Lena Katina

Elena Sergeevna Katina (Елена Сергеевна Катина; born 4 October 1984), better known as Lena Katina, is a Russian musician who gained fame as one half of the pop/electronica duo t.A.T.u. She started her career at the age of eight, joining the Russian children's act Avenue, soon after that joining Neposedy.

Katina was born in Moscow on 4 October 1984 to musician Sergey Katin.

Starting at just four years old, on her father's initiative, Katina began to attend various sport and music clubs.

When she was seven, Katina began regular school and within a year, she entered music school for piano classes.

When she was ten, she joined the children's group Avenue as a soloist, singing with the ensemble for the next three years.

When she was thirteen, she became a member of the vocal and instrumental group Neposedy, where she met Julia Volkova, and the two became friends.

At the age of fourteen, she was successfully cast as a member of the pop duo t.A.T.u., together with Volkova.

In 1999, producer Ivan Shapovalov chose Katina and Julia Volkova for his project t.A.T.u. The duo would later become Russia's most successful pop music act.

The group produced several hits, including "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us", and "All About Us".

Their first single, "All the Things She Said", peaked at No. 1 in nineteen countries, including the UK, Russia, and Australia.

Together with Julia Volkova, Katina made up the duo t.A.T.u., a group active since 1999.

They achieved global fame with hits such as "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us", and "All About Us", and took part in the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third with "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia".

In 2007, both girls appeared in the US–Russian drama film You and I, which starred Mischa Barton in the lead role and was based on the 2006 Aleksey Mitrofanov novel t.A.T.u. Come Back, itself inspired by the story of the pop duo.

The three tracks were later released as an EP titled RAWsession 07.14.11.

In 2009, Katina began a solo career, which caused t.A.T.u. to go on hiatus.

Katina hosted a fan event at The Trail in Los Angeles on 29 May 2010 and gave her first solo performance the next day at the Troubador.

She was the opening act of PrideFest in Milwaukee on 12 June 2010 and on the same day, she released a free download of a song from her upcoming album, titled "Lost in this Dance".

Alongside the release of this track, Katina contributed vocals to the song "Guardian Angel" by Canadian electronic metalcore band Abandon All Ships, which was featured on their 2010 debut album, Geeving.

In 2011, the duo officially split, with Volkova also pursuing a solo path.

That year, Katina released her first mainstream single, "Never Forget", which reached No. 1 on the MTV Russia Top 10 and also won the MTV Russia – 2011 Video of the Year.

The track also reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and rose to first place in Greece.

In March 2011, t.A.T.u. officially disbanded and rumours appeared that Katina would release a solo album the same year.

The duo celebrated their twelve years together by releasing two remix albums, entitled Waste Management Remixes pt. 1 and Waste Management Remixes pt. 2.

On 17 June 2011, Katina's single "Never Forget" premiered on Mexican radio station FMTU 103–7 in Monterrey.

The single, once available on iTunes, also included the song "Stay".

Katina and her band appeared on Rawsession, where they performed original acoustic versions of Owl City's "Deer in the Headlights", Alexandra Stan's "Mr. Saxobeat", and her own "Never Forget".

On 19 September 2011, Katina released the song "Waiting" and on 9 December 2011, "Keep on Breathing" came out.

The latter track was used to raise funds for children affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

In September 2012, Katina collaborated with Russian rapper T-killah on the track "SHOT".

In 2014, Katina released her debut album, This Is Who I Am, which was reissued in Spanish under the name Esta Soy Yo two years later.

On 17 March 2014, Katina released her first live album, European Fan Weekend 2013 Live, which included her solo material as well as a number of t.A.T.u. tracks.

In September, she announced via Facebook that her debut studio album, This Is Who I Am, would be released on 18 November 2014, preceded by the single "Who I Am" on 7 October.

On 12 March 2015, the album's fourth single, An Invitation, aired.

In July 2016, a Spanish version of This Is Who I Am was released, under the title Esta Soy Yo.

In October 2017, Katina released her new English-language single "Silent Hills".

In December, she published the song "Here I Go Again", a collaboration with Daddy Mercury.

On 3 March 2018, she released the Russian-language ballad "после нас" ("After Us"), a nostalgic retrospective on her time with t.A.T.u. This was followed by three more Russian-language singles later that year: "Косы" ("Braids"), "Куришь" ("You Smoke"), and "Макдоналдс" ("McDonald's").

In 2019, she released her second album, Mono.

In 2019, Katina published the singles "Стартрек" ("Star Trek") in April and "Моно" ("Mono") in June.

Later the same month, she announced the upcoming release of her first Russian-language opus, titled Моно.