Alla Pugacheva

Alla Borisovna Pugacheva (А́лла Бори́совна Пугачёва, ; sometimes Pugachova; born 15 April 1949) is a Russian singer-songwriter. Her career started in 1965 and continues to this day, even though she has retired from performing. For her "clear mezzo-soprano and a full display of sincere emotions", she enjoys an iconic status across the former Soviet Union as the most successful Soviet performer in terms of record sales and popularity. For several decades, Pugacheva was a sex symbol, a style icon, an inspiration for Soviet women and a heroine of Russian tabloids. In the media, Pugacheva has been called "the Queen of Russian pop music".

Her repertoire includes over 500 songs in Russian, English, German, French, Kazakh, Hebrew, Finnish and Ukrainian, and her discography has more than 100 records, CDs and DVDs. In addition to Russia and the former Soviet Union, Pugacheva's albums have been released in Japan, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Israel. In total, she has sold more than 250 million records. Her debut album, Mirror of the Soul, has sold 10 million copies. Pugacheva's other albums were also successful, including How Disturbing Is This Way, released in 1982, which sold 7 million copies.

During her career, Pugacheva has toured Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, Scandinavia, Central Asia and other countries around the world, including the United States, France, Greece, Italy and Israel. In 2000, The New York Times called her "the goddess of Russian pop music, Moscow's Tina Turner with a touch of Édith Piaf".

In addition to Russia and the countries of the former USSR, Pugacheva’s singles were included in the hit parade in other countries of Europe and Asia, including France, Sweden, Poland, Greece, Japan and Mongolia.

For several decades, Pugacheva had the largest fee among performers in Eastern Europe.

She became a People's Artist of the USSR in 1991, a Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 1995, and was decorated as a Chevalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II, III and IV degrees. In addition to state awards, Pugacheva has been awarded Russian and international music prizes, including the Grand Prix of the Golden Orpheus International Vocal Competition and the Ampex Golden Reel Award. In 2022, she was among three Russian women included in the BBC's 100 Women list.

Early life and education
Pugacheva was born to Boris Mikhailovich Pugachyov and Zinaida Arkhipovna (née Odegova) Pugachyova in Moscow, on 15 April 1949. In 1956, she enrolled in music school No.31, and attended the Ippolitov-Ivanov music college. She went on to study at school No.496, finishing her studies there in 1964. She then studied in the choral-conducting department of the college. Pugacheva recorded her first track "Robot" in 1965, for a morning programme on Radio Yunost.

Career
Pugacheva finished college in 1966 and subsequently toured with the group Yunost' (Youth) in western Siberia. The following year she began working as a piano accompanist at the State Circus Musical college. She provided the leading vocals to a number of bands, including Novy Elektron (New Electron), part of the Lipetsk State Philharmonic Society, in 1966, Moskvichi (Muscovites) in 1971, Oleg Lundstrem's band in 1972–73, and Vesyolye Rebyata (Merry Folks) in 1974–75. She recorded songs throughout that period for numerous movies.

In 1974, she came in 3rd place in the All-Union competition of musicians. In 1975, she received the Grand Prix of the Golden Orpheus international singing contest in Bulgaria, performing the song "Harlequin" by Emil Dimitrov. The Amiga label released her winning song as a single in East Germany. Subsequently, in Bulgaria, the Balkanton label released the live recording of "Harlequin" from the festival as a single. A year later, Pugacheva returned to the Golden Orpheus to perform a concert outside the competition. The Balkanton released the live tracks as Pugacheva's first album Zolotoy Orfey 76. The single "Harlequin" has sold 14 million copies. In that same year, Pugacheva recorded a number of songs for the musical drama-comedy The Irony of Fate as the singing voice of Nadja, the female protagonist.

In 1976, Pugacheva performed at the international music exhibition MIDEM in Cannes (France).

The Woman Who Sings, 1977
Pugacheva went on to work on the musical film The Woman who Sings in cooperation with the band Ritm (Rhythm) in 1977. She played the leading lady, a famous pop singer who sacrifices her personal life for her career. The soundtrack, which was co-written by Pugacheva and composed of pop songs, culminated with the dramatic title ballad "Zhenshchina, kotoraya poyot". The Soviet audience, regarding the film as autobiographical, brought the soundtrack to reach record audience of the year in 1979, as it was bought by 55 million people. The soundtrack was first released in 1977 as part of the double album Zerkalo dushi (Mirror of the Soul), which was a collection of her songs from 1975 to 1977. The Victor label released a collection album Alla Pugacheva in the same year in Japan. In 1978, performing the song "Vsyo mogut koroli" ("Kings Can Do Anything"), Pugacheva received the Amber Nightingale prize at the Sopot International Song Festival which at the time meant automatically winning the Grand Prix of the Intervision Song Contest. In 1980, the Kansan label of Finland released her above-listed works as the compilation album Huipulla (At the Top). Also, the release of Pugacheva's album took place in West Germany.

