winner, 1997
Katrina and the Waves
Katrina and the Waves represented the United Kingdom at Eurovision 1997 in Dublin with “Love Shine a Light”, and won.
- what
- British-American rock band
- formed
- 1981, United Kingdom
- contest
- 1997
- win
- 1997
- music
- rock, new wave, pop, pop rock
- active
- 1981 to 1999
- record labels
- EMI, Capitol Records, Warner Music Group, SBK Records, Attic
- members
- Katrina Leskanich past and present
- sang for
- United Kingdom
Biography
Katrina and the Waves were an English rock band formed in Cambridge in 1981, widely known for the 1985 hit “Walking on Sunshine”. The band won the 1997 contest in Dublin with “Love Shine a Light”. It remains the United Kingdom’s most recent win.
Written by ESC Predictions, 8 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, “Katrina and the Waves”.
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The act’s own accounts, as listed on Wikidata. If one is wrong or out of date, tell us and we’ll take it down.
At Eurovision
One song, and what became of it.
-
1997 Dublin
“Love Shine a Light”
Winner Won the contest with 227 points, ahead of 24 other songs.
- Sung in
- English
- Written by
- Kimberley Rew
- Conductor
- Don Airey
- Running order
- 24th of 25
Play: Katrina and the Waves — “Love Shine a Light”, the winning performance at Eurovision 1997 hear it YouTube the contest’s channel Spotify search Apple Music search
The story of Eurovision 1997: The public gets a vote, and the orchestra starts to leave
In our contest stories
What we wrote about Katrina and the Waves, year by year. Follow a link for the rest of that night.
- 1997 The result
The United Kingdom won, and it was not close. Katrina and the Waves sang "Love Shine a Light" second from last and finished on 227 points, 70 ahead of Ireland.
Results as published by the European Broadcasting Union. Biographical details from Wikidata. The photo is from Wikimedia Commons and is credited beside it. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it.