Katrina Leskanich was brought up in a U.S. military family who moved to England in 1976, she became a UK resident and has lived in England for the last 30 years. Katrina formed the band Mama's Cookin' with Vince de la Cruz in 1978. In 1981 Katrina and Vince joined The Waves with Kimberley Rew (formerly of Soft Boys) and Alex Cooper, and the band became Katrina and The Waves.
In 1981 she became lead vocalist for the band Katrina and the Waves, based in the English city of Cambridge, which had several international hits, including "Walking on Sunshine" (1985), which has become a summer anthem and "Sun Street" 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. 14 in the U.S.A. The band went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 for the United Kingdom with "Love Shine a Light," which went to No. 2 in the British charts and Katrina and The Waves performed an unprecedented four weeks running on the BBC 1 TV show Top of The Pops.
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 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 Katrina publishes her 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.
In 1981 she became lead vocalist for the band Katrina and the Waves, based in the English city of Cambridge, which had several international hits, including "Walking on Sunshine" (1985), which has become a summer anthem and "Sun Street" 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. 14 in the U.S.A. The band went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 for the United Kingdom with "Love Shine a Light," which went to No. 2 in the British charts and Katrina and The Waves performed an unprecedented four weeks running on the BBC 1 TV show Top of The Pops.
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 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 Katrina publishes her 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.
Pop