In July 1979 in Moscow Pugacheva performed in a duet with Joe Dassin.

Her work in 1980–2000
During the 1980s, Pugacheva was a frequent visitor to Stockholm. She started out with multiple guest appearances on the popular Swedish radio show Galaxen (April 1980 year) conducted by Jacob Dahlin, and later frequently appeared on his TV show Jacobs Stege (Jacob's Ladder). Dahlin and Pugacheva used to perform duets, such as "Superman" where Dahlin sings as the title character. In Stockholm, Pugacheva recorded an album in English, released by the World Record Music label in Sweden as Watch Out and by the Melodiya label in the Soviet Union as Alla Pugacheva in Stockholm.

In addition to performing in Sweden, Pugacheva toured Finland and other Scandinavian countries, as well as the Baltic states, countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Her performance was a success. Therefore, in 1985, in Finland, in the port of Kotka, the ceremony of launching the ferry "Alla", named in honor of Pugacheva, took place.

In 1985 to 1988, Pugacheva performed with German rocker Udo Lindenberg. The result of their collaboration was the release of the album "Songs instead of Letters", published by Polydor Records in Germany and Melodiya in the USSR. In May 1987, Pugacheva performed the song "One Voice" at a concert in Vienna with American singer Barry Manilow. At the same time, she performed with the Swedish pop group Herreys and the Norwegian pop group Bobbysock. In September 1987, Pugacheva's single "Find Me" entered ZDF-Hitparade in Germany.

In 1987, Pugacheva was the headliner of the Sanremo Music Festival. Whitney Houston was also the headliner.

In 1989 Pugacheva performed at the Country Music Festival (Nashville, USA).

In 1990, Pugacheva participated as a guest in the World Music Awards ceremony in Monte Carlo.

She represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 with the song "Primadonna", finishing in 15th place out of 25 places.

In 1997, together with the Econika Corporation, the singer launched her own brand of shoes under the Alla Pugachova brand. The shoes became the most successful non-song business project of the singer, along with the perfume "Alla", produced for many years since 1990 by the French perfume company "Sogo".

In 1999, she guest starred at the historic concert of the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles in Moscow at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

Pugacheva had sold a quarter of a billion records by 2000; in 2003, Pugacheva released the album “Live in Peace, Country!”, and in 2008, “Invitation to Sunset,”, albums received gold disc status in Russia from IFPI; in 2023 one of her songs were used for Atomic Heart for the intro.

From 2005 to 2019 Pugacheva awarded a cash prize from personal funds in the amount of $50,000 to young talented performers from Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Central Asia, including rock musician Koop Arponen from Finland, Tina Karol from Ukraine, Marina Lucenko from Poland, Stas Shurins from Latvia, Monika Linkyte from Lithuania, Maxim Erzhan from Kazakhstan and others.

From April 2009 to March 2010, Pugacheva made an international concert tour “Dreams of Love”, performing in 13 countries, including the United States, Germany, the Baltic countries, Israel, Bulgaria and others. The concert program included some hits from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Pugacheva opened the concert show with the song “I Sing”.

From 2011 to 2013 Pugacheva was a member of the jury of the Russian version of the British talent show The X Factor (Factor A).

In 2015, on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon, after listening to Alla Pugacheva's single Superman, noted that he liked Pugacheva's performance.

In May 2022, Pugacheva participated in the Free Culture Forum in Tel Aviv. The forum was also attended by Russian rock musicians Andrey Makarevich and Boris Grebenshchikov.

Influence on popular culture
Over the years of her creative activity, which began in the mid-1960s, Pugacheva influenced the art of performers of the 90s of the twentieth century and subsequent generations, as well as the consciousness of people in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Central Asia. She embodied the image of a strong and free woman. Pugacheva gave freedom in art, freedom of expression to people from all countries of the former USSR. The media called Pugacheva the “Russian Madonna”.

Italian singer-songwriter Toto Cutugno noted that he considers Pugacheva an outstanding singer; а similar opinion was expressed by Swedish musician, member of the pop group ABBA Björn Ulvaeus.

