I'm walking on sunshine (whoa oh),
I'm walking on sunshine (whoa oh),
And don't it feel good (HEY!) Alright now,
And don't it feel good (HEY!) Alright now,
All right now yeah! (HEY!).
Katrina and the Waves were an English New Wave/Rock band active between 1981-1999, known for writing the song "Walking on Sunshine" and winning the 1997 Eurovision song contest. Its members were: vocalist and guitarist Katrina Leskanich, guitarist Kimberley Rew, bassist Vince de la Cruz and drummer Alex Cooper. In a similar story to The Pretenders, the band was British but with an American lead singer.
They recorded a bunch of albums, but the only song that everybody knows is their upbeat 1985 hit single "Walking on Sunshine". They had a few more singles chart, technically saving them from being a One-Hit Wonder, but nobody remembers them. They suddenly became big again when their song "Love Shine a Light" won the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest and became their biggest hit in the UK, but dissolved a few years later.
Apart from the fact that "Walking on Sunshine" is Philip J. Fry's favourite song, and also the theme of The Stephanie Miller Show, there really isn't anything else to say about them. The lead singer, Katrina Leskanich, has a solo career and performs a mix of Waves and her own material in concert though for legal reasons she can't be billed as the band.
Tropes:
- Artist and the Band: The band’s name comes from the lead singer.
- Bad to the Bone: Wanna underscore your scene with a song about feeling good, but James Brown is too obvious? Cue up "Walking on Sunshine"! The song earns over $200,000 annually in royalties for this exact reason.
- Gender-Blender Name: who names a guy Kimberley?
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Walking on Sunshine" is actually a plea to a lover to return, and even reads as a borderline Obsession Song, though the
chorus covers it up a bit. - Male Band, Female Singer: Katrina, the lead singer, is the only female member.
- New Wave
- Ode to Intoxication: "Red Wine and Whiskey."
- Re-release the Song: Despite being a British band with an American lead singer, the only place they could initially get a recording contract was in Canada, on a small label that had released music by Rew's previous band, the Soft Boys. After their first two albums gained notice there, Capitol Records signed the band, and their first major-label album was made up of re-recorded or remixed versions of songs off the two Canadian releases.
