Katrina and the Waves

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Katrina and the Waves in 1985
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Katrina and the Waves in 1985

Katrina and the Waves were a pop rock band of the 1980s, best known for their smash hit "Walking on Sunshine" and their 1997 Eurovision Song Contest victory.

Formed in 1981 in Cambridge, England, the Waves were fronted by American-born singer Katrina Leskanich until she left the group in 1999. Their lead guitarist is Kimberley Rew, formerly of the Soft Boys.

In 1985 the group had a worldwide hit with the song "Walking on Sunshine", a Top 10 UK success, still popular today as a feel-good summer track, used in numerous feature films and advertisements. A Grammy award nominee for "Best New Artist" followed, and several seasons of touring were followed by moderate sales of new releases. "Sun Street" was a UK Top 30 hit in 1986, though subsequent releases, including the infectious "Rock'n'Roll Girl" in 1988, failed to chart.

By the late nineties, the band had all but disappeared, but briefly surged back into the limelight by winning the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom on 3 May 1997 with the song "Love Shine A Light". Reacting to the win, Katrina 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.

Six years after the original band split up, Katrina formed a new group in an attempt to repeat the Waves' Eurovision triumph, this time in Sweden. At the 2005 Melodifestivalen, the competition to select Sweden's entry, the group failed to qualify directly from the fourth semi-final of the competition, and were eventually eliminated in a 'second-chance semi'. Having planned to call themselves "Katrina and the New Wave", they dubbed themselves "Katrina and the Nameless" after legal objections from the original Waves.

In 2005, the storm surge of a storm named Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the Gulf Coast, including the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The MSNBC news program Countdown with Keith Olbermann dubbed its coverage of the hurricane "Katrina and the Waves", referring to the storm itself and its storm surge, and that name also appeared in numerous headlines and blog posts. As the Waves lead singer Katrina Leskanich now shares her name with the devastation, she was quoted in the New York Times as saying the following:

"The first time I opened the paper and saw 'Katrina kills 9,' it was a bit of a shock. It's a very sad situation, but I'm sure the strength and good will of the survivors will turn it around. 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."

Contents

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • "Que Te Queiro" (1984) #84 UK, #71 US
  • "Walking on Sunshine" (1985) #8 UK, #9 US, #4 AUS
  • "Do You Want Crying" (1985) #96 UK, #37 US
  • "Is That It" (1986) #82 UK, #70 US
  • "Sun Street" (1986) #22 UK
  • "That's The Way" (1989) #84 UK, #16 US
  • "Rock 'N' Roll Girl" (1989) #93 UK
  • "Walking on Sunshine" (re-issue) (1996) #53 UK
  • "Love Shine a Light" (1997) #3 UK

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Eimear Quinn		 Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
1997		 Succeeded by
Dana International
Preceded by
Gina G		 UK in the Eurovision Song Contest
1997		 Succeeded by
Imaani


Eurovision winners
1950s Lys Assia | Corry Brokken | André Claveau | Teddy Scholten
1960s Jacqueline Boyer | Jean-Claude Pascal | Isabelle Aubret | Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann | Gigliola Cinquetti | France Gall | Udo Jürgens | Sandie Shaw | Massiel | Frida Boccara | Lenny Kuhr | Lulu | Salomé
1970s Dana | Séverine | Vicky Leandros | Anne-Marie David | ABBA | Teach-In | Brotherhood of Man | Marie Myriam | Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta | Gali Atari & Milk and Honey
1980s Johnny Logan | Bucks Fizz | Nicole | Corinne Hermès | Herreys | Bobbysocks | Sandra Kim | Johnny Logan | Celine Dion | Riva
1990s Toto Cutugno | Carola | Linda Martin | Niamh Kavanagh | Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan | Secret Garden | Eimear Quinn | Katrina and the Waves | Dana International | Charlotte Nilsson
2000s Olsen Brothers | Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL | Marie N | Sertab Erener | Ruslana | Elena Paparizou | Lordi
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