WALKING ON SUNSHINE
"Walking on Sunshine" is a song written by Kimberley Rew for Katrina and the Waves' 1983 eponymous debut full-length album. The re-recorded version was at first released on the band's 1985 self-titled album as the album's second single and reached No. 4 in Australia, No. 9 in the United States, and No. 8 in the United Kingdom. It was the Waves' first U.S. top 40 hit, and their biggest success in the UK until "Love Shine a Light" (1997). Conceived of as a ballad, Katrina decided to belt the song out. (More from Wikipedia)
The other album cover that I more or less cleaned up for framing was practically the first record that I picked up out of my front yard from the debris: The artist for this one was Katrina and the Waves (I kid you not); it was the cover from a 12" single, not for their big hit "Walking on Sunshine" but for the follow-up "Do You Want Crying" – and yes, there was quite a bit.
(May 2010)
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Katrina and the Waves came along in the 1980’s when a lot of the alternative rock music was getting pretty serious, and were they a breath of fresh air. Kimberley Rew (guitar, chief songwriter) put together a band in the mid-1970’s called the Waves (along with a cover band called Mama’s Cookin’); but it was their second incarnation as Katrina and the Waves that hit the big time, after his other band, the Soft Boys came and went. Other bandmembers were Katrina Leskanich (guitar, lead vocals), Vince de la Cruz (bass), and Alex Cooper (drums). Actually Kimberley Rew was also a sometime lead singer, but that didn’t last long. Their major hit was "Walking on Sunshine" (1985), but they previously wrote and recorded a song that was a hit by the Bangles, “Going Down to Liverpool”.
I have previously told the ironic tale of finding the 12-inch single of the follow-up hit by Katrina and the Waves to "Walking on Sunshine", called "Do You Want Crying" as practically the first record that I picked up in the yard from the wreckage of our home from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. “Katrina” would have been enough by itself, but with the band name being the Waves . . .
From Wikipedia: “When Hurricane Katrina and its storm surge devastated much of the U.S. Gulf Coast in [August-]September 2005, the MSNBC news program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, dubbed its coverage of the hurricane, ‘Katrina and the Waves’; the name also appeared in numerous headlines and blog postings. A New York Times reporter contacted Katrina Leskanich [of Katrina and the Waves], who said: ‘The first time I opened the paper and saw “Katrina kills 9,” it was a bit of a shock. . . . I hope that the true spirit of "Walking on Sunshine" will prevail. I would hate for the title to be tinged with sadness, and I will have to do my own part to help turn that around.’" She had the same or similar sentiments posted on her website for several months. Anyway, I still hear "Walking on Sunshine" on the radio frequently, and it has the same joyful spirit to me.
The album that I have, also called Katrina and the Waves, sure looks like a debut album to me and features "Walking on Sunshine"; Waves appears to have followed as their second album, and both came out in 1985.
(March 2016)
