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Katrina & The Waves

Data updated on 2024-10-11 13:38:03 UTC
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that there are no second acts in American life. He may have been right, but luckily for Katrina & the Waves, they either never read Fitzgerald, or the Anglo half of their Anglo-American lineup made them immune from this pattern. With a charismatic lead singer fronting a band pulled together by guitarist Kimberley Rew (late of the Soft Boys), who could write songs like nobody's business, they seemed tailor-made for success. And they did briefly cut a swathe across pop music in Europe, America, and around the world, achieving some serious success of their own with a pair of catchy, hook-laden songs, "Going Down to Liverpool" (which was first a hit as a cover by the Bangles) and "Walking on Sunshine." Their initial mass popularity (especially in America) was relatively brief, but their history and their range of good songs also extended a lot longer than most listeners are aware.

In 1981, in the wake of the Soft Boys' breakup, Rew landed in the Waves, an Anglo-American quartet featuring Katrina Leskanich (guitar, vocals), Vince de la Cruz (bass), and Rew's longtime friend Alex Cooper (drums). They tried it with Rew as lead singer but that wasn't a role that the guitarist/composer enjoyed -- instead, he moved Leskanich to the lead singer spot. The group became Katrina & the Waves to give it a special identity, at a time when there weren't a lot of bands with female lead singers. They spent two years working under the radar of the major labels, which had scarcely noticed the Soft Boys, never mind this quartet with the weird guitar-driven pop songs. They found a home with Attic Records, an independent label that had issued the Soft Boys' recordings in Canada, which allowed the band to avoid oblivion in favor of mere obscurity.

They started to make headway after two years of work, building an underground reputation, and the fact that their records had to be imported to England or the United States only added to their mystique. The record that turned their fortunes around, however, wasn't one of their own -- rather, it was the Bangles' cover of "Going Down to Liverpool," which became a hit on radio in England and America. Suddenly, the group was in demand from record labels on either side of the Atlantic, and they ended up signed to Capitol Records. Their self-titled Capitol debut LP, released in 1985, consisted of re-recorded (some accounts say simply remixed and redubbed) versions of the best songs from the group's two Attic albums, with a fuller, more elaborate sound. It peaked at number 28 in England and number 25 in America (the highest chart placement up to that time by any ex-member of the Soft Boys), and yielded the Top Ten U.S./U.K. hit "Walking on Sunshine," one of the more memorable pop/rock songs of the decade. A modest follow-up single, "Do You Want Crying," made the lower regions of the Top 40, and they seemed to have a big future in front of them, when the group suddenly broke stride at the same time they quickened the pace -- they rushed a second album (Waves) out that same year that was good enough but no improvement upon its predecessor. Additionally, their work lost its edge between the two LPs, and Rew had ceded some of his songwriting responsibility to the other members, who weren't nearly as skilled in composition. It sold less than half of what the earlier record had, generating a modest hit with the single "Sun Street," at number 22.

By 1989, their prospects seemed spent over the next three years as Capitol lost interest in the group, but they kept plugging and were rewarded with the Top 20 hit "That's the Way" and issued a third album, Break of Hearts, on the SBK label. They remained a marketable commodity in England and on the European continent, releasing three LPs in Germany during the 1990s, on Virgin and Polydor. Rew and Leskanich narrowly avoided going off to solo careers. In 1995, One Way Records in America released a passable best-of collection comprised of their Capitol material. Then, in 1997, lightning struck for the group a second time when the band won the Eurovision song contest with "Love Shine a Light," which reached the number two spot on the British charts. Although hardly the kind of honor they'd have considered in the 1980s -- the contest is usually the province of Euro-pop outfits with little rock credibility (ABBA is as credible as a winner ever got, and that's a long way from the Soft Boys) -- it revived interest in the band sufficient to get them a recording contract with Warner Bros. and helped them to generate a new album, Walk on Water. Not coincidentally, in 1997, EMI issued Walking on Sunshine: The Best of Katrina & the Waves, a superior compilation of their Capitol/EMI material dating between 1985 and 1991. And in 2003, the Bongo Beat label released The Original Recordings 1983-1984, collecting their two Attic Records albums together in one place, along with a bonus DVD containing their promotional concert film from the early '80s -- the existence of the latter makes up, in part, for the fact that the band never released a live album. By that time, the members had finally gone their separate ways, Rew and Leskanich embarking on solo careers. It wouldn't be totally surprising, however, to see one or more of them -- if not a totally reformed version of the group -- revive the band's repertory, so infectiously tuneful and relentlessly popular are their songs. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Genres

