7 February 2020

On 7 February 1970, today 50 years ago, Dutch band SHOCKING BLUE, fronted by the
late great Mariska Veres , topped the US singles chart. The only Dutch artist(s) who ever achieved that. Here’s that tremendously catchy guitar pop diamond…

Shocking Blue‘s songwriter Robbie Van Leeuwen actually stole the main riff for
‘Venus‘ from the 1963 ‘The Banjo Song‘ by American trio The Big 3 featuring Cass
Elliot who joined 60s pop band The Mamas And The Papas later on. And ‘The Banjo
Song‘ in turn was inspired by an American traditional  from 1848 called Oh! Susanna ‘

Here are The Big 3…

SHOCKING BLUE: Facebook