Lena Katina

At 39 years old, Lena Katina has this physical status:

Creator and then-manager of t.A.T.u., Ivan Shapovalov, has stated that the idea for the group stemmed from the common male fascination with schoolgirl lesbian lovers.

After auditioning 400 girls, Shapovalov selected Katina at the age of fourteen. With the project still in development, Katina had the opportunity to record demos, including "Belochka" and "Yugoslavia". The then-fourteen-year-old Julia Volkova was added to the project some time afterward, and in 2001, the duo rose to popularity in Russia and later in the world.

Feeling satisfied with his choices, Shapovalov signed Volkova and Katina to t.A.T.u., but the contract also demanded that the girls present a lesbian image. After breaking away in 2004, the girls came clean and stated that Shapovalov had created the image, and that they were even told what to say in interviews.

t.A.T.u. soon became the most successful Russian group of all time, leaving a number of hits behind them, such as "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us", and "All About Us". They took part in the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third with "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia". In 2007, Katina, along with Volkova, appeared in the film You and I, with Mischa Barton playing the lead role. Based on the 2006 Aleksey Mitrofanov novel t.A.T.u. Come Back, itself loosely based on the story of the pop duo, it was directed by Roland Joffe and presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. The film was released in 2011 and 2012 in Russia and the United States, respectively.

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.

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 recorded the single "Guardian Angel" with Canadian post-hardcore band Abandon All Ships, which was featured on their 2010 debut album, Geeving. 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". The three tracks were later released as an EP titled RAWsession 07.14.11.

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".

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, 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. The eight-track album was released on 26 July. In November, another single, "Никогда" ("Never"), came out.

In 2020, Lena Katina joined ex-Neposedy member Sergey Lazarev as a judge on Russia-1's reality competition series All Together Now!/Ну-ка, все вместе!, where a contestant's singing ability is judged by a team of 100 musicians. Alongside Katina, the panel of judges included Valentina Pyatchenko and Yekaterina Shklyayeva, members of the ethno-pop group Buranovskiye Babushki. She also made an appearance on the Russian edition of The Masked Singer as Spider/Паук. She was eliminated from the show on 13 April, landing in sixth place.

Katina released a number of singles in 2020, including "Virus", "Killing Me Softly", "Crybaby", and an English version of "Никогда", titled "Nevermind". Her acoustic EP Акустика (Acoustics) was published in April. In June 2021, she released the single "Из темноты".

Acting career

Katina made her film debut alongside Julia Volkova and Mischa Barton in the 2008 film You and I, the story of two teenage girls who meet and fall in love at a Moscow t.A.T.u. concert. The film is based on the novel t.A.T.u. Come Back, itself loosely based on the duo's career and lives.

Katina voiced the fairy Zarina in the Russian dub of the 2014 Disney film The Pirate Fairy. Also in 2014, she appeared in the short film Together Apart, playing one of the cupids. Julia Volkova had a similar role in the production.

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