: new wave pop

Total plays

1.7 billion
Updated on 2024-10-11

Country

United Kingdom

Monthly listeners

5,795,708

Followers

109,146

Top Cities

  1. United Kingdom
    84,628 listeners
  2. Australia
    107,994 listeners
  3. Australia
    91,773 listeners
  4. Australia
    77,742 listeners
  5. Chile
    71,418 listeners

Most popular tracks

Track Plays Duration Release date
Walking On Sunshine
Walking On Sunshine
801,031,231 4:01 1985-01-01
Walking on Sunshine
Walking on Sunshine
801,031,231 3:51 2004-09-06
Love Shine a Light
Love Shine a Light
19,589,871 3:08 2010-06-21
Walking on Sunshine (25th Anniversary) (2010 - Remaster) - 25th Anniversary;2010 - Remaster
Walking on Sunshine (25th Anniversary) (2010 - Remaster) - 25th Anniversary;2010 - Remaster
18,691,145 3:44 2010-05-24
Walking on Sunshine (25th Anniversary) ( 2010 - Remaster) ( Instrumental) - 25th Anniversary; 2010 - Remaster; Instrumental
Walking on Sunshine (25th Anniversary) ( 2010 - Remaster) ( Instrumental) - 25th Anniversary; 2010 - Remaster; Instrumental
18,691,145 3:45 2010-05-24
Walking on Sunshine (2004 Version)
Walking on Sunshine (2004 Version)
18,439,728 3:36 2004-01-01
Walking on Sunshine
Walking on Sunshine
13,023,277 2:42 2023-05-19
Love Shine a Light
Love Shine a Light
2,677,599 2:54 1997-09-01
Walking on Sunshine
Walking on Sunshine
1,199,854 3:22 2010-05-10
Sun Street
Sun Street
961,793 3:14 1985-01-01
Que Te Quiero
Que Te Quiero
889,798 3:22 1985-01-01
Going Down To Liverpool
Going Down To Liverpool
553,111 4:30 1985-01-01
Do You Want Crying
Do You Want Crying
441,890 3:35 1985-01-01
Rock and Roll Girl
Rock and Roll Girl
358,024 3:28 2010-06-21
Red Wine And Whisky
Red Wine And Whisky
330,279 3:44 1985-01-01
The Game Of Love
The Game Of Love
288,715 3:20 1985-01-01
Mexico
Mexico
268,973 3:18 1985-01-01
Sun Street
Sun Street
240,542 3:19 2010-06-21
Shine a Light
Shine a Light
194,216 2:53 2015-05-19
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir)
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir)
192,132 3:23 2010-05-24
Que Te Quiero
Que Te Quiero
187,741 3:22 2010-05-10
Maniac House
Maniac House
176,084 4:09 2010-05-17
The Sun Won't Shine Without You
The Sun Won't Shine Without You
166,496 3:35 1985-01-01
That's the Way
That's the Way
151,739 3:21 2010-06-21
Machine Gun Smith
Machine Gun Smith
132,357 3:06 1985-01-01
Cry For Me
Cry For Me
128,100 5:02 1985-01-01
That's Just the Woman In Me
That's Just the Woman In Me
103,799 4:15 2010-05-17
That's Just the Woman in Me
That's Just the Woman in Me
103,799 4:17 2011-12-13
Do You Want Crying?
Do You Want Crying?
99,818 4:22 2010-06-21
Walking on Sunshine (VIP Mix)
Walking on Sunshine (VIP Mix)
73,277 2:33 2023-08-04
Mexico
Mexico
73,124 3:02 2010-06-21
River Deep, Mountain High
River Deep, Mountain High
68,152 3:04 2010-05-17
Tears For Me
Tears For Me
67,556 3:06 1985-01-01
Brown Eyed Son
Brown Eyed Son
65,772 2:06 2010-05-10
Wipe Out (Bonus Track)
Wipe Out (Bonus Track)
65,247 2:23 2010-05-10
Red Wine and Whisky
Red Wine and Whisky
62,345 3:39 2010-06-21
Is That It?
Is That It?
62,296 3:42 1985-01-01
Ain't No Money (Buy You Love)
Ain't No Money (Buy You Love)
60,173 2:39 2010-05-10
One Woman
One Woman
59,924 3:35 2010-06-21
Going Down to Liverpool
Going Down to Liverpool
59,624 4:27 2010-06-21
Do You Want Crying?
Do You Want Crying?
58,162 4:02 2010-05-17
Dancing Street
Dancing Street
55,596 2:26 2010-05-10
Walking on Sunshine (Jack Rush Remix)
Walking on Sunshine (Jack Rush Remix)
54,584 2:36 2023-08-04
Walking on Sunshine (Instrumental of Soweto Gospel Choir Version)
Walking on Sunshine (Instrumental of Soweto Gospel Choir Version)
51,058 3:20 2010-05-24
Spiderman
Spiderman
48,293 3:16 2010-05-10
Wild Thing
Wild Thing
41,623 2:29 2010-05-17
Love Shine a Light - Xenomania Club Mix
Love Shine a Light - Xenomania Club Mix
41,515 7:10 1997-09-01
The Sun Won't Shine
