Grebenshchikov biography personal life. Boris Grebshchikov - biography, information, personal life

Boris Grebenshchikov is a non-standard classic of Soviet and then Russian rock. The "Aquarium" created by him is one of the first cult rock bands, and BG has been its permanent leader for decades. "City of Gold" - a song that has become a cult, it is being listened to and loved by the third generation of BG fans. Despite borrowing from Western music, Grebenshchikov is distinguished by originality, calling himself the "Ayatollah of Russian rock." Chevalier of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, fourth degree.

Childhood and family

The boy, who was born in the fall of 1953 in the Leningrad family of intellectuals Boris and Lyudmila Grebenshchikov, was named after his father - Boris. The family's roots are in Saratov; a wave of Old Believers came to St. Petersburg in the nineteenth century.

Grandfather Alexander was the head of the Baltechflot and during the Great Patriotic War was involved in laying the Road of Life through Ladoga. A motor ship in Vladivostok was even named after him. Grandmother, Ekaterina Vasilievna, having survived the blockade of Leningrad with her daughter, lived with them.

Boris has a 16-year-old younger brother on his father's side, Alexander, now a musician of the rock bands "EXTRA" and "Andrew & Company". In the program "You Won't Believe" Alexander said that his father died when he was 5 years old, and he learned about his relationship with the leader of the "Aquarium", whom he had heard since childhood, only at the age of 18.

According to the memoirs of Boris Grebenshchikov, his grandmother was very sensitive to the creative freedom of her grandson and, despite the fact that she always accompanied him on walks around the large courtyard (only Borya was not allowed out), she gave the boy her guitar playing style.

Borya dreamed of having his own instrument, even as a preschooler. And one day with shining eyes, shod in onuchi and bast shoes, he brought home a peeled guitar, which he found in the trash heap. Dad, seeing his son's grimy face, put the instrument in order and varnished it. The guitar lost its sound, but it looks decent. Little Borya began to learn to play on it, picking up classical pieces, for example, by Mussorgsky or Chopin.

Father and mother (director of the pilot plant of the Baltic Shipping Company and legal adviser to the House of Models in Leningrad) did not interfere with his son's hobby. They even took out the MP-2 tape recorder and gave it to Boris. There was no limit to the happiness of a student of the prestigious school # 421. In addition to recordings of music from "Voice of America", he listened to the popular in the USSR Raj ​​Kapoor, the music of the forties (the records were kept by his parents).

On Saturday nights, the teenager closed in the hall and recorded rock and roll compositions from foreign music programs. Music sank into his consciousness very well, with Bill Haley, for example, Boris met thanks to the skaters Oleg Protopopov and Lyudmila Belousova, who danced to his composition.

The boy watched figure skating and at the same time recorded foreign music on a tape recorder. On one occasion, he even managed to record about ten Beatles songs over the phone. Several times in the house on Altayskaya Street, where the Grebenshchikov family lived, the famous Evgeny Klyachkin appeared, whom Borya, along with the guests of his parents, listened to with bated breath. And he collected a collection of songs by Vladimir Vysotsky from the second grade of school and in the fifth he sang from the stage his song "On the neutral strip". This was the first public appearance of the future rock star.

Once, walking in Sestroretsk with his grandmother in the summer, Borya walked past the WTO pioneer camp and saw a black boy playing the famous Beatles' song Ticket to Ride near the gate. So the boy realized that The Beatles can be sung in the USSR. And I decided to definitely get into the camp in order to get to know the unusual performer better. He gained access to the territory thanks to tricks and blackmail: under the onslaught of his grandson, his grandmother got a job there.

In just a day, Borya mastered the guitar of a new friend, rebuilt it on a six-string and sang the cherished song. So in July 1968 began the present, according to Grebenshchikov, his musical education. At the end of the holidays, he had already played and sang fifteen foreign hits, which few people in the country had heard of. The next year Boris already had a Nota tape recorder, with which he came to the camp. The director tried to chase away the “singer of decaying capitalism,” but the pioneers went on strikes, they liked an unusual performer of their age who was beginning to preach freedom:

I knocked one person off the path completely, he began to wear cobblestones and ropes around his neck, because he realized that he was a hippie. He was the son of the composer Efim Rosenfeld, he had the nickname Hu ... Well, in the WTO camp a rather close company of people was formed, which continued to communicate in the future, and then gradually this company grew into a theater in the Castle (Engineering, - ed.

