t.A.T.u. (originally Tatu in English and Тату in Russian, and eventually marketed under t.A.T.u in both languages) is perhaps the most famous modern Russian band. Well known not only in Russia but around the world, it was founded in 1999 by producer Ivan Shapovalov and composer Aleksandr Voytinskiy. For the entire life of the band, […]

Serebro (“silver”; the band’s name is Russian but spelled in the Roman alphabet even in Russian contexts) is a girl pop group that was founded by producer Maksim Fadeev in 2006. Fadeev is a producer on the TV show Star Factory (Фабрика звёзд), the show that also led to the creation of Fabrika and Korni, […]

Fabrika (Фабрика; “factory”) is a Russian pop band whose current members are Irina Toneva (Ирина Тонева), Aleksandra Savalyeva (Александра Савальева), and Aleksandra Popova (Александра Попова). The band was started in 2002 through the TV show Star Factory–1 (Фабрика Звёзд–1), produced by Igor Matvienko, and consisted of Toneva, Savalyeva, Sati Kazanova (Сати Казанова), and Maria Alalykina […]

Evgenii Margulis (Евгений Шулимович Маргулис) is a prolific Russian rock musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and one of Russia’s most famous blues composers.  He is known as a founding member of one of Russia’s most important classic rock bands, Time Machine (Машина времени), as well as a founder and on-again-off-again participant in Voskresenie (Воскресение), also a […]

Agata Kristi (Агата Кристи) was one of Russia’s most popular rock bands during the 1990s. Their sound tends toward gothic rock and post-punk, and at times even new wave. Agata Kristi’s impressive repertoire includes ten studio albums, five compilations, and eighteen music videos, as well as a long history of tours around Russia and abroad. […]

Absolute Rascals (Отпетые Мошенники) is a Russian pop boy band that hails from the suburbs of St. Petersburg. According to the group themselves, they are not sure when they were founded—“we think least of all about dates, numbers and sums. We’re more interested in notes, harmonies, lyrics”—but their first major concert took place in December […]

Korni (Корни; “roots”) is a Russian pop boy band. It was founded in 2002 through the TV show Star Factory (Фабрика звёзд) by producer Igor Matvienko, who is also responsible for the bands Fabrika (“factory”) and Ivanushki International. Star Factory debuted on Russia’s Channel One in 2002 and was a huge success. It featured 16 […]

Lolita Milyavskaya (Лолита Милявская) is a Russian-Ukrainian pop singer and TV host. She often goes by her first name alone. Lolita was born in Mukachevo, Ukraine. Her mother was a singer, and her father was her producer and concert director as well as an orchestra conductor. Lolita began singing informally when she was 10 but […]

Tanya Teryoshina (Таня Терёшина) is a Russian pop singer and model. She was born in Budapest—her father was a Soviet military official, so the family moved frequently, and she grew up in Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, and finally Smolensk, Russia. She attended an art institute in Smolensk, where she studied painting, but she also participated in […]