Piet Veerman (born 1 March 1943) is a Dutch pop musician. From 1964 to 1985 he was a guitarist and singer for

The Cats The Cats may refer to: * The Cats (Dutch band), a Dutch rock band * The Cats (reggae band), a British reggae band * Cats U.K., a British pop band * ''The Cats'' (album), a 1957 jazz album featuring Tommy Flanagan and John Coltrane * ''The Cats'' (1 ...

, and since 1968 the lead singer for all the singles of this band. He released a first solo album in 1975 but started his solo career definitely in 1987 after The Cats broke up for the last time. During his career, Veerman received more than thirty gold records.

Biography

Veerman was born in the fishing village of

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

, Netherlands. His father played many instruments, like

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

, harmonica, guitar,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

and

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

, and taught his son to play music. His mother was a painter and taught her son to paint. At an age of twelve the young Piet obtained his first guitar. At that time he didn't know if he wanted to choose art or music.Michel Veerman en Johan Tol, ''One way wind: de geschiedenis van de palingsound'', 1999, , pages 74-81 Together with his cousin Jaap Schilder, they performed as the Everly Kosters. This name was formed by ''De Koster'', the nickname of their family, with a reference to

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

who were immensely popular during their youth. However, the greatest influence for them came from

The Hi-Lo's The Hi-Lo's were a vocal quartet formed in 1953, who achieved their greatest fame in the late 1950s and 1960s. The group's name is a reference to both their extreme vocal and physical ranges (Bob Strasen and Bob Morse were tall; Gene Puerling ...

. A dance teacher and promoter of local music groups at that time was Jan Buijs, nickname ''Spruit'', not to be confused with the later artist manager of

with the same name, nicknamed ''Tuf''. Due to ''Spruit'' the duo was introduced to Arnold Mühren and

Cees Veerman Cornelis Pieter "Cees" Veerman (born 8 March 1949) is a retired Netherlands, Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist. Veerman applied at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam School of Economics in M ...

, who were members of his band Electric Johnny & The Skyriders.

The Cats

Shortly afterwards they formed The Mystic Four, which was renamed to The Blue Cats and subsequently to The Cats. From the release of the single "Times Were When" (1968), Veerman became the lead singer for basically all the singles of The Cats. Up to 1974 it was the most popular Dutch band in the country. They became popular in Belgium, Germany, Indonesia and Suriname as well. In 1974 the band broke up for the first time. In 1975, The Cats reunited but record company

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

gave them the opportunity to record their own solo albums. Veerman recorded an album and a single, both called ''Rollin' On A River''. The single landed on number 9 of the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

.Dutch Pop Institute, Music Encyclopedia
Piet Veerman - biography
The Cats were also successful again, although not as big as several years earlier. Veerman continued to be their lead singer until the band broke up for the second time in 1980. He again released a solo album, called ''Back To You'', and the single "Living To Love You". In 1981 he wrote the guitar intro of a song called "Mooi Volendam" of the band Canyon, which became a classic song in the course of years. In 1983 The Cats reunited for the third time, until they split definitely in 1985.

Solo career

Veerman took up a solo career and in 1987 he released his single " Sailin' Home". The single became a major success, charting number 1 in the Netherlands and Belgium and number 4 in Austria. In the Netherlands it was the biggest selling single of the year of 1987. The same year he achieved a number 7 hit with "Walking Together" and in the following years ten more singles reached the Dutch charts. He continued releasing singles until 1993. More than ten albums reached the charts and several received a gold status. Further on in his career he experimented with

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

music, including some covers of

Willy DeVille Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr.; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created song ...

such as his single "Heaven Stood Still". His successes were not as great as at the beginning of his solo career though. Later he recorded singles and albums that were partly in Spanish and that were influenced by

Latin pop Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...

and Tex Mex. He also co-operated with other musicians from Volendam. In 1993 he recorded a duet with

Anny Schilder Anny Schilder (b. 14 February 1959) is a Dutch pop music, pop singer, and was the lead singer of BZN from 1976 to 1984.Louis Peter Grijp, Ignace Bossuyt Een muziekgeschiedenis der Nederlanden - 2001 - Page 742 Biography BZN-Singer Jack Veerman ...

, the former vocalist of BZN. Together with Jan Smit and George Baker in 2002 he recorded an album in German, called ''Die Goldenen Stimmen'' (''The Golden Voices''). He also played as a guest musician on albums, such as in 2006 on ''A Wink At The Moon'' of guitarist and singer-songwriter Specs Hildebrand. In 2014 he recorded the single "Lovin' Arms" with vocalist Mell (full name; Mellanie Jonk), granddaughter and contestant on '' Voice of Holland''.Groot Waterland
Mell & Piet Veerman “Lovin’ Arms”
29 August 2014 He continued to support Mell who has since become the front lady of Mell & Vintage Future; for health reasons he has limited performing to special occasions.

Awards

In his career, Veerman received more than thirty gold records. He is an honorary citizen of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

(1974),

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

(2004) and

Edam-Volendam Edam-Volendam () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the northwest Netherlands, in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, primarily consisting of the towns of Edam, Netherlands, Edam and Volendam. It is si ...

(2004). In 2006 he and the other former members of The Cats were decorated members of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veerman, Piet 1943 births Dutch composers Dutch guitarists Dutch male guitarists People from Volendam Living people 20th-century Dutch male singers 21st-century Dutch male singers 21st-century Dutch singers