Valery Leontiev | |
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Born |
Valery Yakovlevich Leontiev 19 March 1949 Ust-Usa, Komi ASSR, RSFSR, Soviet Union |
Alma mater | Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts |
Occupation |
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Years active | 1972–present |
Title | People's Artist of Russia (1996) |
Website | www.leontiev.ru |
Signature | |
Image Valery Leontiev receives the Order of Merit for the Fatherland 4th class from Vladimir Putin, 2005 | |
Image President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko present Through Art - to Peace and Understanding award to Valery Leontiev in Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, 2009 |
Valery Yakovlevich Leontiev (Russian: Валерий Яковлевич Леонтьев; born 19 March 1949 in Ust-Usa, Komi ASSR, RSFSR, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian pop singer whose popularity peaked in the early 1980s. 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 Valery Leontiev as a megastar and a legend of the Russian scene.
Prior to becoming a singer, he faced a hard childhood and struggle with his parents. His original dream was to pursue a career in oceanography, unfortunately, it was not realised as he failed to pass the entry exams to a college. However, he did not let that stop him as he eventually was able to go to Syktyvkar and pursue a singing career. Before he knew it, he became a member of the Republican Philharmonic ensemble called Echo.
Immediately after the first Union pop festival, held in Yerevan in 1981, the foreign press has good articles, one of them appeared in Time.
Valeri Leontiev, 32, a booted, bolero-suited dancing rocker whose performance falls somewhere between those of Mick Jagger and Mikhail Baryshnikov
He began performing at historic landmarks such as the concert hall Oktyabrskiy Big Concert Hall in St. Petersburg. Then he joined the Gorky Philharmonic and his career began to take off. As the public began to recognize his style and singing, they became immersed in his music and he was on his way to ultimate Russian stardom. From here on he began travelling all over the country, then Europe, and then the world. In 1987, he graduated from the Institute of Culture and also received the Merited Artist of Ukraine title. He became a well recognized figure as he was nominated and won numerous world music awards.