Elena Sergeyevna Katina (; born 4 October 1984), better known as Lena Katina, is a Russian singer who gained fame as one half of the pop/electronica duo t.A.T.u. She started her career at the age of eight, joining the Russian children's act Avenue, soon after that joining Neposedy. In 1999, producer Ivan Shapovalov chose Katina and Julia Volkova for his project t.A.T.u. The duo would later become Russia's most successful pop music act. The group produced several hits, including "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us", and "All About Us". Their first single, "All the Things She Said", peaked at No. 1 in nineteen countries, including the UK, Russia, and Australia.
In 2009 Katina began a solo career, which caused t.A.T.u. to go on hiatus. In 2011 the duo officially split, with Volkova also pursuing a solo path. That year, Katina released her first mainstream single, "Never Forget", which reached No. 1 on the MTV Russia Top 10 and also won the MTV Russia – 2011 Video of the Year.Never Forget is No. 1 on MTV Russia. Lena-katina.com. Retrieved 27 April 2012. The track also reached No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot Dance Club Play and rose to first place in Greece.
In 2014 Katina released her debut album, This Is Who I Am, which was reissued in Spanish under the name Esta Soy Yo two years later. In 2019, she released her second album, Mono.
Early years Elena Sergeyevna Katina was born on 4 October 1984 in Moscow, then the capital of the Soviet Union. Her father, Sergey Katin, is a musician who was a member of the pop band Duna. Starting at just four years old, on her father's initiative, Katina began to attend various sport and music clubs. At the age of seven, Katina began regular school and within a year, she entered music school for piano classes. When she was ten, she joined the children's group Avenue as a soloist, singing with the ensemble for the next three years. When she was thirteen, she became a member of the vocal and instrumental group Neposedy, where she met Julia Volkova, and the two became friends. At the age of fifteen, she was successfully cast for a music project, to which Volkova was invited after some time, and which has become the pop duo t.A.T.u..
Music career 1999–2011: t.A.T.u.
Together with Julia Volkova, Katina made up the duo t.A.T.u., a group active since 1999. They achieved global fame with hits such as "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us", and "All About Us", and took part in the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third with "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia". In 2007, both girls appeared in the US–Russian drama film You and I, which starred Mischa Barton in the lead role and was based on the 2006 Aleksey Mitrofanov novel t.A.T.u. Come Back, itself inspired by the story of the pop duo.
t.A.T.u. went on hiatus in 2009, and the duo officially disbanded in March 2011. A statement was released on their website stating that t.A.T.u. will no longer be a "full-time" project and that Katina and Volkova were working on solo projects.
2009–2016: Solo career: This Is Who I Am and Esta Soy Yo During t.A.T.u.'s hiatus in 2009, Katina announced her solo project and started recording solo material. In 2010, she hosted a fan event at the Trail in Los Angeles on 29 MayLena Katina Fan Weekend. lena-pan-american.com and gave her first solo performance the next day at the Troubador.30 May Lena Katina debuts her brand new solo efforts with her band at the legendary Los Angeles club Troubadour . Lena-katina.com (26 April 2010). Retrieved 10 February 2011. She was the opening act of PrideFest in Milwaukee on 12 June 201012 June Lena's first solo performance will take place at PrideFest / Milwaukee, USA . Lena-katina.com (19 June 2010). Retrieved 10 February 2011. and on the same day, she released a free download of a song from her upcoming album, titled "Lost in this Dance". She also contributed vocals to the song "Guardian Angel" by Canadian electronic metalcore band Abandon All Ships, which was featured on their 2010 debut album, Geeving.
On 17 June 2011 Katina's single "Never Forget" premiered on the Mexican radio station FMTU 103–7 in Monterrey.What's going on. lena-katina.com The release, once available on iTunes, also included the song "Stay"."iTunes – Music – Never Forget – Single by Lena Katina". iTunes Store. In July, Katina and her band appeared on Rawsession, where they performed original acoustic versions of Owl City's "Deer in the Headlights", Alexandra Stan's "Mr. Saxobeat", and her own "Never Forget"."RAWsession – Home". The three tracks were later released as an EP titled RAWsession 07.14.11."iTunes – Music – RAWsession – 07.14.11 – Single by Lena Katina". iTunes Store.
In September 2011 Katina released the song "Waiting"What's going on. lena-katina.com and featured on the track "Tic-Toc" by Mexican pop band Belanova.Belanova Feat. Lena Katina "Tic-Toc" (Video Oficial). YouTube, 27 September 2011 This was included on Belanova's fifth studio album, Sueño Electro II. On 9 December 2011, the single "Keep on Breathing" came out. The track was used to raise funds for children affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan."Keep on Breathing – Lena Katina" . Kroogi.
In September 2012 Katina collaborated with Russian rapper T-Killah on the track "Shot".T-killah ft. Lena Katina – SHOT. soundcloud.com The Russian version of the song, titled "Ya Budu Ryadom", came out the following year.T-killah ft. Лена Катина – Я Буду Рядом. Spotify, 2013 On 24 September 2013, Katina issued the single "Lift Me Up", which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs.