The Sun Won't Shine
40,028 5:04 2010-06-21
Love Shine a Light (Xenomania Club Edit) - Remix
Love Shine a Light (Xenomania Club Edit) - Remix
38,216 3:57 2020-11-13
Sleep On My Pillow
Sleep On My Pillow
38,206 5:06 1985-01-01
She Loves to Groove
She Loves to Groove
37,818 2:55 2010-05-17
Walk on Water
Walk on Water
37,366 4:10 1997-09-01
Cry for Me
Cry for Me
33,536 4:30 2010-06-21
Don't Take Her Out of My World
Don't Take Her Out of My World
32,937 2:58 2010-05-10
Plastic Man (Single Version)
Plastic Man (Single Version)
32,129 3:33 2010-05-17
Red Wine and Whisky
Red Wine and Whisky
31,542 3:16 2010-05-17
Mexico
Mexico
29,911 2:51 2010-05-17
Lovely Lindsey
Lovely Lindsey
29,559 4:47 1985-01-01
Going Down to Liverpool
Going Down to Liverpool
28,462 3:48 2010-05-10
He's a Charmer
He's a Charmer
27,955 3:16 2010-05-17
I Really Taught Me to Watusi
I Really Taught Me to Watusi
27,513 3:08 2010-05-10
The Game of Love
The Game of Love
27,035 3:19 2010-05-17
Walking on Sunshine
Walking on Sunshine
25,525 4:00 2015-05-19
Take a Little Piece
Take a Little Piece
25,105 3:26 1997-09-01
Riding Shotgun
Riding Shotgun
24,761 3:42 1985-01-01
Machine Gun Smith
Machine Gun Smith
23,759 2:58 2010-05-10
Eejay
Eejay
23,561 3:26 1997-09-01
Money Chain
Money Chain
23,084 3:52 1985-01-01
Cry for Me
Cry for Me
22,887 3:59 2010-05-17
Going Down to Liverpool
Going Down to Liverpool
22,427 3:45 1997-09-01
Since You've Been Mine
Since You've Been Mine
21,953 3:39 1997-09-01
Shakin' in One Spot
Shakin' in One Spot
20,747 4:45 1997-09-01
One Woman
One Woman
20,739 3:35 2010-05-17
Walking on Sunshine (Extended Mix)
Walking on Sunshine (Extended Mix)
18,302 3:44 2023-05-19
Yes Agatha
Yes Agatha
18,240 2:15 2010-05-17
The Sun Won't Shine
The Sun Won't Shine
18,085 3:54 2010-05-17
Love That Boy
Love That Boy
17,309 3:20 1985-01-01
Don't Keep Me Knocking
Don't Keep Me Knocking
15,185 5:33 1997-09-01
I Want a Man (Bonus Track)
I Want a Man (Bonus Track)
14,346 2:05 2010-05-10
Stop Trying To Prove (How Much Of A Man You Is)
Stop Trying To Prove (How Much Of A Man You Is)
13,819 3:14 1985-01-01
The Better You Love
The Better You Love
13,702 3:41 1997-09-01
Help Me (Bonus Track)
Help Me (Bonus Track)
13,285 3:09 2010-05-10
Love or Nothing
Love or Nothing
12,210 3:41 1997-09-01
She Loves to Groove (7" Version)
She Loves to Groove (7" Version)
11,902 2:38 2010-05-10
Mr. Star
Mr. Star
11,398 3:43 1985-01-01
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (Steve Monassé Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;Steve Monassé Remix
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (Steve Monassé Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;Steve Monassé Remix
10,176 4:36 2011-07-18
Girl with Blue Eyes
Girl with Blue Eyes
9,688 2:08 1997-09-01
Walk on Water - Acoustic Version
Walk on Water - Acoustic Version
8,324 5:10 1997-09-01
Walking On Sunshine - Sped Up
Walking On Sunshine - Sped Up
8,116 3:27 2023-10-21
Spiderman
Spiderman
5,151 3:12 1997-09-01
Sun Street
Sun Street
4,883 3:10 2015-05-19
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (Kriminal Klub Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;Kriminal Klub Remix
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (Kriminal Klub Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;Kriminal Klub Remix
4,242 4:04 2011-07-18
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (aTom Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;aTom Remix
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (aTom Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;aTom Remix
3,460 4:45 2011-07-18
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (Mariko Langan Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;Mariko Langan Remix
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir) (Mariko Langan Remix) - with Soweto Gospel Choir;Mariko Langan Remix
3,152 2:57 2011-07-18

