Their debut single "Ya Soshla S Uma" (Russian version of "All The Things She Said") was released in December 2000. The single had a huge success in Russia and Eastern Europe. In early 2001, Shapovalov signed a recording contract with Universal Music Russia to release the debut album, ''200 Po Vstrechnoy''. It was released in May of that year and lately has been certified multi-platinum in Russia and platinum in Europe, making ''t.A.T.u.'' the first musical act from Eastern Europe to get the IFPI platinum award. With the release of the English version of ''200 Po Vstrechnoy'', ''200 km/h in the Wrong Lane'', in late 2002, ''t.A.T.u.'' became the first group ever to get the IFPI Europe platinum award for the same album in two different languages. The album also got the diamond certification in Japan and gold in the United Kingdom and the United States. The album's lead single "All The Things She Said" spent four consecutive weeks at the number 1 spot in the UK Singles Chart, and topped the charts internationally.

In May 2003, they represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Riga, Latvia, with "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia", where they placed third. After that, the duo tried to record a second studio album during the ''Podnebesnaya'' show on Russian TV, but the album wasn't recorded and ''t.A.T.u.'' have parted ways with their producer Ivan Shapovalov. In late 2004, after Yulia's first pregnancy, the duo started to work on their follow-up again with the new manager Boris Renski.

In October 2005, they released their second album, ''Dangerous and Moving'', and its Russian counterpart, ''Lyudi Invalidy'', which got platinum certification in Russia, and kicked off a worldwide promotional and concert tour. In 2006, the girls released a ''Best Of'' compilation, and then ventured out on their own after negotiating out of their contract with Universal Music.

The third Russian studio album, ''Vesyolye Ulybki'', was released in October 2008 in Russia, and its English counterpart, ''Waste Management'', in December 2009 digitally around the world.

At the end of March 2011, the duo was officially announced as disbanded. Yulia and Lena are both working on their solo projects.

History

1999–2000: Formation of t.A.T.u.

After completing the duo, the producers decided on the name "Тату" (Tatu). It refers to a shortened version of the Russian "Та любит Ту (Ta lyubit Tu)", meaning "She loves her". For the release of their first English-language album, they decided to go by t.A.T.u., using upper case letters and periods to differentiate between an already existing Australian band also named "Tatu."

Over the next year, Katina and Volkova recorded songs with their producers. At some point, Voitinskyi left the project, and Shapovalov decided to sign Elena Kiper as co-producer and co-writer for their debut album.

2000–2003: ''200 Po Vstrechnoy'' and ''200 km/h in the Wrong Lane''

Their first album, ''200 Po Vstrechnoy'' was released on May 21, 2001. Their second single was "Nas Ne Dogonyat" which was only released in music video form rather than as an official CD single. This was followed by the third single "30 Minut". The English version of the album was released in 2002 entitled ''200 km/h in the Wrong Lane''. The first single from this album was "All The Things She Said" released in October 2002 followed by "Not Gonna Get Us" released in May 2003. Also in May 2003, Ivan Shapovalov was arrested after arranging filming for the group in Moscow's Red Square despite his application for filming being refused. Shapovalov also attempted to film near London's Big Ben and various other locations. The footage that was recorded was later used for a music video for the song "Show Me Love", despite the song not being released in any country other than Poland.

In May 2003, t.A.T.u. represented Russia at Eurovision Song Contest 2003, where they placed third. After the contest, Russia's Channel One complained that Irish broadcaster RTÉ (Ireland's national television broadcaster) had used a back-up jury, and that it had cost them victory. A statement by Channel One suggested that there are grounds to believe that the contest results could be much different for Russia. RTÉ responded by publishing the unused results of the Irish televote, which showed that had the jury not been used, Turkey would still have won.

2003–2004: Hiatus/ Reformation

A DVD compilation of t.A.T.u.'s music videos and more titled ''Screaming for More'' was released on 24 November 2003.

''Anatomy of t.A.T.u.'' aired on Russian television on 12 December 2003. The documentary revealed that the girls were not lesbians, and chronicled the group as they took part in Eurovision, earlier in the year.