As a child, in his yard, Borya once met a boy from the next front door, with whom he got into conversation, and then made friends. The boy's name was Tolya. His middle name was unusual for the Soviet era - Avgustovich. Surname - Gunitsky. Friends went to school together, composed a play with which they intended to become famous. But Boris's parents transferred him to school №239, since it was physics and mathematics, and he was going to enter the Faculty of Applied Mathematics. But friends did not lose touch, music was the main motive in their life.

"Aquarium" and the first "Temptation"

As a student at Leningrad University and studying at a very prestigious faculty, Boris, nevertheless, most of all wanted to "bring rock music to the masses." Together with George (the nickname of Gunitsky, who looks very similar in appearance to one of the soloists of the Liverpool quartet), they began to rehearse in the assembly hall of the faculty. Talented and gifted, Boris and Anatoly wrote poetry themselves, although at first they performed compositions in English, since their idols were Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Bob Marley, Mark Bolan and, of course, The Beatles.

But then the friends decided that they should sing exclusively in Russian. Having a good command of English, Grebenshchikov began to translate some texts, write his own. After a while they will be accused of constant plagiarism, to which BG will answer that in rock and roll, as in folklore, everyone is free to perform what the soul asks for. And he will clarify that "Aquarium" did not have such cases that, for example, after listening to Brian Eno, they decided to cover it. Rather, the opposite is true. First they write something, then they already think what it looks like. Boris is sure that plagiarism in rock and roll simply cannot be, and he himself is for his namelessness.

The first self-published disc "The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium" was then seen by a few fans of the collective in 1973. The songs were called "conceptual music", critics reported "the first attempt to create" such music in the USSR. BG and George invited Mikhail Feinstein-Vasiliev (Fan) and Andrey Romanov (Dyusha) to the group.

The guys, gushing with creative ideas, created a theatrical troupe with performances of the absurd. Plays were written by George and Fan, and Bob (the early nickname of Grebenshchikov) and Dyusha embodied their ventures on stage. For the trinity, music faded into the background for some time, which Boris could not stand and remained alone in the "Aquarium".

The threat of expulsion from the institute did not frighten him, but he was finally forbidden to rehearse in the building of the university, after which for several years with the new composition of "Aquarium" he was listed in the underground. The band was also barred from entering the recording studios. The rehearsals were held at the apartment of Vsevolod Gakkel, who joined the group from the Akvareli folk-rock company.

New compositions were recorded underground. So the records "On the other side of the mirror glass", "All brothers - sisters" were recorded. The uniqueness of the latter was that it was recorded in the open air together with Mike Naumenko and was released samizdat in the amount of ten pieces.

Apartment houses and festivals from BG

The "aquarists" prohibited by the censorship could not perform in front of a large audience, therefore in the seventies they were limited to the acoustic format of performances, which at that time was the apartment house. The songs of the self-published album "Akustika", which had sold by that time throughout the USSR, were mainly played.

For a couple of years Grebenshchikov was engaged in the publication of the magazine about rock music "Roxy", and then "Aquarium" in 1980 went to its first official rock festival "Spring Rhythms" held in Tbilisi. And immediately a scandal. Grebenshchikov and the group were accused of incest propaganda.

"Aquarium" at Spring Rhythms in Tbilisi, 1980

And the whole thing was in bad dynamics, from which instead of the words "marry a Finn" the audience heard "marry a son." In addition, instead of the announced songs, the group performed "Heroes", "Piece of Life", "Minus 30". The jury left the hall immediately and in full force, the group was again denied a room for rehearsals, and Boris, as soon as he arrived in Leningrad, was expelled from the Komsomol. Later he will say:

When I joined the Komsomol, part of the ritual was that when asked why you were joining, you had to answer: "I want to be in the vanguard of Soviet youth." After many years, I realized that I had not abandoned my vow.

In general, the 80s became significant for the group. Thanks to his acquaintance with Andrei Tropillo in 1981, the Blue Album, the first studio album of Aquarium, was recorded. In the same year, the group becomes a member of the first Leningrad rock club, gets the opportunity to constantly give concerts and is even invited to participate in the first Leningrad rock festival with a terribly serious name "The first city review competition of amateur rock groups in Leningrad for the best performance of anti-war songs under the motto "For anti-imperialist solidarity, peace and friendship!"

Soon the group began to cooperate with a prominent representative of the underground, Sergei Kurekhin. Grebenshchikov appeared with "Two Tractor Drivers" on the television broadcast of "Merry Children", on the "Musical Ring" and in other projects.

