Robbie van Leeuwen
- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Dutch singer, guitarist and songwriter Robbie van Leeuwen was born on
October 29, 1944. In 1967 he formed the rock group
Shocking Blue; he had previously been a
member of the well-known Dutch rock band The Motions. Shocking Blue
scored a massive international smash with "Venus" in 1970, which was
written by van Leeuwen and boasts an infectiously bouncy guitar riff by
him as well. Shocking Blue went on to enjoy a steady succession of hit
songs in their native Holland, which included "Mighty Joe," "Never
Marry a Railroad Man," "Hello Darkness," "Shocking You," "Inkpot,"
"Long Lonesome Road" and "Blossom Lady", all of written by Robbie.
Exhausted by extensive touring and the pressures of being the sole
songwriter for the band, van Leeuwen left Shocking Blue in 1973. He
returned to the Dutch music scene in the
mid-'70s with the folk-jazz group Galaxy Lin. He also produced such solo singles as "Too Young" and "Loving You" for former Shocking Blue lead singer Mariska Veres.
He had a few hit songs with the studio outfit Mistral, which broke up
in the early 1980s.
In 1979 van Leeuwen made an unsuccessful attempt to reunite Shocking Blue and performed with them at two memorable "back to the '60s" concert festivals in late 1984. In 1983 he moved from The Hague in the Netherlands to Luxembourg (he moved back to Holland in 1996). In 1994 he produced the CD single "Body and Soul" for a new incarnation of Shocking Blue fronted by Mariska Veres.
In 1979 van Leeuwen made an unsuccessful attempt to reunite Shocking Blue and performed with them at two memorable "back to the '60s" concert festivals in late 1984. In 1983 he moved from The Hague in the Netherlands to Luxembourg (he moved back to Holland in 1996). In 1994 he produced the CD single "Body and Soul" for a new incarnation of Shocking Blue fronted by Mariska Veres.