Katrina Leskanich

Katrina Leskanich was brought up in a U.S. military family who moved to England in 1976, she became a UK resident and has lived in England for the last 30 years. Katrina formed the band Mama's Cookin' with Vince de la Cruz in 1978. In 1981 Katrina and Vince joined The Waves with Kimberley Rew (formerly of Soft Boys) and Alex Cooper, and the band became Katrina and The Waves.

In 1981 she became lead vocalist for the band Katrina and the Waves, based in the English city of Cambridge, which had several international hits, including "Walking on Sunshine" (1985), which has become a summer anthem and "Sun Street" in 1986. They also received a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist. The hits continued with "Do You Want Crying", "Que te Quiero", "Rock and Roll Girl" and "That's The Way" which reached No. 14 in the U.S.A. The band went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 for the United Kingdom with "Love Shine a Light," which went to No. 2 in the British charts and Katrina and The Waves performed an unprecedented four weeks running on the BBC 1 TV show Top of The Pops.

After the Waves broke up in 1999, Leskanich launched a solo career, first as a DJ for BBC Radio 2 and then in 2001 she played the lead role in the musical Leader of the Pack. She released her first CD, Katrina Leskanich, through Universal Records in Britain in 2005. And the single - Leskanich's cover of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know" was played on Radio 2. In 2005 she also participated in the Swedish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest (Melodifestivalen 2005) with the song As If Tomorrow Will Never Come, and reached place sixteen.

Currently Leskanich is performing in the UK, Europe and in the U.S. as a solo performer and with her new band. The Katrina Leskanich band features Darren Loveday (guitar), Elio Pace (keyboard), Jack Pollitt (drums), Andy Coughlan (bass)and Paul Newton (horns).

Katrina Leskanich is a contributor on a new compilation which is a tribute to The Clash Sandinista! album - release date 27th March 2007.