Eurovision Song Contest winner is walking on sunshine since moving to Tywyn

February 21, 2025

Eurovision Song Contest winner is walking on sunshine since moving to Tywyn

Picture the scene: a barn in the middle of the Dysynni Valley, rain drumming on the roof and, inside, a group of people singing along to a live version of the massive 1980s hit Walking on Sunshine - with the man who actually wrote it on lead guitar!

Kimberley Rew smiles at the memory of that event last summer, one of several exhilarating performances he and his bass player wife Lee Cave-Berry - aka Kim & Lee - have given locally since they moved to Tywyn two-and-a-half years ago.

Kimberley may have written world-famous pop songs and toured with the likes of the Kinks and the Beach Boys, but he and Lee are delighted to be part of Tywyn's thriving live music scene.

"When we bought the house, we didn't even know about the Magic Lantern Cinema, much less that it staged regular live music events," says Lee, who was born in Wrexham. "The Magic Lantern audiences are real music fans, covering the whole musical spectrum, so it's ideal for us. We've invited musician friends from Cambridge, where we used to be based, to play with us there, and we've met an excellent local drummer called Chris Richards. Not only that, but we've also discovered an excellent recording studio in Borth, run by music producer Mike West. There's the Victorian Slipway pub, too, which hosts fantastic gigs. We played there last year, and it went down a storm."

Although the couple moved to Wales in less-than-happy circumstances - Lee's Tywyn-born sister-in-law, Sam, had recently died and she and Kimberley's home in Cambridge had burnt down - they immediately felt settled.

They bought the house in 2022, after spotting a "for sale" sign while they were in Tywyn for Sam's funeral. The intention was to use it for holidays and to spend more time with Lee's widowed brother Sandy, and then eventually retire to Wales. "But the fire catapulted us here early, and it turned out to be perfect timing, because although we're trying to slow down, work wise, we're still young enough to to be up for new experiences," explains Lee.

"We love living here; you have the mountains, the sea and wonderful sunsets. There isn't anywhere in the UK as beautiful. If you're looking for spiritual space, you've got it in spades here. As far as I'm concerned, it's pretty perfect."

No wonder, then, that the musical duo's new album will be titled Happy Place. "We're calling it that because most of the songs were written here," says Lee.

Kimberley has been writing songs for more than half a century. Born in Bristol, he moved to north London when he was 14, becoming known at school for his proficiency in Ancient Greek and Latin, as well as his prowess on a guitar. After gaining an honours degree in archaeology from Cambridge University, he spent a year working at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village.

But archaeology was "too competitive", and Kimberley realised music was what he really wanted to do. "I was more passionate about music, so it took over". In 1975, he founded a band called The Waves - named after a Virginia Woolf novel - with fellow Cambridge alumnus Alex Cooper. Three years later, he joined Robyn Hitchcock's rock band The Soft Boys, recording two albums. In 1981, after Robyn embarked on a solo career, Kimberley and Alex joined forces with Katrina Leskanich and Vince de la Cruz - and Katrina and the Waves was born.

Kimberley was the main songwriter, penning Going Down to Liverpool, which became a hit for The Bangles in 1984, before taking Katrina and the Waves zooming up the UK, US and Australian charts with Walking on Sunshine in 1985.

"I've never been good at writing very serious songs, and at the time I wrote Walking on Sunshine, happy stuff was in short supply," explains Kimberley. "The song just jumped through, especially for a band with electric guitars. It's shorthand for summer and has proved to be evergreen."

Kimberley (far left) with Katrina and the Waves

More than a decade later, in 1997, Katrina and the Waves enjoyed a resurgence after winning the Eurovision Song Contest with another of Kimberley's songs, Love Shine a Light. It went on to become the band's biggest hit, peaking at number three in the UK singles charts. When, in 2020, the contest was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, organisers replaced it with Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, with the song that inspired the title performed by all but one of the artists who'd been set to take part, along with Katrina.

"That made me feel so proud," says Lee. "The song really captured the spirit of Covid. Brexit had just happened, too, and there was the European community choosing a British song to play in times of trouble. It's like Kimberley won the Eurovision Song Contest twice!"

Since Katrina and the Waves disbanded in 1999, Kimberley has continued to write, tour and record. The Soft Boys reconvened in 2001, re-releasing their album Underwater Moonlight, and more recently both Kimberley and Lee have been part of Robyn Hitchcock's pick-up band.

The couple, who've been together 27 years, first met in the '70s, when Lee - who started playing bass guitar in her late teens - was in a band called Blotto. "My boyfriend at the time was a sound engineer who went on to become The Soft Boys' sound engineer, so I went to a lot of their gigs."

They didn't become involved romantically until 20 years later, in 1998. "One day we were at the same party and someone said to me, 'Kim likes you, you know'," Lee recalls with a smile.

They've been playing together ever since. Lee, who also sings lead vocals, has been in many bands, including all-female group GigL and rock band Jack, which Kimberley joined in 2004. For a time, she was a member of the Mal Gray band, supporting Fats Domino on a European tour. "We were booked as Bill Haley's backing band for his next tour, but while we were rehearsing we heard he'd died," she remembers.

The duo still love making music as much as ever. "Recently we were honoured to be asked to play in New York," says Lee. "I'd never played in America before, so that was a thrill. Last year we also played at a private party in Boston."

Asked for their career highlights, both cite playing with The Soft Boys - "my spirit glows when I'm on stage with them; the songs are in my DNA," says describes Lee - and at the Magic Lantern, where next month they'll be performing with first-generation rhythm and blues musician Jeff Chapman.

"There was a live music pub in Cambridge that had a certain magic about it, and the Magic Lantern has the same vibe. We feel very lucky to have found it and to be a part of it."

* Kim & Lee and Jeff Chapman will be performing at the Magic Lantern Cinema in Tywyn on Friday, March 28th at 9pm. The new Kim & Lee album, Happy Place, is due out this year. Visit kimberleyrew.co.uk.