Werner Theunissen

Werner Theunissen (front, left) during his time with The Rocking Apaches , 1964

Werner Theunissen (born May 12, 1942 in Heerlen , Netherlands ; † January 18, 2010 in England ) was a musician, songwriter and composer for the Dutch pop group Pussycat, among others . The group became world famous with his song Mississippi , and it sold an estimated five million copies.

Musical career

Werner Theunissen began his musical career in the early 1960s with the band The Rocking Apaches . But it was only with the Heerlen band The Entertainers , which played a mix of western music and Indonesian music that was popular in the Netherlands at the time , the so-called Indorock , that he wrote his very first single. At the same time he gave guitar lessons to three young girls, Toni, Marianne and Betty Kowalczyk from Brunssum , who would later achieve world fame as pussycat . Theunissen introduced the young people to the world of pop music. He discovered her talent and began to write the first songs for her. One was entitled: Please, Please, Love Me . Six years later, in 1973, he founded the formation Sweet Reaction with the three girls, guitarist Lou Willé (from the group Ricky Rendall and His Centurions ) and drummer Hans Lutjes (from the group Scum ) . The newcomer band soon had their first recordings. Titles like Tell Alain (1971) or Daddy (1975), which anticipated the typical pussycat sound, were unsuccessful, but remained part of the band's repertoire under their new name Pussycat .

Pussycat

Werner Theunissen (second from left), with the Kowalcyk sisters

In 1975 Theunissen sent a demo tape with three songs to EMI Bovema , at that time the largest record company in the Netherlands based in Heemstede . One of them was called Mississippi . Theunissen was inspired by the song Massachusetts , with which the very successful Australian group Bee Gees became famous in the 1960s . Theunissen wrote it as early as 1969, but it has remained unused in the drawer until now. The EMI Bovema heard the song and then decided a contract with the band to make. Eddy Hilberts became their producer and the band changed their name to Pussycat. Other musicians were now drummer Theo Coumans, bassist Theo Wetzels and guitarist John Theunissen (not related).

The Mississippi Success

Mississippi was Theunissen's first single, which was released under the new band name Pussycat . It was recorded in February 1975 at EMI Bovema Studios in Heemstede and released a few months later.

The song was heard about on the radio and featured on a popular quiz show on Dutch television. Shortly thereafter, the song was a huge hit in the Dutch charts, climbed the British charts and shortly afterwards the charts of the world. In South America alone it was in the charts for 129 weeks. It is estimated that the single was sold five million times worldwide.

Pussycat was very popular in the Netherlands and neighboring countries and Theunissen wrote one hit after another. During the next ten years there were six hit albums and 17 singles: After Mississippi , Georgie (1976) also made it to 4th place on the hit parade in the Netherlands, and Smile (1976) made it to 2nd. These two songs also made it into the British and German charts . Other successful songs were My Broken Souvenirs (1977), Wet Day in September (1978), Same Old Song (1978), Tennage Queenie (1981) Doin 'La Bamba (1980) and Then the Music Stopped (1981).

Awards

Pussycat received the Conamus Prize in 1977

Werner Theunissens composed other songs that were tailor-made for the three sisters. This led to them being showered with prizes. So z. B. the Edison Prize 1977 (for souvenirs ) or the Lion of Radio Luxemburg 1977 (for Mississippi ). They received the Conamus Award (today Buma Export Award) on January 5, 1977 from the Conamus Foundation. This award was given to them for being the first Dutch band to reach the top of the British music charts (four weeks at number 1). It was presented by the British Ambassador to the Netherlands, Sir John Barnes, on January 5th, 1977.

When the band Pussycat broke up at the turn of the year 1984/1985, Theunissen devoted himself to other artists, for whom he wrote songs. For example a successful hit for the singer Henry van Wijmeren, who is well known in the Netherlands . It's called Lonely Hearts Motel (2008) and is on his album All About Time .

death

Impressions ^{? / I}
written by Theunissen,
2012posthumouslybyToni Willéadded
and dedicated to him

Werner Theunissen wrote songs until the sudden end of his life. On January 18, 2010 he suffered cardiac arrest in an English restaurant and died immediately. He is buried in Brunssum.

