Russian Personalities

People well-known in art, sport, film, fashion

Category Archive: Music and dance

Aida Vedishcheva, Soviet singer

Aida Vedishcheva, Soviet singer

Aida Vedishcheva, Soviet singer


Aida Vedishcheva a Soviet and American singer, known to the Russian public as a performer of songs from old movies and cartoons. The most popular compositions performed by Aida were The Forest Deer, The Small Song About Bears, Help Me and The Lullaby of the Bear.
Ida Weis (her real name) was born on June 10, 1941 in Kazan. Her father was a professor of medicine and her mother was a surgeon. In 1951 the family moved to Irkutsk in Siberia, where Aida finished Music School. Later, she graduated from the Institute of foreign languages, where she studied the German and English languages.
Her singing career began in the 1960s. Aida became a participant of the Kharkov and Orel Philharmonics, was a part of the Oleg Lundstrem and Leonid Utyosov’s orchestras. Also she performed with ensembles Meloton, Blue Guitars and the group Singing Novels.
In 1966 the comedy Kidnapping: Caucasian Style directed by Leonid Gaidai was released. The heroine of Natalya Varley with the voice of Aida performed a light romantic hit The Small Song About Bears. But the Soviet authorities considered the musical composition vulgar and the name Vedishcheva was not in the credits.
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Maria Makarova – Masha and bears

Maria Makarova - Masha and bears

Maria Makarova – Masha and bears


Maria Makarova is a Russian singer, founder and lead singer of rock group Masha And Bears.
Pretty girl was born on September 6, 1977 in Krasnodar. Masha has two brothers: twins Daniil and Mikhail. Their father worked as a journalist, and the mother taught languages and wrote poems.
By the way, she worked as a DJ on the radio in Krasnodar. In the mid-1990s, the girl began to sing in Krasnodar groups Makar Dubai and Drynk. And in 1997 she signed a contract with Oleg Nesterov (soloist of the band Megapolis), who became her producer. You know, in the same year, Masha created a band Masha And Bears and moved to Moscow.
Debut music videos for the songs Lyubochka and Without You musicians filmed in India, along with the director Mikhail Khleborodov. After the release of the album the group was recognized as the breakthrough of the year.
However, in 2000, Maria announced that she refused to perform and the group was disbanded. Before leaving the stage, the band released another song Earth.
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Masha Rasputina

Masha Rasputina

Masha Rasputina


Masha Rasputina is a Russian pop singer, who released eight studio albums and cooperated with the famous composers Alexander Lukyanov, Maxim Dunayevsky, Arkady Ukupnik and songwriter Leonid Derbenev.
Alla Ageeva (her real name) was born on May 13, 1964 in Kemerovo region, Russia.
After graduating from music school in 1988 the girl moved to Moscow. There she met musicians and recorded her first song Play Musician. In 1989 the song became a hit and the singer received the Grand Prix at the Festival of pop and rock music Pyongyang 89.
In 1982, the girl became a soloist of the ensemble, which often performed in the resort city of Sochi. In Moscow, Ageeva met her husband and wonderful producer Vladimir Ermakov, whose mentoring and advice helped the young Siberian woman to make her first steps towards popularity.
You know, Alla took the pseudonym Masha Rasputina, explaining that Masha is the traditional Russian name and surname Rasputina makes it on the one side more erotic, and on the other side it links to Russian mystic Grigory Rasputin.
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Maiya Crystalinskaya, singing star

Maiya Crystalinskaya, singing star

Maiya Crystalinskaya, singing star


Maiya Crystalinskaya was a famous Soviet pop singer, Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1974).
Pretty girl was born on February 24, 1932 in Moscow into Russian-Jewish family.
After school the girl entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.
In 1957, Cristalinskaya won the Moscow International Festival of Youth and Students where she performed with an amateur ensemble First Steps by Yuri Saulsky. In the same year she married writer Arkady Arkanov. But their marriage was short-lived. Architect and sculptor Edward Barclay became her second husband.
In 1960, she recorded Masha’s song for the movie Thirst and became popular in the Soviet Union.
By the way, Maiya became the first performer of the legendary song Tenderness (1966) written by Russian composer Alexandra Pakhmutova. In 1966, Maiya was named the Singer of the Year.
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Alex Glyzin, Russian singer

Alex Glyzin, Russian singer

Alex Glyzin, Russian singer


Alex Glyzin is a Soviet and Russian singer, Honored Artist of Russia (2006).
Aleksey was born on January 13, 1954 in Mytischi, Moscow Oblast. His parents divorced when the boy was 4 years old.
He graduated from the Music School, worked in the ensemble Dobry Molodtsy (Good Fellows). In 1977 he performed with the band Gems (Samotsvety) and in 1978 he played in the band Rhythm. Later, in 1979, Alexey was a soloist in the VIA Heart to Heart.
Moreover, in 1979, Glyzin became a member of the band Vesyolye Rebyata (Jolly Fellows). It was extremely popular in the 80s. As a part of the band, the singer visited Finland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Germany and Bulgaria. The ensemble enjoyed incredible popularity, and all its participants became stars.
You know, in 1983, Glyzin starred in the movie Primorsky Boulevard.
In 1990, the singer released his first solo album Winter Garden, which became a pop bestseller. Then, in 1995, he released new album This Is Not True.
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Masha Rzhevskaya

Masha Rzhevskaya - Russian pop singer

Masha Rzhevskaya – Russian pop singer


Masha Rzhevskaya was born on March 27, 1987 in Moscow into the family of former artists of the Sovremennik Theater Victor Rzhevsky and Ekaterina Larina. Her father left the theater and worked as a carpenter, and her mother became a housewife. After the divorce, Ekaterina married a computer programmer.
At age 15 she came to the TV project Star Factory 2. By the way, she was one of the five finalists. According to the girl she has very friendly and big family. Maria has two younger brothers Fyodor and Ivan, and elder sister Ksenia, who followed in her sister’s footsteps and took part in the show Star Factory 4.
Together with her sister Maria started playing music, swimming and playing tennis.
The second season of the program Star Factory started in 2003. Producer and composer Max Fadeev selected 16 people, including Polina Gagarina, Irakli Pirtskhalava, Maria Rzhevskaya, Yulia Savicheva, Elena Temnikova and Elena Terleeva.
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Lyudmila Zykina, National voice of Russia

Lyudmila Zykina

Lyudmila Zykina, National voice of Russia


Lyudmila Zykina was a true legend of the Soviet music. Her voice was the best in the USSR and her songs were the national treasure of a large country.
She sang at the best concert halls of the country, collaborated with the best composers and orchestras of the Soviet Union.
Future People’s Artist of the USSR was born on June 10, 1929 in an ordinary family in Moscow. Her childhood was very simple – lessons at school, games with friends. But World War II had changed everything. In difficult years, 12-year-old Lyuda worked as a turner at the Moscow Machine-Tool Plant. She even was awarded the title Honored Ordzhonikidzovets. After the war Zykina worked as a nurse and then as a seamstress. However, she dreamed of becoming a pilot.
Her singing career began almost by accident. The girl decided to try her hand as a singer and took part in the All-Russia competition of young singers, which was held in 1947. 18-year-old Lyuda, talented girl with unforgettable voice, became a soloist of the Pyatnitskiy National Choir. But in 1949 she left it and began to work at the Moscow Printing House.
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