In 1982 BG became the producer of the first album of Viktor Tsoi and the Kino group. A few years later he recorded two English-language discs: "Radio Silence" and "Radio London". In America, he enthusiastically communicated with David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop.

Concert "Dialogue"

Perestroika and glasnost made it possible to assemble concert halls and stadiums, release new albums that were unusual in sound and style, and write music for films. The cult film "Assa" by Sergei Solovyov, which later became a cult film, was released on the screens, and in it was performed "The Golden City" performed by BG, a song that became Grebenshchikov's calling card.

Aquarium - Golden City

An interesting fact: the poem "Paradise" by Henri Volkhonsky begins with the words "Above the blue sky" and it is really about Eden. Grebenshchikov, however, “moved” paradise “under the blue sky” and explained to Henri as follows:

As an author, you are naturally obliged to support your version, but I heard and remembered this song like this, and it seems to me that it is not necessary to look for paradise somewhere else, it seems to me that it can be seen on Earth.

Creativity of the nineties and subsequent years

In 1990, Grebenshchikov officially announced the termination of the creative activity of Aquarium and the creation of a new team, BG-Band. But three years later, "Aquarium" took the stage again. In 1998 BG becomes the first rock musician to be awarded the Triumph State Prize for achievements in the field of literature and art.

A new round of surge in popularity came at the end of the nineties - the beginning of the two thousandths, when the albums "?" Were released almost one after another. and Sister Chaos. Tough and versatile, they differ from the usual style of the "Aquarium".

In the 2000s, Grebenshchikov is the host of a program on Radio Russia called "Aerostat". Sri Chinmoy, a neo-Hindu guru, names him Purushottama. With his assistance, BG performed his program at the London Albert Hall, gave a recital at the United Nations.

In 2013, a metamorphosis took place with the "Aquarium" - the Irish flutist Brian Finnigan appeared in the collective, and the name of the group sounds like Aquarium International. The year 2014 was marked by a musical based on BG's compositions entitled "Music of the Silver Spokes".

Over the past two decades, Grebenshchikov has shown himself as a writer and translator. In his interpretation, one can see the Bhagavatgita, Buddhist and Hindu treatises. One of his recent books is Boris Grebenshchikov in the words of Boris Grebenshchikov. Rumor has it that BG did not write it himself, but the master of rock, as usual, finds words that make all the "talk" about him funny.

Personal life of Boris Grebenshchikov

The fact is surprising, but the three women whom Grebenshchikov proposed to marry him, were at first the wives of his friends-buddies. How he managed to maintain good relations with ex-husbands is a mystery.

Natalia Kozlovskaya, Grebenshchikov's first wife, with whom they got married in 1976, first met with Mikhail Feinstein, Fan. The wedding was magnificent, there were many invited guests. The relationship went wrong quickly, and finally came to naught after the birth of his daughter Alice. Natalia soon married the psychotherapist Dmitry Ovechkin, who accepted her daughter as his own and paid much attention to her education.

When BG, due to problems in his family, began to spend the night at Seva Gakkel, he suddenly drew attention to his wife Lyudmila Shurygina. At first, the connection was secret, meetings on the roof at night, while Lyuda's husband slept peacefully, passionate. When Vsevolod found out about adultery, he simply stepped aside, continuing to play music in the "Aquarium".

"Bo" and "Liu", as they called themselves, got married. Nine years of a happy marriage ended in divorce, because Lyudmila found out that her windy husband had romance right and left, even though she bore him a son, Gleb.

“I loved my husband very much then, and now I treat him warmly, but the dog Grebenshchikov is top-notch. Not a single woman will more or less pass her by. They say she was even bearded! In short, everything that moves is what I like. And that's nature. Maybe he gets ideas for creativity like that? I don’t know, ”she shared her opinion about the ex-wife of Shurygin, who was depressed for a long time after parting, trying to fill her melancholy with alcohol.

Boris Grebenshchikov now

As before, BG maintains balance, relying on the "five points". He is constantly located between St. Petersburg, Moscow, New York, London and Paris. Some places in Nepal and India have also become sacred for him. The musician again wants to do something that is not expected of him. Perhaps that is why Grebenshchikov announced that in 2020, Aquarium will release five new albums at once.

Boris Grebenshchikov - Evening M.

None of them has yet been named, but it is assumed that the first will contain songs recorded over the past five years, which were posted only on the Internet. In the second, it is planned to include completely new singles - "Emerald", "Basta Rastu" with its electronic shamanic sound. Cover versions of the songs covered by friends from the Leningrad rock club of the eighties and the Moscow rock laboratory will be included in the next two albums of "Aquarium".

