March 15, 2014 – Cees Veerman (the Cats) was born on October 6th 1943 in the Dutch town of Volendam, near Amsterdam. He initially played in the bands Electric Johnny & The Skyriders, Sputniks, Mystic Four and The Blue Cats, prior to becoming one of the founders of The Cats.
From the late 60s to the mid 70s, The Cats of which Cees was frontman and main song writer too, the band saw a large number of successes, including ‘Sure He’s a Cat’ and ‘Lea’ (1968), ‘Why’ (1969), ‘Marian’ (1970), ‘Where Have I Been Wrong’ (1970) and ‘Be My Day’ (1974). Their best-selling single was ‘One Way Wind’ from 1972, which reached No.3 in the Top 40.
The Cats are considered the founders of the Palingsound (Eel Sound), a category that is used to indicate a classic, typical Dutch style in pop music coming from the fishing village Volendam, famous for its wooden shoes.
In 1976 Cees released a solo album called “Another Side Of Me”, which spawned the hit single “Sailor, Sail On (Dreamer, Dream On)”.
The Cats disbanded in 1979. On March 23rd 2006, The Cats were made Members of the Order of Orange-Nassau, the same year they made a reunion to record a single for inclusion on a Best Of-album which went gold. Cees performed also with the Cats Aglow Band as support act of Willy De Ville’s Amsterdam Carré show on July 7th 2000.
Cees Veerman died on March 15, 2014 at age 70 in Yogjakarta, Indonesia.