In early 2004, t.A.T.u. legally broke their contract with Ivan Shapovalov and Neformat. In the months before the split, t.A.T.u. and Shapovalov were being filmed for a reality show on STS in Russia titled ''Podnebesnaya''. The show chronicled the group as they were recording their second album, but to little success, with their producer, Ivan Shapovalov. The documentary aired on Russian television from January to March 2004. There were many rumors around the split until the show aired, which depicted the group leaving due to a lack of interest and care from their producer. They also claimed the quality of the music being produced was too low, and that Shapovalov was only interested in creating scandals. Volkova stated, "He [Ivan] spends his time thinking up scandals instead of planning our artistic work. I'm sure our fans would rather hear new songs and new albums than new scandals." Katina then stated, "He made us out to BE lesbians when we were just singing FOR lesbians. We wanted people to understand them and not judge them. That they are as free as anyone else."

In one of the final episodes, Volkova mentioned returning to the U.S. in the following spring (Spring 2004), to record with new producers. However, soon after, she became pregnant, and recording was delayed.

2004–2006: Lyudi Invalidy / Dangerous and Moving

Volkova soon joined Katina and previous producer Sergio Galoyan in the studio. The group was backed by their record label, Universal Music International, in finding adequate songs and production to release a new album.

In August 2005, "All About Us" and "Lyudi Invalidy" were announced to be the first singles from the English and Russian albums, respectively.

t.A.T.u. released their second English album on 5 October 2005 titled ''Dangerous and Moving''. Its Russian counterpart was released on 19 October, titled ''Lyudi Invalidy'' which received Platinum around the world.

The second single was "Friend or Foe". Soon after the video was released, the group's management replaced drummer Roman Ratej with Steve "Boomstick" Wilson, and appointed a new bassist, Domen Vajevec.

On 17 April 2006, t.A.T.u. returned to reality TV in Russia with ''t.A.T.u. Expedition'', which was broadcast on the Russian music channel Muz Tv. It chronicled the release of their second album, and recording the video for their third single, "Gomenasai" which was released during the airing of the show. t.A.T.u. performed in St. Petersburg, Russia on 28 April kicking off their Dangerous and Moving Tour. On 30 August 2006, the official website announced that the girls had left their record company, Universal/Interscope.

On 21 November 2006, the region of the Komi Republic in Russia filed a lawsuit against t.A.T.u. over the album and song "Lyudi Invalidy" (translates to invalid people). Leonid Vakuev, a human rights representative for the Komi Republic, interpreted the song as being directed towards disabled people and cited words written in the booklet for the album, which said: " [Lyudi Invalidy] do not know what it means to be a human being. They are fakes inside the human form. They do not live, but — function". Katina said, "Of course, we meant moral invalids, people who do not have [a] soul and human feelings." When asked if they had anything against disabled people, she stated that she finds it offensive to refer to people by that term, and added, "We take pictures together and make sure they have priority seats [at concerts]."

2007–2009: Vesyolye Ulybki

On 12 September 2007 the group released the concert DVD "Truth". It was the group's first release since leaving Universal. In late 2007, "Beliy Plaschik", the lead single from their upcoming Russian-language album was released. The project was then known as "Upravleniye Otbrosami", which translates to "Waste Management". The second single, "220", made its radio premiere in May 2008 and the music video was released on their official YouTube channel on 5 June 2008. "Beliy Plaschik" and "220" were the main attractions on a special release known as "Hyperion-Plate", the first-ever EP from the duo. The EP was released on 8 May 2008 and featured multimedia content including music, video, ringtones, wallpapers, and more. To promote the EP and their forthcoming album, t.A.T.u. performed live shows in Russia, Dubai, Italy, Egypt, and the United States.

At the time of the "Hyperion-Plate" release, "Upravleniye Otbrosami / Управление отбросами" was scheduled to hit the stores in June 2008. The EP featured a poster which advertised that date, as well as a coupon redeemable for a discount on the album that expired on 30 June 2008. However, the release schedule abruptly stalled on 5 June 2008, when t.A.T.u.'s manager Boris Renski announced that Yulia Volkova was seriously ill. Volkova's illness forced the cancellation of a concert in Santa Clara, CA, and the singer was not seen in public until the wedding of producer Sergey Konov on 5 July 2008. The duo returned to work in late August, when it was reported that t.A.T.u. would be the face of fashion designer Marc Jacobs's fall and winter campaigns in Russia. On 9 September 2008, a press release appeared on the duo's official website that declared that the forthcoming album would be titled "Vesyolye Ulybki" ("Happy Smiles") instead of "Upravleniye Otbrosami" ("Waste Management"). The name change reflected sarcastic comments about the state of the Russian music business made by Volkova and Katina in an interview with Moscow's Time Out Magazine. The press release also provided the track list of the album and an early version of its cover art, but still no confirmed release date was given. On 12 September, the album's third single, "You and I" made its debut on Love Radio. The press release disappeared from the site shortly afterward, only to re-appear on 8 October with a change made to the cover art --- where there was once the face of a smiling astronaut on the original design, a black square now appeared.

