Pussycat (band)
country pop music group from the Netherlands
Pussycat was a Dutch country and pop group led by the three Veldpaus sisters: Toni (born 1953), Betty (1952–2024), and Marianne (born 1951). Other members of the band were guitarists Lou Willé (Toni's then-husband), Theo Wetzels, Theo Coumans, and John Theunissen. Their song "Mississippi" was a number one hit in most European countries, including the UK, in 1975/6.
Career
Prior to forming the band, the three sisters were telephone operators in Limburg, whilst Theunissen, Wetzels, and Coumans were in a group called Scum. Lou Willé played in a group called Ricky Rendall and His Centurions until he married Toni, and created the group Sweet Reaction that eventually became known as Pussycat.
In 1975 they scored a big European hit with the song "Mississippi". However they had to wait a further year for the single to make the British charts when it climbed to number one in the UK Singles Chart in October 1976. Penned by Werner Theunissen, who had been the sisters' guitar teacher, it is estimated that "Mississippi" sold over five million copies worldwide. It was followed by "Smile" in 1976, and "Hey Joe" in 1978. Other hits were "If You Ever Come to Amsterdam", "Georgie", "Wet Day in September" and "My Broken Souvenirs".
The public source identifies “Pussycat (band)” as country pop music group from the Netherlands. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pussycat, band and country.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q656728. VIAF identifies the subject as 124561992. The Library of Congress control number is no2007041216. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1952, 2024 and 1951.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pussycat (band)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.