He wrote the last song for Toni Willé, the former lead singer of Pussycat, who continues a solo career as a singer. The song is called Impressions , which she released as a single in November 2012 under the name Impressions - Dedicated to Werner Theunissen .

The musician, songwriter, producer and DJ Werner Theunissen from Stockholm , born in Nijmegen in 1962 , is - despite all professional similarities - not related to him.

The Entertainers - Discography

• 1965 Searching / Down Home Girl (Public-Records PR 651)
• 1965 Searching / Down Home Girl (CNR UH 9778)
• 1965 Searching / Down Home Girl (Columbia C 23118) Germany
• 1966 It's You / I'm Sorry Girl (CNR UH 9798)
• 1966 Crazy Miss Daisy / Little Girl (CNR UH 9803)

source

Sweet Reaction - discography

• Come Back My Dream / Call Me Maria (1970)
• Tell Alain / If It's Only Love (1971)
• Daddy / Tell Alain (1975)
• Daddy / It's Long Ago (1977)

source

Charts (selection)

Dutch charts: Werner Theunissen (Pussycat) Singles

title	entry	Top position	Duration in weeks
Mississippi	22/11/1975	1	11
Georgie	02/21/1976	1	8th
Smile	28/08/1976	2	9
My Broken Souvenirs	02/04/1977	2	8th
I'll be your woman	03/09/1977	12	4th
If You Ever Come to Amsterdam	31/12/1977	21st	3
Wet Day in September	05/08/1978	8th	10
Hey joe	06/01/1979	17th	7th
Daddy	08/09/1979	13	7th
Let Freedom Range	08/12/1979	38	5
Doin 'La Bamba	02/08/1980	4th	8th
Then the music stopped	25/04/1981	10	11
Une chambre pour la nuit	01/08/1981	16	7th
Teenage Queenie	14/11/1981	33	5
De zomerzon (Koos Alberts & Yvon)	17/08/1996	25th	5

Swiss charts: Werner Theunissen (Pussycat) singles

title	entry	Top position	Duration in weeks
Mississippi	5/03/1976	1	23
Georgie	05/21/1976	2	16
Smile	1/10/1976	12	8th
My Broken Souvenirs	13/04/1977	7th	8th

Austrian charts: Werner Theunissen (Pussycat) Singles

title	entry	Top position	Duration in weeks
Mississippi	04/15/1976	4th	32
Georgie	07/15/1976	2	28
Smile	15/11/1976	10	16
My Broken Souvenirs	15/06/1977	12	8th

Web links

• Chart information on Smile
• Private picture gallery for Sweet Reaction
• Private picture gallery for Pussycat
• German Charts Top 20 - Top 300
• Toni Willé Online
• 45 Cat

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Rocking Apaches
2. ↑ Lutgard Mutsaers: Popular Music: Indorock: An Early Eurorock Style , Cambridge University Press Cambridge, Vol. 9, No. October 3, 1990, pp. 307-320
3. ↑ Reading sample on the topic of Indorock (English)
4. ↑ ^{a b} The Entertainers Band History ( English )
5. ↑ ^{a b} Jon Kutner, Spencer Leigh: 100 UK Number One Hits . Omnibus Press, London 2005, ISBN 978-0-85712-360-2
6. ^ List of Belgian chart prices
7. ↑ ^{a b} List of Dutch chart prices
8. ↑ ^{a b} List of Austrian chart prices
9. ↑ ^{a b} List of Swiss chart prices
10. ↑ Henry van Wijmeren: Lonely Hearts Motel . Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 4, 2013. 
11. ^ Obituary notice (digitized archive) (Dutch).
12. ↑ Discography Sweet Reaction