Katrina is the former lead singer of Katrina and The Waves.
who had their first big break in 1984 when The Bangles covered their song ‘Going Down to Liverpool’. This drew attention to the group and lead to an international deal with Capitol. The following year Katrina and The Waves were nominated for a Grammy for ‘Best New Artist’.
Their first Capitol album, Katrina & The Waves released in 1985, was a substantial critical and commercial success and ‘Walking on Sunshine’ was a worldwide hit earning top ten spots around the globe.
‘Walking on Sunshine’ has been featured in many films including, Secret of My Success, Look Who’s Talking, High Fidelity, American Psycho and Daddy Day Care.
Katrina and The Waves’ song covers include Bangles ‘Going Down to Liverpool’ (1984), Dolly Parton ‘Walking on Sunshine’ (1996), Celine Dion ‘That’s Just The Woman in Me’ (2008) plus a Glee cast mash up of ‘Walking on Sunshine’ and Beyonce’s ‘Halo’ (2010)
Their follow up single, ‘Do You Want Crying’ was a top 40 hit in the US and ‘Sun Street’ was a UK Top 30 hit in 1986. In 1989 Katrina & The Waves recorded a more rock-orientated album for Capitol subsidiary SBK Records – Break of Hearts which included ‘That’s the Way’ which reached No. 16 in the US charts. Katrina toured worldwide with artists such as Wham, The Beach Boys, Don Henley, Pointer Sisters, Chaka Khan, The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Coolio and Run DMC. ‘Walking on Sunshine’ was followed by more chart hits – ‘Do You Want Crying’ and ‘Que Te Quiero’ in 1985, ‘Sun Street’ in 1986 and ‘That’s The Way’ in 1989, with performances at Madison Square Garden, The Mall, Washington DC, The Marquee Club and CBGBs where Katrina sang with Joey Ramone.
In 1997 Katrina and 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.
In 2001, Katrina began a solo career, performing live with her new band and releasing her first solo album Katrina Leskanich in 2005. The following year, Katrina released a Clash cover, ‘Hitsville UK’ on The Sandinista! Project – a compilation and tribute to The Clash Sandinista! Album. Katrina has since released 3 more studio albums, and a live album and published her first book – Peggy Lee Loves London: My London Guide (Metropoodle Press 2013) where Katrina explores London with her dog. Katrina has toured North America twice on the Retro Futura Tour, Rewind Tour in South Africa, twice in Australia with Countdown Spectacular and Totally 80s, Sweden, and Norway on the Gylne Tider tour.
In 2022 Katrina released the single ‘Holiday’ to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ‘Love Shine A Light’ winning Eurovision.
In 2023 Katrina released a new single ‘Shut Your Mouth’ and was one of the guest artists of The Beach Boys on their Caribbean Beach Boys cruise and performed at the Grand Final party in the Eurovision Village when the Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Liverpool in May. And toured Sweden with ‘The Greatest 80s’ tour for a month in November and December.
Katrina released ‘I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love’ in 2024 which went to No. 1 in June for two weeks in the Heritage Chart. This was followed up by a re-release of her Christmas single, ‘I Can’t Give You Anything but Love’, which went to No. 2 in the Heritage Chart. In 2025 Katrina published her dog-friendly guide to Cornwall, ‘Peggy Lee Loves Cornwall’ and released the single ‘Honey Lamb’.
Katrina continues to tour and perform worldwide with her band of 20 years.