1970s
Their international popularity began to grow. By spring 1970 the Cats toured Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles and played one show on 4 April 1970 in Guyana. A tour of Indonesia followed early 1971.
"Don't Waste Your Time" broke a string of Top 10 chart dominations, but the next single, "One Way Wind", became The Cats' biggest ever hit. In Germany it reached Number One chart position and in 1972 the band responded by releasing Katzenspiele (Cat's Play), featuring their hits rerecorded in German.
By now, the band were very popular and had a busy touring schedule, which began to take its toll Cees contracted voice problems. Crew member Piet Keizer replaced him temporarily. In 1974 the Cats released The Love in Your Eyes, an album recorded at the Larrabee Sound Studios in Los Angeles by session musicians, with the Cats members only laying down vocals. Cees Veerman said about those sessions, "'Be My Day' topped the charts, which was a great thing, but the rest of that pre-baked stuff should've been chucked into the ocean near Malibu".
Their Malibu sojourn did not stop The Cats from using the same team of musicians for the follow-up record Hard To Be Friends, although this time the vocals were recorded at home. "Come Sunday" charted late 1974, shortly after Cees had left the band to take another break. The title track, on which Jaap Schilder sang falsetto ad-libs, followed early 1975. As the band didn't tour during this period, the two Veermans and Schilder had time to release solo-albums that were a departure from the Cats-sound. By public demand The Cats returned to the stage for a number of dates to promote their 1975 Christnas-album. The hits continued but didn't capture former glories and not everyone was always available for TV-shows. When The Cats were booked to appear on chart-show Rock Planet in 1978 to playback "She Was Too Young" it was almost a solo-performance by Cees. By the end of 1979 The Cats decided to disband. A farewell-single (a reissue of the 1972 track "End of the Show") charted as late as April 1980.
