Still Walking on Sunshine

Posted on | May 31, 2010 | No Comments

We tend to have a laugh at one-hit-wonders; you know those bands that have been so eclipsed by their hit, that their name doesn’t even ring a bell until someone says, “You know…they do (fill in the blank).” “Oh yeah,” you say, “I never would have known that was them.”

That’s right; the sad fate of the one-hit-wonder. But, what if we look at that from the flip side. What if your hit was so huge and long-lasting, that it had floated your band for 25 years and had established itself as a classic, feel-good song?

Enter Katrina and the Waves. Their hit, “Walking on Sunshine,” has earned the band a steady stream of royalties, for the last three decades, to the tune of a million dollars a year. The band wisely, make that very wisely, held onto the publishing rights to the song, and the songwriter, Waves guitarist Kimberley Rew, generously shared royalties with the band, and as far as I can tell, the members are able to live off of what they make from that one tune. All the members, that is, except one.

Apparently there was a falling out of some sort, and according to NPR, Katrina was “fired” from the band in 1998 and no longer makes any money off of the song, but she was able to buy a house and car with royalties from the first handful of years.

So there you have it; the secret life of a hit song. Makes you want to grab your pen and start writing, doesn’t it?

All of the official “Walking on Sunshine” videos have been disabled, but here’s one of a puppet lip-syncing over the hit song. Enjoy!

House of Cat

All things artful and curious

Still Walking on Sunshine

Comments

Categories

Recently Written

House of Cat RSS Feed

Links