006) [LINK: http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2006/12/2/021206_mariska_veres.html] [1] replaced Fred de Wilde as lead singer. History The group charted a world-wide hit with the song "Venus," which reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. This was an entirely different song than Frankie Avalon's 1959 hit of the same name. Before the breakthrough of "Venus