Russian music critic Alexey Mazhaev, in a review of Pugacheva's album "How Disturbing Is This Way", noted a combination of different genres — folk ("Stairs"), reggae ("Hold Me, straw"), blues ("That's how it Happened, Mom"), gypsy style ("Old Song"). Mazhaev also noted that in 12 of the 16 compositions, the singer wrote the music herself, demonstrating completely different vocal techniques and acting skills.

Cover versions of songs from Pugacheva's repertoire have been recorded by pop, rock and hip-hop artists from around the world, including Patricia Kaas ("I Like It"), Lara Fabian ("Love Like a Dream"), Muslim Magomayev ("Every night and Every Day"), Bi-2 ("Paper Kite"), Tokiko Kato ("Millions of scarlet Roses") and others. In addition, 50 Cent used a sample from the song "Shakespeare's Sonnet" from Pugacheva's repertoire in their hit "Piggy Bank".

In the 2000s, MTV called Pugacheva a pop music legend. In 2021, according to the Romir Center for Public Opinion Research, Pugacheva took 1st place in the ranking of the "Most influential Musicians in Russia".

In 2022, Latvian singer Laima Vaikule noted that Pugacheva was and remains the main Russian star. In previous years, similar opinions were expressed by other performers from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including the Kazakh group A'Studio, Tajik singer Manizha, Russian singer Valery Leontyev and others.

Private life
In 1969, she married Lithuanian circus performer, and on 25 May 1971 she gave birth to a daughter, Kristina Orbakaitė, who is also a popular singer. Pugacheva divorced Orbakas after four years of marriage in 1973. She married film director Alexander Stefanovich (1945–2021) in 1976 and starred in several of his movies. The union was dissolved in 1980.

In 1985, Pugacheva married producer Yevgeniy Boldin, with whom she had numerous professional collaborations. She had a working and romantic relationship with a young musician and singer, Vladimir Kuzmin during this period. In 1993, she divorced Yevgeniy Boldin stating that their professional lives interfered too much with their personal life.

In 1994, she married a pop singer, Philipp Kirkorov. Their divorce was announced in November 2005.

On 23 December 2011, Pugacheva married singer and comedian Maxim Galkin. The couple has twins delivered by a surrogate mother.

Political and social activities
From 1963 to 1977, starting when she was fourteen, Pugacheva was a member of the Komsomol.

On the day of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, while in Odesa in the company of Mikhail Zhvanetsky, she expressed confidence that there would be no turning back, that their time had passed.

In June 1996, Pugacheva actively participated in the pre-election tour of Boris Yeltsin's presidential campaign "Vote or lose." Later, she did not hide that she had taken much money for her performances at concerts as part of this election campaign. On 14 June 1996, two days before the vote, an interview with Leonid Parfyonov was aired in the Hero of the Day program on the NTV channel, in which Pugacheva called on all Russians to vote for Yeltsin.

In 1998, Pugacheva supported Valery Zubov as candidate for the governorship of the Krasnoyarsk Krai.

From 1998 to 2007, Pugacheva was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

In December 2005, Pugacheva became a member of the Civic Chamber under the President of the Russian Federation, where she worked on social development issues until 2008.

For the 2007 Russian legislative election, Pugacheva starred in a United Russia campaign video.

Since September 2011, Pugacheva has openly supported politician Mikhail Prokhorov. She declared her readiness to join his party, then joined his Public Council; together with Andrey Makarevich, she sang the song "Samy vysoky" (The Tallest) about him, and also took part in various press conferences of Prokhorov and congresses of the public council of the Civic Platform party. On 14 September, she took part in the party congress. However, after the removal of its leader, the day after the congress at a meeting of supporters of Mikhail Prokhorov, she left the party, blaming Vladislav Surkov for what happened.

In 2012, Pugacheva supported the punk group Pussy Riot.

Alla is considered to be a gay icon in Russia by Russian LGBT community.

Pugacheva took second place in the ranking of "100 Most Influential Women of Russia" (Ogoniok, 2012) and 4th in the ranking of "The Smartest Women of Russia" (Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 2012).

Russo-Ukrainian War
In March 2014, Pugacheva signed a petition against the persecution of Andrei Makarevich, who protested against the annexation of Crimea and war in Donbas.

In March 2022, Pugacheva and Galkin, whose mother is Jewish, left Russia for Israel following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In August 2022, Pugacheva returned to Russia hoping to clean up "the mess in people heads". In September 2022, after her husband had been declared a "foreign agent", she spoke out publicly condemning the war and useless deaths of Russian men who are forced to die for no reason. She also asked Ministry of Justice to declare her a foreign agent, too.

