Numbers & Data: Interesting facts about Elena Sergeevna Katina, also known as Lena Katina – Digital Intelligence

Published on: July 17, 2021 / Update from: September 17, 2021 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Elena Sergeevna Katina – Image: Zhenya Voevodina|Shutterstock.com

Elena Sergeevna Katina, also known as Lena Katina, is a Russian singer and songwriter best known for her work with the Russian duo tATu. She began her career at the age of eight when she joined the Russian children's band Avenue and shortly afterwards joined Neposedi. In 1999, producer Ivan Shapovalov chose Lena Katina for his project tATu, as well as Julia Volkova. The duo would later become Russia's most successful pop music act. The group produced several hits such as “All the Things She Said,” “Not Gonna Get Us,” and “All About Us.” Her first single "All The Things She Said" reached number one in 19 countries including the UK, Russia and Australia.

In 2009, Katina began a solo career, which resulted in tATu having to take a break. In 2011, Katina and Volkova officially separated to pursue solo careers. In the same year, Katina released her first mainstream single "Never Forget", which reached number 1 on the MTV Russia Top 10 in 2011 and also won the MTV Russia - 2011 Video of the Year. The track also reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and #1 in Greece.

In 2014, she released her debut album This Is Who I Am, followed by her second album, the first in Russian, Mono, in 2019.

Katina was born in Moscow on October 4, 1984, the daughter of musician Sergey Katin - who worked with "Dyuna", Marina Khlebnikova and other representatives of Russian show business. At the age of 4, Katina began attending various sports and music clubs on her father's initiative. At the age of seven, Katina went to a normal school and a year later to a music school with piano lessons. At the age of ten she joined the children's group "Avenue" as a soloist, where she sang for the next three years. At the age of 13 she became a member of the vocal and instrumental group “Neposedi” (Fidgeters), where she met Yulia Volkova, with whom she became friends. At the casting she sang a song in French and the jury was amazed by the quality of her voice. Lena soon left the group due to her age - children up to 14 years old sing in “Neposedi”. At the age of 14, she was successfully cast as a member of the pop duo “tATu”.

Tatu_Lena_Katina_Bacardi_2008.jpg : Marina Endzhirgli derivative work: Tyrerj ( talk ), Tatu Lena Katina Bacardi 2008 , CC BY-SA 3.0

tATu's creator and then-manager Ivan Shapovalov explained that the idea for tATu arose from men's general fascination and fantasy with lesbian schoolgirls, knowing that the duo would be very attractive to a diverse fan base.

After a casting of 400 girls, Shapovalov chose Katina for tATu at the age of 14. While the project was still in development, Katina had the opportunity to record demos (under the name tATu) such as "Belochka" and "Yugoslavia". Some time later, then 14-year-old Julia Volkova was included in the project, and in 2001 the duo became famous in Russia and later worldwide.

When Shapovalov was satisfied with his choice, he signed Volkova and Katina to tATu, but the contract with Shapovalov also required that the girls present a lesbian image. After breaking up with Shapovalov in 2004, the girls testified that Shapovalov created the lesbian image and that they were even told what to say in interviews.

tATu soon became the most successful Russian group of all time, leaving behind a string of hits such as "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us" and "All About Us". They also took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and came third with "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia". In 2007, Katina starred alongside her bandmate Yulia Volkova in the film You and I, which starred Mischa Barton. The film was directed by Roland Joffe and was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. The film was released in 2011 and 2012.

On December 13, Katina was asked in a live chat what she thought of Volkova's new video "All Because Of You," to which she replied, "I think it [All Because Of You] is very Julia. Julia is Julia.” The rest of her comment was lost in the live chat due to technical issues.

Singer Lena Katina with girlfriend. Muz-TV Awards 2009 at Olimpiisky Stadium on June 5, 2009 in Moscow, Russia - Image: magicinfoto

Since her early childhood, Katina's hobbies have included artistic gymnastics, ballroom dancing, figure skating, swimming and horse riding. She is also a good pianist and enjoys reading, especially romance novels. In a 2006 TeleHit interview, Katina said that growing up she enjoyed listening to artists such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd. She has two half-siblings, a younger paternal half-sister Katya and a maternal half-brother Ivan. She was raised religiously and was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. On the NTV talk show “Sekret Na Million” (roughly translated: “A Million Secrets”), she revealed that Katina was attacked by a pedophile in the elevator of her apartment when she was 11 years old. She and her mother reported the incident to the police, but no further action was taken after that.

In August 2013, Katina married her boyfriend of three years, the Slovenian musician “Sash Kuzma” (Sasha Kuzmanović) of Serbian and Slovenian origin in Moscow and Ljubljana.

In November 2014, Katina announced during a concert in Rome that she was 3+1⁄2 months pregnant with her first child. On May 22, 2015, she gave birth to her first child, a boy named Aleksandr, in Moscow. The couple has been divorced since November 2019.

Katina made her film debut alongside Julia Volkova and Mischa Barton in the 2008 film You and I, which tells the story of two teenage girls who meet and fall in love at a Moscow tATu concert. The film is based on the novel tATu Come Back, which itself is based on true events.

Lena portrayed the fairy Zarina in the Russian dubbing of the Disney film The Pirate Fairy, released on February 13, 2014.

The video for "Lyubov' v Kazhdom Mgnoveniy" (Love in Every Moment) was released in 2014 as a short film entitled Together Apart, which is part of the Cornetto marketing project Cornetto Cupidity. In the film, Lena is one of the cupids who try to bring a young couple together through a long-distance relationship.

Katina did her latest project for the upcoming romantic-fantasy series Vladimir & Oksana in Love Country, which debuted in January 2022, in which she voices the Persian cat Babushkin.

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