Katrina Leskanich

Katrina Elizabeth Leskanich (/lɛˈskɑːnɪtʃ/ lesk-AH-nitch; born April 10, 1960) is an American singer and musician and the former lead singer of the British pop rock band Katrina and the Waves. The band's song "Walking on Sunshine" was an international hit in 1985. In 1997, the band won the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom with the song "Love Shine a Light". Both songs were written by Leskanich's long-term bandmate Kimberley Rew.

Leskanich was born in Topeka, Kansas. Her father was a Vietnam veteran who became a colonel in the United States Air Force. Katrina and her five siblings moved frequently as children. The family arrived in the United Kingdom in 1976. She graduated from RAF Lakenheath high school in 1978.

Mama's Cookin', a pop cover band from Feltwell, Norfolk, England, was founded in 1978. It featured Leskanich on vocals and keyboards, her then-boyfriend (and fellow American) Vince de la Cruz on vocals and lead guitar, and Marcos de la Cruz on drums. 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, specializing in covers of songs by American acts.

In 1981, singer-songwriter Kimberley Rew joined Mama's Cookin', and the five-piece group was quickly renamed The Waves after a band Rew and Cooper had been in together in the mid-1970s. Rew initially fronted the Waves. 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 ("Nightmare"/"Hey, War Pig!"); both tracks were included on the 1982 Rew solo album called The Bible of Bop. The Waves issued their debut EP, Shock Horror!, later in 1982. Around this time, bassist Jakins left the band. He was not replaced, as de la Cruz took over on bass, and the band was rechristened Katrina and the Waves.

In early 1983, the fledgling band recorded—at their own expense—an LP of their original material to sell at gigs. Rew wrote all the songs on this LP, while Leskanich sang eight of the album's ten tracks.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.