Among them are the legendary hits of Mike Naumenko, Petr Mamonov, Viktor Tsoi, Vyacheslav Butusov, the Zoo group. The fifth album will contain little-known songs of very famous bards - Bulat Okudzhava, Evgeny Klyachkin, Alexander Gorodnitsky and others. BG, as usual, does not name specific release dates for the discs, nor does it say which of them the fans will see first, and which ones later.

The outgoing 2016 will be remembered, among other things, for the huge photo album unveiled by the American singer Joanna Stingray: the pictures show Tsoi, Grebenshchikov and other stars of Russian rock.

Joanna Stingray posted on her website a huge number of photographs taken in the USSR in 1984-1989.

The pictures show the legends of Russian rock: the leader of the group "Kino" Viktor Tsoi, leader of the "Aquarium" Boris Grebenshchikov, Sergei Kuryokhin, the leader of "Alice" Konstantin Kinchev, the leader of the rock group "Zoo" Mike Naumenko, as well as a poet and performer of his songs Alexander Bashlachev... There are also photos Vyacheslav Butusov, Sergey Galanin, Andrey Makarevich, Garik Sukachev.

Joanna Stingray released her first music album in 1983. In 1984, the singer visited the USSR, in Leningrad she met with Grebenshchikov, who later became her friend. The American woman repeatedly came to the USSR in the 1980s, was familiar and worked with many Russian rock musicians.

The album contains many photos of Stingray with Boris Grebenshchikov:

And also with Boris Grebenshchikov and Sergey Kurekhin

In 1986 Joanna Stingray released the double compilation Red Wave, the first Russian rock album in the West. The album featured four Leningrad groups: "Aquarium", "Kino", "Alice" and "Strange Games".

Andy Warhol with the album Sergey Kuryokhin, New York, mid 80s

June 20, 1992 at the Luzhniki Stadium Joanna Stingray took part in a concert in memory Viktor Tsoi... In 1993, she starred in the film "Freak" by Roman Kachanov Jr. In 1996, together with Alexander Lipnitsky, she shot a documentary about Viktor Tsoe"Sunny days".

Marianne, Victor and Sasha Choi, 1985

Group "Kino"

Stingray was married to the guitarist of the "Kino" group Yuri Kasparyan, as well as to the drummer of the "Center" group Alexander Vasiliev, from whom she has a daughter, currently Stingray is married to an American and lives in California.

Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (BG). Born November 27, 1953 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Soviet and Russian poet and musician, leader of the Aquarium rock group, one of the founding fathers of Russian rock music.

Father - Boris Alexandrovich Grebenshchikov (1926-1975), was an engineer, director of the pilot plant of the Baltic Shipping Company.

Mother - Lyudmila Kharitonovna Grebenshchikova (1929-2009), legal adviser of the Leningrad House of Models.

Grandmother - Ekaterina Vasilievna, like her daughter Lyudmila, survived the blockade of Leningrad, having lost her husband and father.

In 1970 he graduated from the Leningrad Physics and Mathematics School No. 239.

In 1976 he graduated from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics - Management Processes of the Leningrad State University named after V.I. Zhdanov and began working at the Research Institute of Sociology, continuing to write songs, give concerts and collaborate with the experimental student theater of Leningrad State University. He founded the self-published magazine Roxy.

In the summer of 1972, together with Anatoly Gunitsky and a group of like-minded people, he founded the group "Aquarium"... The band lived a semi-underground life, making home recordings and occasionally going on short tours to other cities. Later, Grebenshchikov himself described his project as follows: “I have a simple approach. Bob Marley used to say: "Who are playing with me is Wailers" - those who play with me are Wailers. If people are interested in playing with me, it will be "Aquarium". It won't be me personally, because when we work together, we do everything together. If people are interested in playing this music, then this is Aquarium. "

According to the widespread version, the name of the group arose when Grebenshchikov and Gunitsky were on the bus and saw a beer bar called "Aquarium" on Budapest Street in St. Petersburg (this institution was closed in the 1980s). Boris Grebenshchikov himself in different years answered the question about the name of the group in different ways.

At first, the group did not go beyond rehearsals and the group gave its first concert in Zelenogorsk only in the early spring of 1973. Another performance took place at the Tryum restaurant in Leningrad near the Central Park of Culture and Leisure, and the first fee was 50 rubles in cash.

