Mariska Veres born 1 October 1948

Maria Elisabeth 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. Described as being similar to a young Cher, 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

Veres was born in The Hague to Hungarian and German parents, Mariska Veres was the daughter of the gypsy violinist Lajos Veres, and often accompanied her father on the piano along with her elder sister Ilonka, but her youngest sister, Irene, never had a career in music.

Veres began her career as a singer in 1963 with the guitar band Les Mysteres who released an EP in 1964 with Veres singing. 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 Shocking Blue 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". The month of their arrival in the United States gossip columnist Earl Wilson referred to Veres as a 'beautiful busty girl.' The single made the Top Ten across Europe in 1970, including the UK, and reached the No 1 spot in the United States. It turned the striking-looking Veres into a sex-symbol.

                             

Shocking Blue released a further 15 singles and 10 albums, scoring hits including "Mighty Joe", "Never Marry a Railroad Man", "Hello Darkness" , "Blossom Lady" and "Eve and the Apple" and broke up in the mid-Seventies. Veres embarked on a solo career, with 

occasional help from van Leeuwen. In the late Seventies, they considered reforming Shocking Blue, going as far as recording a track called "Louise", which remains unreleased, but they did play a couple of concerts in 1984.

Veres started the jazz 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.

Veres loved cats, didn't smoke, drink or do drugs and told the members of Shocking Blue when she joined that relationships were out. Reflecting on her early fame, Veres told the Belgian magazine Flair: "I was just a painted doll, nobody could ever reach me. Nowadays, I am more open to people. " She had a long-term relationship with guitarist André van Geldorp, but never married or had children.

Veres died of gallbladder cancer on 2 December 2006, aged 59, just three weeks after the disease had been detected.

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 Diablos (in English/Spanish, 1997), and with Dolf de Vries (a lounge version of "Venus", 2005–06).

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & The Independent)