Katrina and the Waves

Making no apparent effort to deflect attention from the dispute, the newly-dubbed Katrina and the Nameless failed to qualify directly from the fourth semi-final of the competition, and were eventually eliminated in a 'second-chance semi'. The band played their last show in Paris without Pete Doherty. The group originally planned to claim the mantle of what had gone before by calling themselves Katrina and the New Wave, but the apparent displeasure of the original 'Waves' led to an abrupt name-change. The Libertines officially disbanded at the end of 2004. Years after the original band split up, Katrina formed a new group in an attempt to repeat her Eurovision triumph for an entirely different country - they were participants in the 2005 Melodifestivalen, the competition to select Sweden's entry for the song contest. In the interview with Kirsty Wark, Doherty talked openly about his addictions to heroin and crack cocaine, stating that "I'm not a nihilist, I don't want to die", and talked about the breakdown of his relationship with Carl Barat. In the United States, they had a hit single called Walking on Sunshine which is still played on most '80s radio stations. The piece featured Doherty's first-ever major television interview as well as an acoustic performance of "Music When the Lights Go Out".

Reacting to the group's Eurovision victory, with the song "Love Shine A Light", Katrina said it was the second landslide victory in a week -- Tony Blair had won the British general election two days previously. On 21 December 2004, a 12 minute feature on Pete Doherty was broadcast on BBC2's current affairs programme Newsnight. Their lead guitarist is Kimberley Rew, formerly of the Soft Boys. Carl Barat told NME that he plans to leave the Libertines at the end of 2004 if Pete Doherty doesn't clean up from his on-going drug problems. They are an American/British band formed in 1981 in Cambridge, England, and were fronted by American singer Katrina Leskanich until she left the group in 1999. In September 2004 given a community service order after being found with a flick knife in his car, a "welcome back" looked unlikely. Katrina and the Waves was the name of the band which won the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom on 3rd May 1997. However he recently formed his own band, Babyshambles and has failed to kick his drug habit.

After serving one month in jail he rejoined the band in October 2003, However In June 2004 he was kicked out of the band again because of narcotic problems, but the band has promised that "When he cleans up his addictions he will be immediately welcomed back into the band" [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3852977.stm). The remaining members toured without him in August and September. Peter Doherty became estranged from the band, and was convicted of burglary of bandmate Carl Barat's flat in September 2003. Despite their success and critical acclaim (especially in the UK), the band has fallen upon difficult times of late.

In their attitude they are almost always compared to The Sex Pistols due to their chaotic and energetic live peformances and, either refreshingly or depressingly depending how you see these things, Pete Doherty's instability and nihilistic, self destructive behavior. Many of their lyrics refer to elements of British life, use English/cockney slang and are delivered in a style reminiscent of Joe Strummer (though Pete Doherty is by no means an unoriginal vocalist). The band has been compared to many classic British rock n' roll bands, as their angle on rock n' roll is uniquely English. Their sound is often compared to the sound of The Jam, The Kinks' early records as well as The Clash's first album and early singles. It was followed in 2004 by their second album, simply entitled The Libertines.

The single's success was followed up by the album Up The Bracket, produced by punk icon Mick Jones, formerly of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite. Their debut single, "What A Waster" (2002), produced by former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, was immediately seized upon by the English press for its liberal use of profanity and English colloquialism. The line-up consists of Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar), Carl Barat (vocals/guitar), John Hassall (bass) and Gary Powell (drums). The Libertines were a critically acclaimed British rock and roll band noted for their chaotic live outings and uniquely English take on punk rock.

The Libertines (2004). Up The Bracket (2002).