
“Venus” is a song by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue. It was released as a single in the summer of 1969 and topped the charts in nine countries. Written by Robbie van Leeuwen, it was a hit in the Netherlands.
The song has been covered dozens of times by many artists. In 1986, English girl group Bananarama covered “Venus” for their third studio album, True Confessions, with the single reaching number one in six countries. The composition has been featured in numerous films, television shows, and commercials.
Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band from the Hague, Netherlands. The group first got together in 1967. The line-up was Mariska Veres (lead singer), Robbie van Leeuwen (vocals/guitar/sitar), Klaasje van der Wal (bass guitar), and Cornelius van der Beek (drums). Shocking Blue had two minor hit singles in 1969, “Long and Lonesome Road” and “Send Me a Postcard.” The group scored a massive international smash that same year with their breakthrough song, “Venus,” with its incredibly bouncy and catchy guitar riff, urgent driving beat, and a powerhouse fiery vocal by stunning brunette beauty Veres, “Venus” peaked at #1 on the US pop charts in February 1970 and sold over a million copies. Alas, it was the band’s only major chart success in America.
“Venus” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 7 February 1970, the first song by a Dutch band to reach No. 1 on that chart. On 28 January 1970, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which certified it gold for sales in excess of one million copies in the United States.
The song “Venus” still gets an awful lot of airplay in various versions. If it’s not on radio, it is on TV, where the song is often used in commercials for products like yogurt and razors for ladies.
Sources
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2783784/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
https://www.unfortifiedcastle.com/post/senior-year-soundtrack-venus
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