Lidia Ruslanova
| Lidia Andreyevna Ruslanova | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Native name | Лидия Андреевна Русланова |
| Birth name | Agafia Leykina Russian: Агафья Лейкина |
| Born |
27 October 1900 Chernavka, Saratov Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 21 September 1973 (aged 72) Moscow, USSR |
| Genres | russian folk music |
| Instruments | singing |
Lidia Andreyevna Ruslanova (sometimes spelt Lidiya or Lydia, Russian: Лидия Андреевна Русланова; 27 October 1900, Saratov Governorate – 21 September 1973, Moscow) was one of the greatest and best-loved performers of Russian folk songs.
She was born in the village of Chernavka near Saratov, into a peasant family, and was baptized as Agafia Leykina (Russian: Агафья Лейкина) By the time she was five, both her parents had died; her father in the Russo-Japanese War and her mother soon after. As a result, she spent most of her childhood in an orphanage. She began singing when she joined the local parish children's choir and soon became a soloist.
Her uncle invited her to work in a furniture factory. One of the factory's owners heard her singing as she worked and recommended that she go to study at the Saratov Conservatory. However, she did not enjoy academic study. During the First World War, she worked on a hospital train and met Vitalii Stepanov during this period, with whom she had a child, born in May 1917. He left her after a year, due to her erratic lifestyle. According to a Saratov source, she married a different man who later died in the Russian Civil War, whom she took her surname from.
Ruslanova gave her first concert at the age of 16, to a military audience, where she sang everything she knew. She first started singing for Russian soldiers during the Russian Civil War, and debuted as a professional singer in Rostov-on-Don in 1923. She was noted for her peculiar singing voice and timbre, which was a revival of old traditions in which female soloists would perform on festive occasions. Until 1929, she lived with a Cheka official, then she married again, this time to Vladimir Kryukov.
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