Katrina Leskanich Biography

Katrina Leskanich (born April 10, 1960) is an American singer and musician resident in the United Kingdom. She is best known for being the lead singer and namesake of the pop band Katrina and the Waves.

Early life

Katrina was born in Topeka, Kansas. Her father was a Colonel in the United States Air Force, and Katrina and her five siblings (four sisters and one brother) moved frequently as children. After she was born, they moved from Kansas to New Mexico, and then California, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Stuttgart Germany and the Netherlands before arriving in Norfolk, England, in 1976. Katrina has lived in the UK since 1976, moving to London in 1998 where she currently lives.

Career with Katrina and the Waves

In 1978, Leskanich and her then-boyfriend, Vince de la Cruz, formed the cover band "Mama's Cooking", based in Feltwell, England. In 1981, after some lineup changes, the band titled themselves "The Waves" and began playing original music. In 1982, after yet more lineup changes, the band changed their name once again to Katrina and the Waves, with Leskanich as the lead vocalist; by now they were based in the city of Cambridge.

The band had several international hits, including, most notably, "Walking on Sunshine" in 1985. Their song "Sun Street" was also a minor hit in 1986. They also received a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist. The hits continued with "Do You Want Crying", "Que te Quiero", "Rock and Roll Girl" and "That's The Way" which reached No. 16 in the U.S.A.

In 1997, after having somewhat faded into obscurity, the band won the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 for the United Kingdom with "Love Shine a Light". Reacting to the win, Leskanich said it was the second landslide victory in a week; the song won by a record points margin, and Tony Blair had won the 1997 British general election two days previously. The song won by a then-record margin of 70 points over the Irish runner-up. The song went to No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart (becoming the band's biggest-ever hit) and Katrina and The Waves performed an unprecedented four weeks running on the BBC One TV show Top of the Pops.

Katrina and the Waves broke up in 1999.

When Hurricane Katrina and its storm surge devastated much of the US Gulf Coast in September 2005, the MSNBC news program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, dubbed its coverage of the hurricane, "Katrina and the Waves"; the name also appeared in numerous headlines and blog postings. A New York Times reporter contacted Katrina Leskanich, who said: "The first time I opened the paper and saw 'Katrina kills 9,' it was a bit of a shock. ... I hope that the true spirit of 'Walking on Sunshine' will prevail. I would hate for the title to be tinged with sadness, and I will have to do my own part to help turn that around."

Solo career

After the Waves broke up in 1999, Leskanich launched a solo career, first as a DJ for BBC Radio 2 and then in 2001 she played the lead role in the musical Leader of the Pack. She released her first solo CD, Katrina Leskanich, through Universal Records in Britain in 2005. And the single - Leskanich's cover of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know" was played on Radio 2. In 2005 she also participated in the Swedish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest (Melodifestivalen 2005) with the song "As If Tomorrow Will Never Come". In 2005 Leskanich (with Renars Kaupers) hosted Congratulations - 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest, in Copenhagen.

Katrina covered a Clash song, "Hitsville UK" for a compilation album put together by Jimmy Guterman, which is a tribute to The Clash Sandinista! album and was released on 15 May 2007 in the United States.

Katrina performed in the 1980s show Gylne Tider which toured Norway in the early summer of 2007 and transferred to the Christiania Theatre in Oslo from October to December 2007. Katrina's cover of "They Don't Know" was included in the compilation Gylne Tider 2 which was released in 2007 and went platinum.

Katrina also appeared in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series around Australia between late August and early September 2007. She performed her hit "Walking On Sunshine".

From 27 January 2008 to 9 March 2008, Katrina was one of three jury members for Eurosong 2008 in Belgium, the pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

On 1 March 2008, she performed a remix dance version of her 1997 Eurovision winning song, "Love Shine A Light", on the BBC Eurovision song selection show.

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of "Walking on Sunshine", Leskanich released her first live album - THE LIVE ALBUM in July 2010. The album includes a live version and a blues version of "Walking on Sunshine". "I have performed ?Walking on Sunshine' for so many years in so many different countries that it's become the one constant in my life and the one thing I can count on to bring happiness to myself and others." said Leskanich. In September 2010 Katrina re-released her solo album 'Turn The Tide' with a couple of bonus tracks - club mix of 'They Don't Know' and the Espirito mix of 'Walking on Sunshine'.

In November 2010, Katrina was a guest coach on the Austrian TV show Helden von Morgen on ORF1. All her contestants went through to the next round including Lukas Plochl who sang a rap of Love Shine A Light.

In May 2011, Katrina released an EP 'Spiritualize' "In 1999 I wrote, collected and compiled some songs I thought would come together for an uplifting and spiritual type of album. I thought I'd try to make this a bit more personal," said Leskanich.