New releases

Walking On Sunshine (Sped Up)
Walking On Sunshine (Sped Up)
2023-10-21
[CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92)]
Walking on Sunshine (Remixes)
Walking on Sunshine (Remixes)
2023-08-04
[BMG Rights Management GmbH]
Walking on Sunshine
Walking on Sunshine
2023-05-19
[BMG Rights Management GmbH]
Love Shine a Light (Xenomania Club Edit) [Remix]
Love Shine a Light (Xenomania Club Edit) [Remix]
2020-11-13
[Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group]
Love Shine a Light (15th Anniversary Edition)
Love Shine a Light (15th Anniversary Edition)
2012-03-26
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
Walking on Sunshine
Walking on Sunshine
2011-07-18
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir;25th Anniversary Edition)
Walking on Sunshine (with Soweto Gospel Choir;25th Anniversary Edition)
2010-07-21
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
The Best of Katrina and the Waves
The Best of Katrina and the Waves
2010-06-21
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
Walking on Sunshine
Walking on Sunshine
2010-05-24
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
Katrina and the Waves 2
Katrina and the Waves 2
2010-05-17
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
Katrina and the Waves
Katrina and the Waves
2010-05-10
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
Walking on Sunshine (2004 Version)
Walking on Sunshine (2004 Version)
2004-01-01
[Kyboside Limited, a BMG company]
Walk On Water (Expanded Edition)
Walk On Water (Expanded Edition)
1997-09-01
[WM UK]
Anthology
Anthology
1995-01-01
[Capitol Records]
Waves
Waves
1985-01-01
[CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92)]
Katrina & The Waves
Katrina & The Waves
1985-01-01
[Capitol Records]