Katrina Leskanich, frontwoman of Katrina & the Waves, admits the response to her Eurovision win in 1997 was underwhelming amid the buzz surrounding a new Labour government.
On the evening of the Grand Final, the band performed their classic hit Love Shine a Light 24th out of 25 acts and, when it came to the voting, assumed a permanent position in first place on the scoreboard.
The song ultimately finished with 227 points, setting a record at the time, but speaking in the June 2022 issue of Retro Pop, she admits their win felt like an “afterthought”.
“When we won in 1997, Terry Wogan was saying, ‘There’s gonna be a lot of people here. There’s going to be a lot of press, a lot of popularity’,” says Katrina, following the release of her latest solo album ‘Hearts, Loves & Babys’.
“There wasn’t jack shit. There wasn’t anybody waiting at the airport. Tony Blair had just got in. It was all about the Labour government getting in. And [Eurovision] was just sort of an afterthought.”
Despite being overlooked 25 years ago, Love Shine a Light took centre stage at the 2020 special ‘Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light’, which aired in lieu of that year’s edition owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Not only was the show named after Katrina and the Waves’ winning number, but the song also featured as a performance, with all contestants from the planned Contest (except for Hooverphonic from Belgium), as well as an instrumental rendition courtesy of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
“I was shocked. I was flabbergasted, to tell you the truth,” Katrina smiles. “To hear the orchestra playing it and then to hear everyone taking a line, I just stood in front of the TV with my mouth hanging open. I was just like, ‘This is extraordinary!’
“It was fun to think that the UK won [in 1997] and all of that, but [there was] no fanfare whatsoever. So for it to be bigged up in such a way in 2020, it actually was so much more appropriate for now and it’s almost like it found the right year to reemerge and to be born again.
“It just had so much more meaning, it was so much more poignant this time. And that was a big, fantastic second ‘hallelujah’ moment.”
Read the full retrospective in the June 2022 edition of Retro Pop, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store or use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist.
