Katrina and the Waves were a British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band widely known for the 1985 hit " Walking on Sunshine". They also won the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "

Love Shine a Light "Love Shine a Light" is a song by British rock band Katrina and the Waves. It represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997. It was released as a single on 28 April 1997 and was later included on the band's ninth studio a ...

History

Pre-history (1975–1980)

The band's earliest incarnation was as the Waves, a group that played in and around

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, from 1975 to 1977. The Waves featured guitarist

Kimberley Rew Kimberley Charles Rew (born 3 December 1951) is an English rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as a member of Katrina and the Waves from 1981 to 1999 and of Robyn Hitchcock's Soft Boys from 1978 to 1981. Two of his better-kno ...

and drummer Alex Cooper. This incarnation of the Waves never issued any recordings, and broke up when Rew left to join the Soft Boys. A more direct ancestor of Katrina and the Waves was the band Mama's Cookin', a pop cover band from

Feltwell Feltwell is a village which holds an RAF base 10 miles (16 km) west of Thetford, Norfolk, England, and is in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. Landmarks and facilities Feltwell has the largest area of any parish in Norfolk. It is ...

. This band, founded in 1978, featured American

Katrina Leskanich Katrina Elizabeth Leskanich ( ; born April 10, 1960) is an American musician and the former lead singer of the pop rock band Katrina and the Waves. Their song " Walking on Sunshine" was an international hit in 1985. In 1997, the band won the ...

on vocals and keyboards, and fellow American, Vince de la Cruz on vocals and lead guitar. By late 1980, Alex Cooper had joined the band on drums, with Bob Jakins on bass. Mama's Cookin' proceeded to gig steadily in England over the next two years, specialising in covers of songs by American acts such as

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

, Foreigner,

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

and

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...

Early days as The Waves (1981–1982)

When The Soft Boys broke up in 1981, Rew contacted his old Wave-mate Cooper to see about renewing their musical partnership. Cooper convinced Rew to join Mama's Cookin', and the five-piece group (Leskanich/Rew/Cooper/de la Cruz/Jakins) was quickly renamed the Waves after the band Rew and Cooper had been in together in the mid-1970s. The Waves were initially fronted by singer/songwriter/guitarist Rew, who brought a wealth of original material to the band. Leskanich, meanwhile, originally only sang lead vocals on the cover tunes in the band's repertoire. However, over the first year of the Waves' existence, Rew began to write material for Leskanich to sing, and she was soon the primary vocalist. The Waves made their initial recorded appearances on a 1982 single ("The Nightmare"/"Hey, War Pig!"); both tracks were included on the 1982 Rew solo album called ''

The Bible of Bop ''The Bible of Bop'' is a mini-album and the first solo release by English guitarist and songwriter Kimberley Rew, released in 1982. It mostly consists of tracks taken from three singles Rew released through indie label Armageddon between 1980 a ...

''. The Waves then issued their debut EP ''

Shock Horror! ''Shock Horror!'' is a mini-album and the first release by new wave band Katrina and the Waves, released in 1983 by Aftermath Records. The album was originally credited to the Waves and released only in the UK, later reissued for the fir ...

'' later in 1982. Around this time, bassist Jakins left the band, and de la Cruz took over on bass. Now a quartet, the Waves issued the single "Brown Eyed Son" in the UK in August 1982 before permanently renaming themselves Katrina and the Waves.

Early Canadian success (1983–1984)

In early 1983, the fledgling band recorded, at their own expense, an album of their original material designed to be sold at gigs. Rew wrote all the songs on this album, and Leskanich sang eight of the album's 10 tracks. (Rew sang lead on the other two.) The album was shopped around to various labels, but only

Attic Records Attic Records was a Canadian independent record label, Consequently, although they were based in England, Katrina and the Waves' first album '' Walking on Sunshine'' was only released in Canada. The album garnered enough critical attention and radio play (especially for the title track) to merit a Canadian tour. In 1984, the group released a follow-up album in Canada (''

Katrina and the Waves 2 ''Katrina and the Waves 2'' is the second album by new wave band Katrina and the Waves, released in 1984 (see 1984 in music). The album was originally only released in Canada on the Attic Records label. It was included on the 2003 compilation ' ...

''), with Leskanich now handling all the lead vocals. Rew was still the primary songwriter, but de la Cruz was also responsible for a few songs, including the Canadian airplay hit "Mexico". Also in 1984, the band received their first ever airplay on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

when DJ Richard Skinner played the track "Que te quiero", whilst their song "

Going Down to Liverpool "Going Down to Liverpool" is a song written by Kimberley Rew for his group Katrina and the Waves, although best remembered for a cover done by the Bangles. Background The song was first released on the band's 1982 EP '' Shock Horror!'' (with the ...

" was covered by

the Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

, which added to their profile. With the group building a fan base with their recordings and extensive touring, major label interest began to build, and Katrina and the Waves eventually signed an international deal with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

in 1985.

"Walking on Sunshine" and international success (1985–1989)

For the first Capitol album, the band re-recorded, remixed, or overdubbed 10 songs from their earlier Canadian releases to create their self-titled international debut album in 1985. The '' Katrina and the Waves'' album was a substantial critical and commercial success, and the group had a worldwide hit with the song " Walking on Sunshine," (no. 9 US, no. 8 UK, a completely re-recorded, and substantially rearranged version of the song when compared to its initial 1983 Canada-only release). A

Grammy award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination for Best New Artist followed, as did constant touring, both of which helped to spur moderate sales of new releases. A follow-up single to "Walking on Sunshine" called "Do You Want Crying" (written by de la Cruz) also became a top 40 US hit, reaching no. 37 in the late summer of 1985. However, the band's follow-up album to ''Katrina and the Waves'' (simply entitled ''

Waves Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. * Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music * Waves (ban ...