In 2012 Katrina formed a new line up of her band and played the Acoustic Festival of Britain, The Ultimate 80s Festival and then Gig in the Park in Suffolk. Katrina has also played at festivals around Europe this year including the Rewind Festival in Scotland with Go West, Limahl, Village People, ABC, etc, KeiteleJazz festival in Finland and Here and Now at Ascot with Bananarama, Rick Astley, Belinda Carlisle, Midge Ure. Katrina also teamed up with Ben Crabbé from the Belgian band De Kreuners and Dany Lademacher from The Radios and Herman Brood and His Wild Romance to form Katrina and The Romance which toured festivals in Belgium in the summer of 2012.

May 2013 sees the publication of Katrina's first book - "Peggy Lee Loves London - My London Guide" - a photographic book about London.

In July, 2013, Katrina and her new band performed at the San Fermín festival in Pamplona in Spain on Plaza del Castillo.

Discography

Solo

Singles

• They Don't Know digital release in 2006
• They Don't Know Club Mixes - Katrina vs Sleazesisters digital release 2008

Solo Albums

• Turn The Tide Limited release 2004
• Katrina Leskanich released in 2006 - Universal Distribution
• THE LIVE ALBUM digital release July 2010
• Turn The Tide digital re-release with bonus tracks September 2010
• Spiritualize digital release May 2011

Compilations

• We Gotta Get out of This Place with Eric Burdon - China Beach 1989 SBK
• Ride of Your Life - Return to the Centre of the Earth (Rick Wakeman) 1999 EMI
• Scar - This Is Not Retro - This Is The Eighties Up To Date 2005
• They Don't Know - Gylne Tider 2 2007 Sony BMG
• Hitsville UK - The Sandinista Project 2007 3:59 Records
• Walking On Sunshine (Live and Studio Version) - Countdown Spectacular 2 (2007) Liberation Blue Records (Australian-only release)

Backing vocals

• Don't Follow Me - Hanoi Rocks 1983
• Torn - Natalie Imbruglia 1997
• I Quit - Hepburn 1998
• Guest vocals on "Ride of Your Life" from Return to the Centre of the Earth - Rick Wakeman 1999
• Help Me Help You - Holly Valance 2003

Katrina and The Waves

Albums

• The Bible of Bop (Kimberley Rew) 1982 Armageddon Records
• Shock Horror 1982 (The Waves) Aftermath Records
• Walking on Sunshine 1983 Attic Records
• The 2nd LP 1984 Attic Records
• Katrina & The Waves 1985 Capitol Records
• Waves 1986 Capitol Records
• Break of Hearts 1989 SBK Records
• Pet the Tiger 1991 Virgin Germany
• Edge of the Land 1993 Polydor
• Turnaround 1994 Polydor
• Roses 1995 Polydor
• Walk on Water 1997 Warner Music

Best Of Albums

• The Best Of 1991 Attic Records
• Anthology 1995 One Way Records
• KATW/Waves 1996 BGO Records
• Premium Gold Collection 1997 EMI
• Greatest Hits of 1997 EMI
• Walking on Sunshine 1997 Polygram Records
• The Original Recordings 2003 BongoBeat Records

Singles

• "The Nightmare" 1982 (The Waves) Armagedon Records
• "Brown Eyed Son" 1982 (The Waves) Albion Records
• "Plastic Man" 1984 Silvertown Records
• "Walking on Sunshine" 1985 Capitol Records
• "Red Wine & Whisky" 1985 Capitol Records
• "Do You Want Crying?" 1985 Capitol Records
• "Que Te Quiero 1985" Capitol Records
• "Mexico" 1985 Capitol Records
• "Is That It" 1986 Capitol Records
• "Tears For Me" 1986 Capitol Records
• "Lovely Lindsey" 1986 Capitol Records
• "Sun Street" 1986 Capitol Records
• "That's The Way" 1989 SBK Records
• "Rock 'n' Roll Girl" 1989 SBK Records
• "We Gotta Get out of This Place" 1989 SBK Records
• "Pet the Tiger" 1991 Virgin Records
• "Tears of a Woman" 1991 Virgin Records
• "Birkenhead Garbage Pickers" 1992 Virgin Records
• "I'm in Deep" 1993 Polydor
• "Cookin'" 1994 Polydor
• "The Street Where You Live" 1995 Polydor
• "Honey Lamb" 1995 Polydor
• "Turnaround" 1995 Polydor
• "Walking Where the Roses Grow" 1995 Polydor
• "Brown Eyed Son" 1997 Top Line records
• "Love Shine a Light" 1997 Warner Music
• "Walk on Water" 1997 Warner Music