Katrina From Katrina & The Waves Releases Second Single On Same Day As Album
Born in the U.S., Katrina grew up with the West Coast sound and inspired by Motown and girl groups such as The Shangri-Las and The Shirelles before she moved to the UK in 1976. Here, with fellow American Vince de la Cruz, Katrina formed the band Mama’s Cookin’.
In 1983 Katrina and Vince joined The Waves (a Cambridge based band with Kimberley Rew) and she picked up on some of their musical influences such as Etta James, Velvet Underground and the Stones.
The band became Katrina & The Waves, and recorded an album of original material, which was picked up by a Canadian label. Katrina & The Waves had their first big break in 1984 when The Bangles covered their song Going Down to Liverpool.
The first album was re-recorded and remixed with single Walking On Sunshine giving Katrina & The Waves a worldwide hit in 1985. The song has been played over 2.5 million times on US radio and featured on the soundtrack of a host of films before lending its title to the Leona Lewis film musical in 2014.
Katrina & The Waves were nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist and followed up with hits in the US (Do You Want Crying) and the UK (Sun Street) as they toured the world.
In 1997 Katrina & The Waves’ Love Shine a Light won the Eurovision Song Contest with the largest ever margin, followed by an unprecedented four consecutive appearances on Top Of The Pops and a No. 3 in the UK Charts.
Following the break-up of Katrina & The Waves, Katrina had a daily show on BBC Radio 2 for a year and a half. And has published two books Peggy Lee Loves London: My London Guide (2013) and Metropoodle: My Cornwall Guide (Kindle 2017).
More recently Katrina released her first solo album for ten years Blisland in 2015 and the compilation The Very Best Of Katrina & The Waves (2017) and has been busy touring with her band and other artists from the 1980s.