| Lena Katina | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Elena Sergeevna Katina |
| Born | 4 October 1984 Moscow, Russian SFSR |
| Origin | Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Genres | Pop rock[1][2] |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | T.A. Music, Such Much Productions |
| Associated acts | t.A.T.u., Neposedi, Julia Volkova |
| Website | official website |
Elena Sergeevna Katina (Russian: Елена Сергеевна Катина pronunciation: Yelyena Syergeyevna Katina), born October 4, 1984, better known as Lena Katina, is a Russian singer and songwriter who is best known for her work with Russian duo t.A.T.u. She started her career at the age of eight, joining the Russian children's act Avenue, then not long after Neposedi. In 1999, when Katina finished her early career, Ivan Shapovalov had chosen her for his project as well with Yulia Volkova, which later became Russia's most successful musical act. t.A.T.u. produced several smash hits including "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us and "All About Us".
In 2009, Katina announced she would pursue a solo career, which led t.A.T.u. to go into a hiatus. However, in 2011, Katina and Volkova announced they would split up because of their solo careers. That year, Katina released her first mainstream single "Never Forget".
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Born in Moscow in 1984, Katina is the eldest of three children, and the only daughter of Inessa Katina and Sergey Katin, a prominent Russian pop music author. Her younger half sister Katya has a different father and her half brother Ivan has a different mother. She was raised religiously and is a practicing Russian Orthodox Christian.
In 1993, she joined the Russian children's ensemble "Avenue", where she sang for three years. In 1996, at the age of 12, she auditioned for Neposedi (the most popular and prestigious children's chorus at the time) and was selected after impressing a panel of judges. She remained in Neposedi for three years. During her time there, Katina met Yulia Volkova, who was also a singer in the group. In 1999, the girls would be reacquainted once again, this time as the duo, t.A.T.u.
Creator and then-manager of t.A.T.u., Ivan Shapovalov stated that the idea of t.A.T.u. stemmed from the common fascination and fantasy of school-girl lesbian lovers among men, knowing that the duo would be highly appealing to a diverse fan-base.
After auditioning 400 girls, Shapovalov selected Lena for t.A.T.u. at the age of 15. With the project still in development, Lena had the opportunity to record demos (credited as t.A.T.u.), like "Belochka" and "Yugoslaviya". The then 14-year old Yulia Volkova was added to the project some time afterward, and in 2001, the duo rose to popularity in Russia, and later in the world.
Feeling satisfied with his choices, Shapovalov signed Yulia and Lena to t.A.T.u., but the contract with Shapovalov also demanded that the girls present a lesbian image. After breaking away from Shapovalov in 2004, the girls came clean and stated that Shapovalov had created the lesbian image, and that they were even told what to say in interviews and parted ways with Shapovalov.
t.A.T.u. soon became the most successful Russian group of all time, leaving a number of hits behind them, such as "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us" and "All About Us". They also took part in Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and finished third with Ne Ver', Ne Boysia.
In 2007, Lena, along with her bandmate, Yulia Volkova, starred in a film You and I, with Mischa Barton playing the lead role. The film was directed by Roland Joffe and was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
Katina is expected to release her solo album in 2011. Katina has released a song for her album Lost in This Dance. It has been widely considered as Katina's debut single, as it has been years since a release of a single. It was said that she will release through t.A.T.u.'s current label T.A. Music, as she has no information about any other labels.
She has recorded in several different locations such as Los Angeles, New York and her hometown Moscow. She is known to be mostly recording in Los Angeles. It has been confirmed by the official t.A.T.u. website that Lena is to undertake a solo career under the guidance and management of the T.A. Music label. She started working with t.A.T.u. band-members in mid-2009 and is expected to release an album in 2011.[3] It was announced in March 2011 that t.A.T.u. was officially disbanded. The group celebrated their 12 years together, and released two remix albums entitled Waste Management Remixes pt. 1 and Waste Management Remixes pt. 2. It was announced they were the last albums together, as the solo singers would pursue a solo career.
On the 13th of December during a live chat, Lena was asked what she thinks of Yulia's new video "All Because Of You" to which she replied "I think it [all because of you] is very Julia. Julia is Julia." The rest of her comments were lost due to technical issues on the live chat.
Katina hosted a fan event at The Trail in Los Angeles on May 29[4][5] and gave her first solo performance on May 30 at the Troubador in Los Angeles.[6] Katina was the opening act of PrideFest in Milwaukee on June 12.[7] On the day of her performance at Pridefest, Katina released a free download of a song from her upcoming album called "Lost in this Dance".[8] On September 17, 2010, Katina performed at the San Francisco club 1015 Folsom.[9] On February 3, Katina was scheduled to give her first performance of 2011 at the XLV Party in Dallas, Texas' Cotton Bowl, with The Village People, Cazwell, Lady Bunny, DJ Hector Fonseca and DJ Enferno.[10] The concert, however, was canceled on January 31 when only 13 tickets for the show had sold.[11] In 2011, the film featuring her acting debut, You and I, was released in Russia. The film also featured t.A.T.u.'s other half, Yulia Volkova, and the band, as well as actress Mischa Barton.
Alongside the release of Lost In This Dance, she recorded the single "Guardian Angel" with the Canadian post-hardcore band, Abandon All Ships, featured on their 2010 debut album Geeving, which was released in October. On Friday, June 17, 2011 Katina's single "Never Forget" premiered on the Mexican radio station FMTU 103-7 in Monterrey, Mexico.[12] On Monday, August 1, 2011, the singer revealed the trailer the music video. On August 2 the official video was leaked on Perez Hilton's blog[13] On Friday, August 5, 2011, Katina officially released her music video for "Never Forget" [14] and released the song on iTunes as a single, which also includes her song "Stay".[15]
Katina and her band appeared on Rawsession, where she performed original acoustic versions of Owl City's "Deer in the Headlights", Alexandra Stan's "Mr. Saxobeat", and her own "Never Forget".[16] All videos were released officially via YouTube.[17] She also collaborated with Mexican synthpop band Belanova and filmed a video for the song they recorded together titled "Tic Toc".[18]
On 19 September 2011, Katina released a new song, "Waiting", while being interviewed by Echo of Moscow Radio.[19]
On December 9, 2011, Katina released a new song, "Keep On Breathing" via Kroogi, which was used as a fund-raising song for helping Japanese children who have been suffering from the earthquake and tsunami. [20]
During a video conference with her fans on the 13th December, Lena was asked by a fan for information on when her album would be released, to which she replied: "I also would like to know the answer to this question [laughs]... I am trying to find a label, but they don't want me, for some reason..." Lena's connection to fans went down at this point and the remaining comments made by her were lost.
Since her early childhood, Katina's hobbies have included artistic gymnastics, ballroom dancing, figure skating, swimming and horseback-riding. She is also a skilled pianist and also enjoys reading, especially romance novels. Katina stated in a 2006 TeleHit interview that she used to listen to artists such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Pink Floyd when she was younger.[21]
Untitled (2012)
| Single | Year |
|---|---|
| "Never Forget"[22] | 2011 |
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