Vladimir Presnyakov (Владимир Пресняков) is a Russian singer from Yekaterinburg. He was exposed to music from a young age, since both of his parents were in the music industry. Presnyakov started playing around with the piano, guitar, and drums as a child, and started writing his own music when he was 11. He began singing […]

Secret (Секрет) was a very popular band during the Soviet era. They still occasionally tour and perform their old hits today. Secret was founded in 1982 in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), when two of the original four members, Maksim Leonidov (vocals, guitar, keyboard) and Nikolay Fomenko (vocals, bass guitar), met at the Leningrad State Institute […]

DDT (ДДТ) is a Russian rock band founded in Ufa, in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1980. The group’s name is taken from the insecticide DDT (though among several erroneous interpretations of the band’s name is “Добрый день, товарищи!”—“Good day, comrades!”). The band was formed in 1979 and they soon recorded a home […]

Maksim Leonidov (Максим Леонидов) is a Russian singer originally from St. Petersburg. Best known for leading the popular Soviet band Secret (Секрет), he has also led a solo career in Israel and Russia. Leonidov’s parents both worked in theater, and he grew up surrounded by theater and music. He attended music school in St. Petersburg, […]

Кино/Kino was one of the most popular Soviet rock groups of the 1980s and 1990s. Influenced by Western bands like R.E.M., The Cure, The Smiths, and Joy Division, Kino became a touchstone for Soviet and Russian rock, punk, and alternative music. Largely the brainchild of frontman Viktor Tsoi, Kino’s music was known for its accessible, […]