Katrina Leskanich
| Katrina Leskanich | |
|---|---|
Katrina Leskanich performing in 1986 at a concert
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Katrina Elizabeth Leskanich |
| Born |
April 10, 1960 Topeka, Kansas, United States |
| Genres | New wave, pop rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, rhythm guitarist, actress, Radio DJ, TV Presenter, author |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | Capitol Records, Universal Records, Virgin, Warner Bros. Records, BMG, EMI, Katsweb |
| Associated acts | Katrina and the Waves |
| Website | katrinasweb |
Katrina Elizabeth Leskanich (born April 10, 1960) is an American musician, author and former lead singer of British pop rock band Katrina and the Waves whose song "Walking on Sunshine" was an international hit in 1985 and in 1997 won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Love Shine a Light".
Leskanich was born in Topeka, Kansas. She is of Irish, German and Czech ancestry. Her father was a colonel in the United States Air Force, and Katrina and her five siblings (four sisters and one brother) moved frequently as children. After she was born, they moved from Kansas to New Mexico, and then California, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Stuttgart, in (then) West Germany, and the Netherlands before arriving in the United Kingdom in 1976.
The band's earliest incarnation was as The Waves, a group that played in and around Cambridge, England, from 1975 to 1977 and featured guitarist Kimberley Rew 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 hailing from Feltwell, England. This band, founded in 1978, featured American Katrina Leskanich on vocals and keyboards, and her then-boyfriend (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, Foreigner, Linda Ronstadt, and ZZ Top.
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