Pussycat (NL)

About

Pussycat turned a song they weren't even keen on into a European phenomenon. "Mississippi" was a throwaway extra on a demo session, but the label spotted the potential, and by 1976 it had hit number one in around fifteen countries, including the UK, where it became the first Dutch chart topper there. It sold an estimated five million copies. The group was built around three sisters from Limburg, Toni, Betty and Marianne Veldpaus, who had been working as telephone operators before the hits arrived. Most of their songs came from Werner Theunissen, who started out as the sisters' guitar teacher. After "Mississippi" came "Georgie", "Smile" and "My Broken Souvenirs", plus a long run of further hits in the Netherlands and Belgium. Their country tinged pop kept them on the road for over a decade, and they got back together under the old name in 1999. A collection of previously unreleased 1983 demos surfaced in 2023.