Russian authorities began investigating Pugacheva for "discrediting" the Russian military under Russian 2022 war censorship laws. In October 2022, Pugacheva revealed that she had left Russia again for Israel. In November 2023, Pugacheva returned to Russia for a few days before leaving again for Latvia.

The British pop group Pet Shop Boys supported Pugacheva. The band members said they admired her courage and honesty. German rock musician Udo Lindenberg and Ukrainian singer Svetlana Loboda also expressed words of support for Pugacheva.

Honours and awards


Pugacheva's most notable title is "People's Artist of the USSR", the highest honor that could be bestowed to a musical artist in the state, awarded to her in 1991. While the lesser titles of "Accomplished Artist of the Russian SFSR", and "People's Artist of the Russian SFSR" had been already awarded to her in 1980 and 1985 respectively, the government was hesitant to award her its highest honor, reportedly largely because of statements and actions on her part that were inconsistent with the Party's agenda. Pugacheva is listed in the Russian Encyclopedia (2005) as well as in encyclopedias in other countries of the world, including the United States

In 1999, the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin awarded Pugacheva the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd degree.

In 2017, Pugacheva was included in the list of the "100 most influential Russians of the century" according to Forbes.

She was honored as one of the BBC 100 Women in December 2022.
 * Orders
 * Orden for Service II.png Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class (15 April 1999)
 * Orden for Service III.png Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class (15 April 2009)
 * Orden for Service IV.png Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class (17 April 2014)
 * Ribbon bar of order of St. Mesrop Mashtoc.png Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots (Armenia, 26 September 2009)
 * AZ Dostlug Order ribbon-2.png Dostlug Order (Azerbaijan, 4 September 2009)


 * Titles
 * People's Artist of the USSR (20 December 1991)
 * People's Artist of the RSFSR (1985)
 * Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1980)
 * Honorary citizen of the city of Makhachkala (2006)


 * Awards
 * Grand Prix of the Golden Orpheus International Vocal Competition (Bulgaria, 1975)
 * Grand Prix "Amber Nightingale" at the XVIII International Song Festival "Intervision" in Sopot (Poland, 1978)
 * The Golden Microphone award from Dynacord as the best singer of the year in Europe (Germany, 1981)
 * The Golden disc of the Track Music label for the album "Soviet Superstar. The Greatest Hits of 1976-1984" (Finland, 1984)
 * Ampex Golden Reel Award for the album "Watch Out" (USA, 1989)
 * Distant Accord FIDOF Award for contribution to the music Industry (USA, 1989)
 * State Prize of the Russian Federation (7 June 1995) – For outstanding contribution to the development of literature and art
 * According to the ZD Awards, she was recognized as the best singer of the 20th century (1999)
 * Ovation Award in the category "Best Singer of the Decade" (2001)
 * The prize of the Slavic Bazaar festival Through Art – to Peace and Understanding (Belarus, 2006)
 * Platinum disc of the Melodiya label for multimillion copies of records sold in Russia and Eastern Europe (albums "Mirror of the Soul", "How Disturbing Is This Way", "Alla Pugacheva in Stockholm" and singles "Harlekino", "Million Roses", "Maestro") (2009)
 * Inducted into the Top Hit Music Awards Hall of Fame (2013)

! colspan="3" style="background: red;" | Ovation



Famous songs

 * «Арлекино» (Harlequin)
 * «Женщина, которая поёт» (The woman who sings)
 * «Всё могут короли» (Kings can do anything)
 * «Миллион алых роз» (Millions of scarlet Roses)
 * «До свидания, лето» (Goodbye, summer)
 * «Сонет Шекспира» (Shakespeare's Sonnet)
 * «Балет» (Ballet)
 * «Этот мир» (This world)
 * «А знаешь, все ещё будет» (You know, it's still going to be)
 * «Две звезды» (Two stars)
 * «Я тебя поцеловала» (I kissed you)
 * «Бумажный змей» (The Paper Kite)
 * «Осенний поцелуй» (Autumn Kiss)
 * «Песенка про себя (Также как все)» (A song about myself (Just like everyone else))
 * «На Тихорецкую состав отправится» (The train will go to Tikhoretskaya)
 * «100 друзей» (100 friends)
 * «Айсберг» (Iceberg)
 * «Паромщик» (The ferryman)
 * «Волшебник-недоучка» (The half-educated Wizard)
 * «Старинные часы» (Vintage watch)
 * «Маэстро» (Maestro)
 * «Цыганский хор» (Gypsy Choir)
 * «Белая дверь» (The white door)
 * «Надо же» (Wow)
 * «Найти меня» (Find Me)
 * «Алло» (Hello)
 * «Superman»
 * «Every night and every day»
 * «Moscow Rock»
 * «Любовь, похожая на сон» (Love, like a dream)
 * «Я тебя никому не отдам» (I won't give you up to anyone)
 * «Осенние листья» (Autumn leaves)
 * «Позови меня с собой» (Call me with)
 * «Свеча горела на столе» (A candle was burning on the table)
 * «В воду войду» (I'll go into the water)
 * «Осторожно листопад» (Careful leaf fall)
 * «Речной трамвайчик» (River tram)
 * «Голубка» (Dove)
 * «Мадам Брошкина» (Madame Broshkina)
 * «Тысяча лет» (A thousand years)
 * «Будь или не будь» (Be it or not be it)
 * «Я пою» (I'm singing)
 * «Опять метель» (Another snowstorm)
 * «Нас бьют, мы летаем» (They beat us, we fly)
 * «Я летала» (I flew)