'') did not meet with the same measure of success, either critically or commercially. Rew wrote only two of the 10 songs on the album; de la Cruz and Leskanich wrote the rest. Drummer Cooper, interviewed some years later, claimed "It was (a) mistake when we started taking over from Kimberley in the musical contribution side. The second Capitol album was awful". The album did spin off a minor UK and US hit in the form of the Rew-penned "Is That It?" (no. 70 US, no. 82 UK), and " Sun Street" (a de la Cruz composition) was a UK top 30 hit in 1986. However, Capitol dropped the band after the ''Waves'' album. The band subsequently recorded a 1989 album for Capitol-distributed

SBK Records SBK Records was a record label, owned by Universal Music Group, that was currently part of the Capitol Music Group, where it is in hibernation. The label was founded in 1988 and during its time in activity existed as part of the EMI Group. Histo ...

called ''

Break of Hearts ''Break of Hearts'' is a 1935 RKO film starring Katharine Hepburn and Charles Boyer. The screenplay was written by the team of Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman, with Anthony Veiller, from a story by Lester Cohen, specifically for Hepburn. Ori ...

'', a harder, more rock-oriented effort than their previous releases. The album included "That's the Way" which reached no. 16 in the US (credited to Leskanich/Rew), but subsequent singles, including "Rock 'n' Roll Girl", failed to chart, and the band once again were dropped from their label.

Downturn and surprise comeback winning Eurovision (1990–1997)

Throughout the 1990s, Katrina and the Waves recorded fairly steadily, though most releases were available only in continental Europe and/or Canada, and they issued no charting singles. They also recorded the song "

We Gotta Get Out of This Place "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", occasionally written "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place", is a rock song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded as a 1965 hit single by the Animals. It has become an iconic song of its type and was ...

" with

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, powe ...

for the TV series ''

China Beach ''China Beach'' is an American war drama television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, nicknamed "China Beach" in English by American and Australia ...

'' in 1990. On 3 May 1997, the band won the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom with the song "

". The song won by a then-record margin of 70 points over the Irish runner-up. "Love Shine a Light" became Katrina and the Waves' biggest-ever UK hit, peaking at no. 3 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In a 2020 interview, Katrina Leskanich revealed that, as an American national winning the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK, she was the target of criticism, with some people arguing that UK should have instead sent an English singer to the contest; she also claimed she was asked if she could "try and talk like an English person".

Dissolution (1998–1999)

Despite their return to the public eye in the UK, Katrina and the Waves were not able to follow up "Love Shine a Light" with another hit, and Leskanich left the group in 1998 after several disagreements within the band. Legal wrangling followed, preventing Leskanich from using the band name. Though attempts were made by the Waves to find a new "Katrina" to front the group, the three remaining group members eventually dissolved the band to pursue individual careers in 1999.

Impact of Hurricane "Katrina" (2005)

When

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

and its storm surge devastated much of the U.S. Gulf Coast on 29 August 2005, the MSNBC news program ''

Countdown with Keith Olbermann ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' is an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program hosted by Keith Olbermann that aired on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011 and on Current TV from 2011 to 2012. The show presented five selected news stories o ...

'' dubbed its coverage of the storm "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." She also stated that she hoped that "Walking on Sunshine" would become an anthem for the Gulf Coast's recovery.

Later years (2010–2013)

2010 marked the 25th anniversary of the release of "Walking on Sunshine" and a series of back-catalogue reissues and a re-recorded version of the track were released. A free download of one of the tracks from Kimberley Rew's solo album ''The Bible of Bop'' was given away in March 2010 from the band's website. Katrina Leskanich released ''The Live Album'' in July 2010 – a mix of Katrina and the Waves hits and new songs recorded in London and Germany. In June 2011, the group threatened legal action against U.S. presidential candidate

Michele Bachmann Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 20 ...

for playing their music on her campaign trail. A statement on the group's official website reads: "Katrina and the Waves would like it to be known that they do not endorse the use of "Walking on Sunshine" by Michele Bachmann and have instructed their lawyers accordingly." Leskanich stated that she wants to ban the Republican party from using the track because she does not agree with her politics. In July 2013, Leskanich performed at the San Fermín festival in Spain for the penultimate gig of the season on Plaza del Castillo.

Members

– vocals, rhythm guitar *

– lead guitar * Vince de la Cruz – bass guitar * Alex Cooper – drums

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

* ''The Best Of'' (1991, Attic) * ''Roses'' (1995, Polydor) (Canadian release only – compiles tracks from ''Edge of the Land'' and ''Turn Around'') * ''Anthology'' (1995,

One Way Records One Way Records was an independent record label based in Albany, New York that specialized in budget reissues of classic rock albums. In the 1990s, it gained business pressing reissues of those records that had "fallen through the cracks" in the t ...

/ CEMA Special Markets) * ''Katrina and the Waves / Waves'' (1996, BGO) * ''Walking on Sunshine – The Greatest Hits of Katrina and the Waves'' (1997,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

) * '' The Original Recordings 1983 – 1984'' (2003, Bongo Beat) (includes ''Walking on Sunshine'', ''Katrina and the Waves 2'', and bonus tracks)

Singles

;Note *The Capitol versions of "Que Te Quiero" and "Red Wine and Whiskey" were released as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

in the UK following "Walking on Sunshine" and "Do You Want Crying?".

References

External links

Kimberley Rew official website

Katrina Leskanich official website
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups disestablished in 1999 English pop music groups English rock music groups English new wave musical groups Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1997 Eurovision Song Contest winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the United Kingdom Female-fronted musical groups Musical groups from Cambridge Attic Records (Canada) artists Capitol Records artists 1981 establishments in England