On 15 October, t.A.T.u.'s website announced that "Vesyolye Ulybki" would be released on 21 October 2008, beginning with a special event at two Soyuz record stores in Moscow where fans could meet the girls and get their autographs. The album also went on pre-sale at the official t.A.T.u. web shop on 18 October, with a small number of buyers receiving a limited-edition postcard set as a prize. The songs were also made available internationally through the iTunes digital music store. Upon its release, it became apparent that the album essentially had two covers --- the astronaut cover was a slipcase, while the original design used for "Upravleniye Otbrosami" appeared inside. The black square from the press release had been hiding a Mars scene.

On 23 October, t.A.T.u. appeared on Vladimir Polupanov's "The 7 Premieres" to promote their new album. They are also the subjects of an ongoing mini-reality series on the website Russia.ru. The show follows the girls in their daily lives, much like 2006's t.A.T.u. Expedition.

On 21 October 2008 "Vesyolye Ulybki" was released internationally on the iTunes and Amazon music stores.

On 28 November t.A.T.u were awarded the Legend of MTV at the MTV Russia Music Awards 2008.

In March 2009, a statement was released on the duo's site and MySpace stating that the duo will no longer be a "full-time" project and that Katina and Volkova were working on solo projects. This post also mentioned that an extended version of ''Happy Smiles'' will be sold on their official website, a special version is being made for Amazon.com in jewel-case format with new remixes and that the album would be released on vinyl on the t.A.T.u shop. They also mentioned that the third video will be released on 17 April on MTV Russia. This video includes Yulia and Lena after filming the video for 220, riding off on motorcycles. While driving vigorously on their bikes they are surrounded by police officers and make the decision to drive their bikes into each other, choosing death over captivity. This video is "Snegopady"

The girls performed a special concert at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 on the 10th of May. They were also included as an interval act on the 12th at the 1st semi finals, performing Not Gonna Get Us with the Russian Army Choir.

2009–2011: Waste Management / Break-up

On October 30, the English Version of the Beliy Plaschik video, "White Robe", was released on Coqueiro Verde Records official YouTube account. t.A.T.u's official website announced that the video was up for voting on MTV Brazil on November 10, 2009. The video for "White Robe" premiered in high quality on t.A.T.u's official YouTube channel on November 30, 2009. On December 3, the "White Robe" video reached the number one position on MTV Brazil.

The album is also confirmed to be released in Russia at the end of the year. The third single off "Waste Management" is going to be Sparks, the English counterpart of "220". It will be released in Brazil and on t.A.T.u.'s official Youtube account in HD, the release date was April 13, 2010. The video is cut in a slightly different way to that of the 220 video, says Insider (informant from the official web page) and the released video has the performance of the girls lip-syncing in English.

It was announced on tatu.ru that the release in Southern America by Coqueiro Verde records has been delayed though management has no info on this, however the Russian edition (the English songs but case notes in Russian) will be available to order from the tatu.ru online store from the 14th December.

Coqueiro Verde records said the album will be released in Argentina & Chile on the 1st of February, 2010 & will also release in Colombia on the 8th of March, 2010.

On March 31, 2010, a contest will be launched in which fans will be able to remix their favorite t.A.T.u songs from the new album. The winning mixes will be included on an upcoming remix album.

On 13 April 2010 t.A.T.u. released their third single "Sparks" and premiered it on Youtube on 13 April.

Yulia made headlines in Russia with a recent interview where she expressed her opinion on Lena's solo career, "She [Lena] has the right to do it [sing t.A.T.u. songs], but it's so stupid, absolutely stupid. If you do a solo career, it means that you do your own work. Her stuff, that she makes, I think, is silly and very soon her career will wither away and disappear." Lena responded to this interview via her Youtube Page, "I saw Yulia's interview. Of course I got upset. But I want to tell everybody that I have a completely opposite attitude towards the whole situation, Yulia's project included. I believe she's a very talented person and I sincerely hope that she'll be successful in all the things she plans. I guess some of you were waiting for my comment about this, so it was the comment to the situation and to the discussion on the forum."

