Elena Katina

Lena Katina
Lena Katina in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Elena Sergeevna Katina
Born	4 October 1984 (1984-10-04) (age 32) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Origin	Moscow, Soviet Union
Genres	Pop rock,post-grunge
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Piano and vocals
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Katina Music Inc., Maqueta Records, T.A. Music, Such Much Productions
Associated acts	t.A.T.u., Neposedi, Julia Volkova, Abandon All Ships
Website	www.lenakatina.com

Elena Sergeevna Katina (Russian: Елена Сергеевна Катина, born 4 October 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 Ivan Shapovalov had chosen Lena Katina for his project, t.A.T.u., as well with Julia Volkova. The duo would later become Russia's most successful pop music act. The group produced several hits including "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us" and "All About Us". Their first single "All The Things She Said" peaked at number one in 19 countries including the UK, Russia and Australia.

In 2009 Katina began a solo career, which caused t.A.T.u. to go into a hiatus. In 2011 Katina and Volkova officially split to pursue solo careers. That year Katina released her first mainstream single "Never Forget", which in 2011 reached No. 1 on the MTV Russia Top 10 and also won the MTV Russia – 2011 Video Of The Year. The track also reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and reached No. 1 in Greece.

In 2014, she released her debut album, This Is Who I Am.

Katina was born in Moscow on 4 October 1984 to the musician, Sergey Katin – who collaborated with "Dyuna", Marina Khlebnikova and other representatives of Russian show-business. Starting at just 4 years old, on her father's initiative, Katina began to attend various sport and music clubs for the purpose of fostering plastic arts and artistic talents. When she was seven Katina entered an ordinary school and within a year she entered music school for piano classes. When she was ten she joined the child-group "Avenue" as a soloist, where she would sing for the next 3 years. When she was 13 she became a member of vocal and instrumental group "Neposedi" (Naughty Children) where she met Yulia Volkova with whom she became friends. At the casting, she sang a song in French and the jury were astonished by the quality of her voice. Soon Lena left the group due to her age – children sing in "Neposedi" up to 14 years old. At the age of 15 she was successfully cast as a member of the pop duo "t.A.T.u.".