Original solo albums

 * Official English title.

Other albums

 * 1978 Alla Pugacheva (released in Japan) – compilation
 * 1978 Ala Pugachova. Ogledalo na dushata (released in Bulgaria) – compilation
 * 1979 Alla Pugacheva i Iosif Kobzon – split
 * 1980 Diskoteka A – instrumental remixes
 * 1980 Alla Pugatšova. Huipulla (Alla Pugacheva. At the Top; Kansan, Finland)
 * 1980 Alla Pugačevova. Zrcadlo duše (Czech version of Zerkalo dushi)
 * 1981 Alla Pugačova (Czech version of To li eshche budet...)
 * 1981 Alla Pugatšova. Tähtikesä (Alla Pugacheva. Starry summer; Kansan, Finland)
 * 1982 U nas v gostjakh maestro (Our Guest is the Maestro) – live / split
 * 1982 Parad Planet – split
 * 1983 Million Roz (released in Japan) – compilation
 * 1983 Alla Pugačova. Dávná píseň (a Czech compilation)
 * 1984 Alla Pugacheva – Soviet Superstar. Greatest Hits 1976–84 (World Record Music, Sweden) – compilation
 * 1985 Alla Pugacheva – Soviet Superstar vol.2 (released by the World Record Music in Finland) – compilation
 * 1988 Pesni vmesto pisem (Songs Instead Of Letters) – split with Udo Lindenberg
 * 1989 Paromshik – (Ferryman) (Finnish release of Rechnoy paromshchik)
 * 1991 Alla (Ritonis, Riga)
 * 1994 Veryu v tebya (I Believe in You) – compilation
 * 1995 Put' zvezdy (The Path of a Star) – compilation
 * 1996 A 13 CD compilation of songs previously released only on LP and MC
 * 1996 Poët Alla Pugacheva (Alla Pugacheva Sings; songs by Aleksandr Zazepin) – compilation
 * 1997 Dve zvezdy (Two Stars; with Vladimir Kuzmin) – compilation / split
 * 1998 Syurpriz ot Ally Pugachevy (Surprise from Alla Pugacheva) – tribute

CD singles

 * 1997 Primadonna (Eurovision 1997)
 * 2000 Bely sneg (White Snow)
 * 2000 Madam Broshkina
 * 2002 Eto lyubov (It's Love)

There is an unknown number of single and EP releases published all over the world.

Films and TV appearances

 * 1978 Teatr Ally Pugachevoy, Estonian Television
 * 1978 The Woman who Sings, Mosfilm
 * 1981 Lyubovyu za lyubov' (Love For Love) Mosfilm
 * 1984 Vstrechi s Alloy Pugachevoy (Meetings with Alla Pugacheva), USSR TV
 * 1985 Prishla i govoryu (I Came and I'm Speaking), Mosfilm
 * 1985 Sezon chudes (Season of Miracles), Odesa Film Studio
 * 1989–2002 Rozhdestvenskie vstrechi (Christmas Meetings), USSR TV, Ostankino, Public Russian Television, Russian State Television
 * 1995 Zhdi i pomni menya (Wait for Me, Remember Me), Public Russian Television
 * 1997 Laat de Leeuw (Late de Leeuw), VARA
 * 2003 Za dvumya zaytsami (Chasing Two Rabbits)

Documentary film
Documentaries about Pugacheva's biography were shown on television in different European countries, including:


 * "At Alla's" (Finland, 1979)
 * "How does a Soviet superstar live?" (Sweden, SVT2, 1983)
 * "Rock around the Kremlin" (France, Zaradoc Films, 1985)
 * "Alla Pugacheva. Postcard from Tallinn" (Estonia, ETV+, 2019)