In July, Lena made an appearance on a radio station where she was asked about the future of the duo. Lena responded by saying, "Life has changed a lot. Yulia and I are working on our projects now. I, for one, will be traveling to Los Angeles this Saturday, where I will keep working on my album. And I'm preparing a big show in San Francisco in September, so now we are not planning to reform t.A.T.u., certainly not in the near future. Now we really want to concentrate only on our own projects." Lena Katina and her full band performed her first live major solo show in San Francisco on September 17, 2010.

At the end of March, t.A.T.u. management released a press release on their official website declaring t.A.T.u. over. Due to conflicts between the girls, and both wanting to pursue solo careers, the duo was officially announced as disbanded. They finalised the duo's discography with a double remix album for Waste Management. The management thanked fans for their loyalty over the past 12 years of the duo's history.

Production companies/management

T.A. Music

After t.A.T.u. broke ties with Universal Music in 2006, it was announced in 2008 that T.A. Music would become the duo's record label, although only currently in the Russian market. T.A. Music was the label under which ''Happy Smiles'' was released internationally on iTunes. T.A. Music will now act as the label and management company for Lena Katina's solo project.

Since Snegopady/Snowfalls release their label T.A . Music have sold rights of ''Waste Management'' to a South American label. So far they have only released the English version of White Robe. Their 3rd International album was meant to be released on the 15th in physical form, however this target wasn't reached. The version with Russian credits was released to shop.taty.ru.

Band members

Discography

Studio Albums

Compilation

Filmography

Tours

References and footnotes

External links

kp

Category:T.A.T.u. Category:Russian dance musicians Category:Russian pop music groups Category:Musical duos Category:Russian techno Category:Girl groups Category:Russian Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2003 Category:Musical groups established in 1999 Category:Russian-language singers Category:English-language singers Category:World Music Awards winners Category:LGBT-themed musical groups Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2011

Elena Sergeevna Katina ( pronunciation: Yelyena Syergeyevna Katina), born October 4, 1984, better known as Lena Katina, is a Russian singer and songwriter, who is best known for her work with Russian duo t.A.T.u. She started her career at the tender age of eight, joining the Russian childrens act Avenue, then not long after Neposedi. In 1999, when Katina had finished her earlier career Ivan Shapovalov had chosen Katina for his next project as well with Yulia Volkova, and became Russia's most successful band to date. t.A.T.u. had produced a lot of smash hits including "All The Things She Said" and "All About Us".

In 2009, Katina announced she would pursue a solo career, which led t.A.T.u. for having a hiatus. However, in 2011, t.A.T.u. announced they would split up because of the conflict with the girls together. That following year, Katina had released her first mainstream single "Never Forget".

Early years

In 1993, she joined the 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. She remained in Neposedi for three years. During her time there, 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.

1999-2011: t.A.T.u.

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. It was announced in 2011, t.A.T.u. had officially disbanded. The group celebrated their 12 years together, and released two remix albums entitled ''Waste Management Remixes pt. 1'' and ''Waste Management Remixes pt. 2''. It was announced the last albums together, as the solo singers would pursue a solo career.

2010–present: forthcoming solo album

Alongside the release of Lost In This Dance, she recorded the single "Guardian Angel" with the Canadian post-hardcore band, Abandon All Ships, featured on their 2010 debut album ''Geeving'', which was released in October. On Friday, June 17, 2011 Katina's single "Never Forget" premiered on the Mexican radio station FMTU 103-7 in Monterrey, Mexico. On Monday, August 1, 2011, the singer revealed the trailer the music video. On August 2 the official video was leaked on Perez Hilton's blog On Friday, August 5, 2011, Katina officially released her music video for "Never Forget" and released the song on iTunes as a single, which also includes her song "Stay".

Katina has announced that she is collaborating with Mexican synthpop band Belanova and that they may film a video for the song they recorded together.

Personal life

Discography

Singles

References

External links

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Singers from Moscow Category:Russian female singers Category:Russian pop singers Category:Russian Orthodox Christians