Lena Katina

Lena Katina, a photo by Max Tegman on Flickr.

Lena Katina
Elena Sergeevna Katina (Russian: Елена Сергеевна Катина pronunciation: Yelyena Syergeyevna Katina), 5' 3¾" (1.62 m)born October 4, 1984, better known as Lena Katina, is Russian singer and actress, best known as one half of the Russian music duo t.A.T.u., the other half being Yulia Volkova. She entered Russian show-business as an 8-year old girl, joining the Russian children act Avenue, and later Neposedi. In 1999, Katina was chosen by Ivan Shapovalov for his project, later becoming the most famous Russian group of all time, t.A.T.u. Katina became famous worldwide thanks to hits such as "All The Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us", and "All About Us". In 2009, it was announced that Katina would pursue a solo career.
Born in Moscow in 1984, Katina is the eldest of three children, and the only daughter of Inessa Katina and Sergej Katin, a prominent Russian pop music author. Her younger half sister Katya has a different father and her half brother Ivan has a different mother. She was raised religiously and is a practicing Russian Orthodox Christian.
In 1993, she joined the famous Russian children's ensemble "Avenue", where she sang for three years. In 1996, at the age of 12, she auditioned for Neposedi (the most popular and prestigious children's chorus at the time) and was selected after impressing a panel of judges with the quality of her voice. She remained in Neposedi for three years. During her time in Neposedi, Katina met Yulia Volkova, who was also a singer in the group. In 1999, the girls would be reacquainted once again, this time as the duo, t.A.T.u.
Creator and then-manager of t.A.T.u., Ivan Shapovalov stated that the idea of t.A.T.u. stemmed from the common fascination and fantasy of school-girl lesbian lovers among men, knowing that the duo would be highly appealing to a diverse fan-base.
After auditioning 400 girls, Shapovalov selected Lena for t.A.T.u. at the age of 15. With the project still in development, Lena got the opportunity to record demos (credited as t.A.T.u.), like "Belochka" and "Yugoslaviya". 14-year old Yulia Volkova would be added to the project some time afterward, and in 2001, the duo would rise to popularity in Russia, and later in the world.
Feeling satisfied with his choices, Shapovalov signed Yulia and Lena to t.A.T.u., but the contract with Shapovalov also demanded that the girls present a lesbian image. After breaking away from Shapovalov in 2004, the girls came clean and stated that Shapovalov had created the lesbian 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 also took part in Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and finished third with Ne Ver', Ne Boysia. In 2004 the girls revealed that the lesbian relationship was just an image, and decided to leave Ivan Shapovalov.
In 2007, Lena, along with her bandmate, Yulia Volkova, starred in a film You and I, with Mischa Barton as the lead actor. The film was directed by Roland Joffe and was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
Katina had originally said that t.A.T.u. would be having a hiatus through Vesyolye Ulybki and Waste Management. She is expected to release her solo album in 2011 or 2012. Katina has released a song for her album Lost In This Dance. It has been widely considered as Katina's debut single, as it has been years since a release of a single. It was said that she will release through t.A.T.u.'s current label T.A. Music, as she has no information about any label. She has recorded in different locations like Los Angeles, New York and her hometown Moscow. She is known to be mostly recording in Los Angeles. Although it hasn't been up for discussion, Lena has not considered yet for the release of her demo songs You, I Know and other demos recorded while in Neposedi and t.A.T.u. scraped tracks. It has been confirmed by the official t.A.T.u. website that Lena is to undertake a solo career under the guidance and management of the T.A. Music label. She started working with t.A.T.u. band-members in the middle of 2009 and is expected to release an album in 2011.
Katina hosted a fan event at The Trail in Los Angeles on May 29 and gave her first solo performance on May 30 at the Troubador in Los Angeles. Katina was the opening act of PrideFest in Milwaukee on June 12. . On the day of her performance at Pridefest, Katina released a free download of a song from her upcoming album called "Lost in this Dance". On September 17, 2010, Katina performed at the San Francisco club 1015 Folsom. On February 3, Katina was scheduled to give her first performance of 2011 at the XLV Party in Dallas, Texas' Cotton Bowl, with The Village People, Cazwell, Lady Bunny, DJ Hector Fonseca and DJ Enferno. The concert, however, was canceled on January 31 when only 13 tickets for the show had sold.
Most recently, she recorded the single "Guardian Angel" with the Canadian post-hardcore band, Abandon All Ships, featured on their 2010 debut album Geeving.
She is due to appear on her 2011 upcoming drama film You and I. It will also feature t.A.T.u.'s other half Yulia Volkova and the band, as well as actress Mischa Barton as Lana Starvoka who meets with a friend on a t.A.T.u. fansite and then meets up with her in Moscow, Russia. It has become Lena and Yulia's first film together. The film is due for release on 13 February 2011.
Since her early childhood, Katina's hobbies have included artistic gymnastics, ballroom dancing, figure skating, swimming and horseback-riding. She is also a skilled pianist and also enjoys reading, especially romance novels. Katina stated in a 2006 TeleHit interview that she used to listen to artists such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Pink Floyd when she was younger. She is nicknamed Lenka or Lenochka