ZZ & De Maskers

ZZ & De Maskers was an early Dutch (and, initially, Dutch-singing) beat band that enjoyed considerable chart success in The Netherlands between 1962 and 1965. ZZ & De Maskers was notoriously hard to pigeonhole: their musical scope ranged from Shadows-style surf to cabaret-like songs in Dutch, from melodic pop in the vein of Cliff Richard to edgy 'psych beat' and, indeed, plain rock & roll as the backing band of Chubby Checker. Dutch hits include Dracula (1963), Ik Heb Genoeg Van Jou (1965) and Goldfinger (1965, an instrumental cover version of the famous James Bond movie theme), whereas La Comparsa never charted in the 1960s but is now possibly their best known track. ZZ & De Maskers was formed when singer Bob Bouber (real name: Boris Blom) came up with a concept for a band wearing 'Zorro masks' on stage. The Apron Strings guitar combo joined him and ZZ & De Maskers were born. The group's early recordings were surf-tinged instrumentals (showcasing the band's guitar virtuoso, Jan de Hont) and Dutch-language beat tunes, but they gradually shifted towards rhythm & blues sung in English. They recorded several singles with Chubby Checker (credited on some of the single sleeves as ZZ & The Masks) and toured in England (albeit to little success). Frontman Bob 'ZZ' Bouber quit the band in 1965 and (after a final concert together in 1966) the group - bored with the masks, theatrics and dance moves - continued simply as De Maskers ('The Masks'), shifting in musical style. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.