Russian Personalities

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

Category Archive: Music and dance

Irina Saltykova, pop singer

irina saltykova

Irina Saltykova – beautiful singer

Irina Saltykova is a Russian singer and actress. Her maiden name is Irina Sapronova. Beautiful blonde was born on May 5, 1966 in Novomoskovsk, Tula region. Her father was a machinist, and her mother worked in a kindergarten. In her childhood Irina was engaged in artistic gymnastics. She even received prizes in the competitions.
From 1981 to 1985 she studied at the College of Building, then from 1985 to 1990 at the Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics.
Pretty girl performed with the group Mirage in Saransk in 1988, then briefly worked in variete at the restaurant. After having trouble at work and in her personal life Irina decided to become a singer.
In 1994, she debuted on the concert stage of Moscow cinema Warsaw with the song Let Me Go.
On February 1, 1995 Irina recorded her first song Grey Eyes. The song composer was Oleg Molchanov, who previously worked with Natalia Vetlitskaya and wrote her hit Playboy.
More »

Oksana Grigorieva

Oksana Grigorieva

Oksana Grigorieva – beautiful pianist


Oksana Grigorieva (born Oksana Chernukha) is a Russian-American pianist, singer and songwriter.
Pretty girl was born on February 23, 1970 in Saransk into a family of professors of music. She has a younger sister, Natalia. At the age of three Oksana began playing the piano. Then she studied at the local music school and graduated from the Kazan Conservatory. After graduating from the Conservatory at the age of 20 Grigorieva moved to London, where she continued her education at the Royal College of Music.
While working as a model, the beautiful girl was noticed by photographer Patrick Hansen, Cousin of Prince Charles and the official photographer of the royal family. After that, her photos began to appear in many fashion magazines. At first, she worked under the name Chernukha, but later changed it to her mother’s name – Grigorieva.
Later Oksana moved to the U.S., where she lived in New York and Los Angeles. Amazing girl worked as a music teacher.
More »

Oksana Kolesnikova, Russian pianist

Oksana Kolesnikova Russian-American composer

Oksana Kolesnikova – Russian-American composer


Oksana Kolesnikova is a Russian-American composer, concert pianist and entrepreneur, environmental activist through Cool Green. Awesome Oksana is the owner of Oksana School of Music and Oksana’s School of Foreign Languages in Los Angeles, California.
Beautiful girl was born in 1987, in Barnaul, Altai region, Siberia. At the age of five she began playing the piano. In 1993, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, at the age of 15, she and her family immigrated to the United States. They settled in St. Petersburg, Florida, where Oksana entered the St. Petersburg College.
Famous Kolesnikova became a winner of Florida State Young Artists Symposium Competition in 1999. Two years later, in August 2001 the girl graduated from the School of Music, Florida State University.
By the way, Kolesnikova became the first Russian-American female pianist to travel overseas to entertain the U.S. Troops in 2003.
More »

Oksana Pochepa, pop singer – Akula

Oksana Pochepa

Oksana Pochepa, pop singer – Akula

Oksana Pochepa is a Russian pop singer, model and actress. Her stage name is Akula (Shark).
Beautiful girl was born on July 20, 1984 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. In her childhood the girl participated in Rostov children’s ensembles, sang, wrote poetry and was engaged in acrobatics. Oksana has brother Mikhail.
Since childhood she wanted to become a singer and in 1991, the girl entered the Rimsky-Korsakov music school.
Pretty girl was a soloist of the youth project Maloletka (Youngster) in 1997-1998. At the same time, she performed in the Rostov Sports Palace as a part of the project. Also, the girl participated in the tour Youth Against Drugs.
Pochepa received an invitation from Sergei Zhukov to take part in his new musical project Akula (Shark) and moved to Moscow.
More »

Kristina Rihanoff – professional ballroom dancer

Kristina Rihanoff

Kristina Rihanoff. Photo: HELLO


“Out of luck in cards – lucky in love,” – said gentlemen of fortune. But there are people among us who are lucky in career and in love too. Professional dancer Kristina Rihanoff is a Lady Luck. Rihanoff is beautiful, successful and at the same time she is very cute and cheerful.
“Dreams come true, but you have to work hard,” she says. Well, and wise too.
Her way from Vladivostok to the one of the most popular TV shows in the UK Strictly Come Dancing, was long.
Awesome girl was born on September 22, 1977 in Siberia. Her real name is Kristina Pshenichnykh. Because of her father, who is a musician and composer, Kristina fell in love with music and dance at an early age. She studied both Latin and Standard styles, but it was the Latin harmonies and movements that truly stirred her passion. To tell the truth, Kristina entered her first dance competition at the tender age of seven, and never looked back.
More »

Tatiana Kotova – Miss Russia 2006

Tatiana Kotova

Tatiana Kotova – Miss Russia 2006

Tatiana Kotova is a Russian singer, actress, television personality, winner of the title Miss Russia 2006, former soloist of Russian – Ukrainian female pop group Nu Vigros (2008-2010).
Beautiful girl was born on September 3, 1985 in the Rostov region, USSR. She has a younger sister Ekaterina.
In 2006 this pretty girl won the title of Miss Russia and had the opportunity to represent her home country in the beauty contests Miss World 2007 and Miss Universe 2007.
Kotova is the third Russian woman, who took part in both beauty contests – Miss Universe and Miss World, after Anna Malova and Svetlana Goreva.
From March 2008 to April 2010 Tatiana was a soloist of the group Nu Vigros, where she replaced Vera Brezhneva. Then the singer began her solo career.
More »

Albina Dzhanabaeva, Russian singer

Albina Dzhanabaeva

Albina Dzhanabaeva, Russian singer

Albina Dzhanabaeva is a Russian singer, ex-member of the Russian-Ukrainian female pop group Nu Virgos (2004-2013), actress and TV presenter.
Beautiful girl was born on April 9, 1979 in Volgograd, Russia. In her childhood she studied at music school, where she learned to play the piano, and sang in the school choir. Pretty singer has a younger sister Ekaterina, who works as a hairdresser and brother Boris, who is a chef.
17-year-old girl entered the Gnessin State Musical College. During her studies, Albina starred in commercials and movies, participated in various theatrical productions.
By the way, in 1999, Albina played the role of Snow White in a Korean production Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, where she sang in Korean.
More »