On 17 March 2014 Katina released her first live album, European Fan Weekend 2013 Live, which included her solo material as well as a number of t.A.T.u. tracks. In September, she announced via Facebook that her debut studio album, This Is Who I Am, would be released on 18 November 2014, preceded by the single "Who I Am" on 7 October. On 12 March 2015, the album's fourth single, "An Invitation", aired. In July 2016, a Spanish version of This Is Who I Am was released, under the title Esta Soy Yo.
2017–2025: Mono, television work, and Maneken In October 2017 Katina released her new English-language single "Silent Hills". In December, she published the song "Here I Go Again", a collaboration with Daddy Mercury."iTunes – музыка – Here I Go Again – Single (Daddy Mercury feat. Lena Katina)". iTunes Store. On 3 March 2018, she released the Russian-language ballad "после нас" ("After Us"), a nostalgic retrospective on her time with t.A.T.u. This was followed by three more Russian-language singles later that year: "Косы" ("Braids"), "Куришь" ("You Smoke"), and "Макдоналдс" ("McDonald's")."iTunes — музыка — Макдоналдс – Single (Lena Katina)". iTunes Store. In 2019, Katina published the singles "Стартрек" ("Star Trek") in April and "Моно" ("Mono") in June. Later the same month, she announced the upcoming release of her first Russian-language opus, titled Моно. The eight-track album was released on 26 July. In November, another single, "Никогда" ("Never"), came out.
In 2020 Lena Katina joined ex-Neposedy member Sergey Lazarev as a judge on Russia-1's reality competition series All Together Now!/Ну-ка, все вместе!, where a contestant's singing ability is judged by a team of 100 musicians. Alongside Katina, the panel of judges included Valentina Pyatchenko and Yekaterina Shklyayeva, members of the ethno-pop group Buranovskiye Babushki. She also made an appearance on the Russian edition of The Masked Singer as Spider/Паук. She was eliminated from the show on 13 April, landing in sixth place.
Katina released a number of singles in 2020, including "Virus", "Убей меня нежно" ("Killing Me Softly"), "Crybaby", and an English version of "Никогда", titled "Nevermind", written by Martin Kierszenbaum. Her acoustic EP Акустика (Acoustics) was published in April. In June 2021, she released the single "Из темноты" and followed it with "Stay the Same" in December.
On 27 January 2023 she issued the single "Tакси" ("taxi"), from her upcoming Russian-language EP, Манекен ("mannequin"), which came out on 28 April. A second promotional single, "Белла чао" ("bella ciao"), premiered the same day as the album release.
After a maternity hiatus of over a year, Katina released the single "Маяк" on 6 December 2024, and she featured on the track "Новый год" by Russian singer Oksana Pochepa. A third promotional single from her 2023 EP, Манекен, titled "Шагать в никуда", was issued on 29 December 2024.
2025–present: t.A.T.u. reunion In 2025, Katina reunited with Julia Volkova as t.A.T.u., marking the duo's return to performing together following their previous appearances in 2022 and 2023. On 19 July 2025, the duo performed at the Mriya Resort in Yalta, Crimea.
They subsequently performed two concerts at the TAU venue in Moscow on 24 and 25 October 2025; a single date had originally been scheduled, with a second added in response to demand. A run of dates in Mexico followed later that year, and the duo also travelled to Japan for a Gosha Rubchinskiy collaboration, their first visit to the country in twelve years.
In 2026, t.A.T.u. continued performing together with appearances in Russia, Mexico and Brazil. The duo were announced among the headliners of VK Fest 2026 and performed at the festival in Saint Petersburg on 5 July and in Moscow on 19 July. Two planned concerts in Georgia did not take place: a show at the Tbilisi Sports Palace scheduled for 30 January 2026, which would have been the duo's first in the country, was called off, as was a 1 August 2026 performance at the Batumi tennis courts.
Personal life Katina married her boyfriend of three years, Slovenian musician Sasha Kuzmanović, in 2013. She announced in November 2014 that she was three-and-a-half months pregnant with her first child during a concert in Rome and gave birth to a son on 22 May 2015. In 2019, Katina and Kuzmanović divorced. In June 2021, Katina revealed that she was in a relationship with Russian businessman Dmitry Spiridonov, the CEO of CloudPayments. The couple became engaged on 1 May 2022 and were married on 16 June at the of Moscow. In November of the same year, Katina announced that she was pregnant with her second child and Spiridonov's first. She gave birth to a son on 11 July 2023.
Support for the LGBT community In September 2012 Katina and her band performed at the international festival Queerfest in Saint Petersburg. She stated, "We all are very different people and we should celebrate our differences. We should not be silent when we see this intolerant aggression towards LGBT-community". The organisers noted that "Lena's participation in Queerfest is a truly historic moment: for the first time such a high-profile Russian artist supports the festival".
In September 2014 Katina's former t.A.T.u. bandmate, Julia Volkova, appeared as a contestant on a Ukrainian game show called Lie Detector and made comments considered to be highly homophobic, especially towards gay men. Katina reacted, saying:
Feud with Julia Volkova In 2010 Julia Volkova expressed her opinion on Katina's solo career, saying, "[Lena] has the right to [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". Katina responded to this interview via her YouTube page, saying, "I saw Julia's interview. Of course I got upset. But I want to tell everybody that I have a completely opposite attitude towards the whole situation, Julia'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". The group officially disbanded in 2011.