Valery Leontiev


Valery Yakovlevich Leontiev is a Soviet and Russian pop singer whose popularity peaked in the early 1980s. Also occasional as songwriter and actor. He was titled a People's Artist of Russia in 1996. He is known as one of the most prominent artists of Soviet and Russian music. Over the course of his decades-long career, he has recorded more than 30 albums, many of which sold millions of copies. The media refers to Leontiev as a megastar and a legend of the Russian scene.

Early life

Valery Yakovlevich Leontiev was born on 19 March 1949, in Ust-Usa, a village in what is now Russia's Komi Republic. His father Yakov Stepanovich Leontiev was a veterinarian, a specialist in deer, and his mother Catherine Ivanovna Leontieva took care of the children: Valery and his sister. At six, Valery recited poems to herders from an improvised stage. As a first-grader, he began singing in the school choir. Valery participated in school plays and took up piano lessons.
In 1961 the family moved to the city Yuryevets in Ivanovo Oblast, and after graduation, Leontiev went to conquer Moscow and to act in Russian Academy of Theatre Arts. However, panic and fear to fail in the exam made Leontiev at the last moment to take the documents and return to Yuryevets. Here the future artist has changed many professions - from the postman to the designer, but in the end went in Vorkuta and entered the Mining Institute.

Musical career

His first performance on the big stage took place in 1971, during the Vorkuta regional competition "Song-71". There, Leontiev took second place with the song "Carnaval". And the first concert the singer gave was on April 9, 1972 on the stage of Vorkuta's :ru:Дворец культуры шахтёров |House of Culture of Miners and Builders. From this moment begins the career of Leontiev as a singer.
In 1972, Leontiev went to Syktyvkar for a festival competition among amateur creative youth "We are looking for talents" and wins it. after which Leontiev was sent to study at the all-Union creative Studio pop art, was in Moscow. However, study here has not been completed. A year later, the director of the Syktyvkar Philharmonic took the group, which included Leontiev, back to Syktyvkar. In Syktyvkar Leontiev worked as a soloist in the ensemble of "Dreamers", and in 1975 became the soloist of the ensemble "Echo" with which he traveled all over the Soviet Union. However, the concerts were mostly held in the provincial houses of culture.
Climbing on the big stage began for the singer later - after the transition to the Gorky Philharmonic and receiving first Prize at the All-Union competition for the best performance of songs of the socialist countries in 1979. Less than a year later, Leontiev already gave a full-fledged solo concert in :ru:Московский театр эстрады|Moscow Variety Theatre, and for the performance of compositions by David Tukhmanov "Dance time in the sun" he received First prize of the International Festival "Golden Orpheus".
In 1980 Leontiev sang in various concerts, including the :ru:Московский театр эстрады|Moscow Variety Theatre, Oktyabrsky and Luzhniki. In 1981, the artist won the popularity prize at the prestigious music festival :ru:Ереван-81|Yerevan-81. American journalists who attended the event noted the expressive manner of performing the singer and compared him to Mick Jagger. However, this fact caused opposition of the leaders of the Soviet stage and officials, therefore, until 1984, Leontiev fell into disgrace. The artist overcame it with the help of one of the influential composers of those years - Raimond Pauls.
In 1982, Leontiev underwent a serious operation to remove a tumor from his throat, which jeopardized his further singing career. In this difficult time Leontiev decided to engage seriously in education and entered the Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts. Fortunately, in 1983, the singer was able to return to the stage, the artist gives 18 sold-out concerts entitled "I'm just a singer" in Leningrad. However, the busy schedule of concerts did not prevent him from finishing his studies and qualify as "mass" view.
In 1983, the singer moves to work in the Voroshilovgrad Philharmonic in the Ukrainian SSR. A year later, he was given a whole section in the author's evening "Holy love of music" by composer Raimond Pauls in Moscow.
In 1985, Leontiev received the Lenin Komsomol Prize. And after that he went to Afghanistan together with a group of artists. 1986 was marked by a trip to Chernobyl, where the singer performed. And in 1987 Leontiev already became Merited Artist of Ukrainian SSR.
The beginning of the 90s was marked for Leontiev splash touring. His concerts were held in Germany, Israel, USA, Canada, India and other countries. In 1991 Leontiev was named the "Best Selling Soviet Artist" at the World Music Awards ceremony in Monte Carlo. In 1994 he performed on stage with Gina Lollobrigida in Saint-Petersburg concert hall "Oktyabrskiy", and in 1996 he was awarded the title People's Artist of Russia. in March 1998 а nominal star of Valery Leontiev was opened on the Star Square in Moscow. in 1999 Leontiev was awarded the "Living Legend Award" at the Russian national music award "Ovation".

On the stage

[World Music Awards]

;Orders
;Titles
;Medals
;Awards
;Public awards
! colspan="3" style="background: pink;" | Golden Orpheus
! colspan="3" style="background: cyan;" | World Music Awards
! colspan="3" style="background: red;" | Ovation
! colspan="3" style="background: silver;" | Muz-TV Music Awards
! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" | Slavianski Bazaar

Discography

See Valery Leontiev discography

Studio albums

Songwriting credits

As composer

All songs composed with Yuri Varum.
Valery Leontiev is married to bass guitarist Lyudmila Isakovich. Couple together since 1972. However, officially relations were registered only in 1998. The artist's wife lives in Miami.

Eurovision Song Contest 1987

The Soviet Union never participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, but it made several attempts in the late 1980s. In 2009 Eduard Fomin, a former employee of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR, revealed that in 1987 George Veselov, the Minister of Education for the Soviet Union, brought forward the idea of Soviet participation in the Eurovision Song Contest due to the number of political reforms made by the Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev during the late 1980s. The idea was mainly a political one, with the thought that a win in the contest for the Soviet Union would impact on the relationships between the Soviet Union and the capitalist countries of the west. Valery Leontiev was suggested as a singer for the Soviet Union's first entry into the contest, but Veselov's ideas were not shared by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, or by Gorbachev himself, believing it to be too radical a step to take, and so the Soviet Union never entered the contest before dissolving.

Statements about Leontiev