Songoftheday 3/14/14 - I used to think maybe you love me now baby I'm sure, and I just can't wait till the day when you knock on my door...

Katrina & The Waves - "Walking On Sunshine"
from the album Katrina & The Waves (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day is by the pop/rock group Katrina and the Waves, featuring lead singer Katrina Leskanich fronting a band including British guitarist Kimberley Rew and drummer Alex Cooper from the punk band the Soft Boys, and American bassist Vince De La Cruz. Having their first success north of the border in Canada, it took until 1985 after five years of trudging did the Waves break through in the UK and US with one of the most positive hits of the decade, "Walking On Sunshine". With horns blaring and a frantic beat for a song originally intended as a ballad, the single, written by Rew, was one of those you couldn't avoid (much like this year's "Happy" by Pharrell)...

"Walking On Sunshine" became the Waves' first and only top-10 pop hit in America in June of 1985, while climbing to #21 on both the Mainstream Rock and Adult Contemporary (or "easy-listening") radio charts in Billboard magazine. The record even was a hit in the clubs, scaling to #19 on the dance chart. Internationally, the single went to #8 in the UK, #3 in Canada, and #4 in Australia.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's Katrina and the Waves live on The Tonight Show...

...and here's Katrina without the band in 2011...

Country icon Dolly Parton included "Walking On Sunshine" in her Treasures album in 1996...

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...which also got remixed for a CD single...

Teen duo Aly & AJ also covered the song for the Herbie: Fully Loaded movie in 2005..

But in 2010 is when the most successful non-Waves version of the song came out as the cast of Glee did a "mash-up" of the record with Beyonce's "Halo" for their first season's "Vitamin D" episode, and the single went to #40 in the US (their fourth to make the top-40), #9 in England, #4 in Ireland, and #10 in Australia...

Up tomorrow: Rick's girls invite you over to their pad.