At first, the composition was approximately the following: Grebenshchikov, George (drums), Alexander Tsatsanidi (bass), Vadim Vasiliev (keyboards), Valery Obogrelov (sound). In 1973, guitarist Edmund Shklyarsky, later the leader of the Picnic group, rehearsed with Aquarium for a short time. In the same year, bass player Mikhail Feinstein-Vasiliev (Fan) appeared. The following year, Andrey "Dyusha" Romanov joined the group as a keyboard player. Soon, under the influence of Ian Anderson's playing, he retrained as a flutist.

The first magnetic albums of "Aquarium" date back to 1974. In January - February, on vacation, Grebenshchikov and George recorded The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium. Soon, another short album "Minuet to the Farmer" was prepared, but this record seems to have been completely lost. The third album was called The Proverbs of the Count Diffuser. It was recorded by Grebenshchikov, George, Fan and Dyusha Romanov.

In 1975 cellist Vsevolod (Seva) Gakkel appeared at the Aquarium.

Since 1976 "Aquarium" has started to conduct a fairly regular concert activity. The first joint concert of Grebenshchikov, Gakkel and Dyusha Romanov took place on February 27, 1976 at the first Beatles music festival, and at the end of March, Aquarium, with its own money, goes as an uninvited guest to the Tallinn Songs of Youth 1976 - the Tallinn Popular Music Festival, where four acoustic stuff.

In the summer of 1978, a joint recording with Mike Naumenko of the acoustic album "All Brothers - Sisters", inspired by the work of Bob Dylan, took place. Mikhail Feinstein took part in the recording.

By the end of the seventies "Aquarium" was already familiar with two significant figures of Soviet rock - Artemy Troitsky and Andrey Tropillo, in whose studio the first "historical" albums of "Aquarium" were recorded. On New Year's Eve 1979, Alexander Lyapin performed with Aquarium for the first time (he finally became part of Aquarium in 1982), in the spring of 1979 Dyusha and Fagot returned from the army.

Aquarium succeeded in making a loud statement in rock circles at the 1980 Tbilisi rock festival. The group did not receive prizes, but with their performance they made a real scandal. Compared to the rest of the participants of the festival, Aquarium behaved eccentrically and shockingly on stage, but the jury did not appreciate this: when during the concert Grebenshchikov, playing the guitar, lay down on the stage, all members of the jury defiantly left the hall. "Aquarium" was accused of promoting homosexuality (this was how one of the episodes of the performance was regarded), incest (while singing the song "Marina", Grebenshchikov sang "to marry a Finn" instead of "marrying a Finn" marry a son ") and in indecent behavior and at first even wanted to immediately expel from the festival. The speech became known in Leningrad, and as a result BG lost his job and was expelled from the Komsomol.

In January 1981, "Blue Album" was recorded, which became the first "historical" independent studio work of "Aquarium".

In 1981 the group became a member of the Leningrad Rock Club, took part in its first five festivals.

In 1982 Grebenshchikov produced the first album of the "Kino" group "45".

From the beginning of 1982 the band started playing electric concerts. At the very beginning of the year, on January 6, a concert was played at the Lunacharsky Palace of Culture in Moscow. In the summer, the album "Tabu" is recorded. According to BG, these were difficult times for the group, after a concert in Arkhangelsk, the rock club banned Aquarium from concert activities until the end of the year. Feinstein and Dyusha got a job in the summer and almost did not participate in the recording of the album - for this reason, a question mark was even put on the cover after the name of the group. Among the invited musicians was 20-year-old Igor Butman.

The popularity of "Aquarium" increased despite the lack of official recognition. At the end of 1983, the group was ranked among the top three in the USSR according to the results of the first in Soviet practice survey of experts conducted by the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets among about thirty journalists and rock figures from Moscow, Leningrad and Tallinn.

In March 1984, the group was invited by Tamara and Vladimir Maksimov to record the first program "Musical Ring" on Leningrad television. On October 24, 1986, the ensemble appears on the "Musical Ring" for the second time, and on January 17, 1987 this performance is broadcast on the first all-Union program. The "Musical Ring" becomes the first "full-length" "visualization" of "Aquarium" - in the studio talk show and concert mode, and on the scale of the entire USSR.

Aquarium - City of Gold

On June 3, 1988, the band played their first concert abroad - in Montreal, Canada, after which Aquarium recorded two songs in Canada ("China" and "King Arthur") for BG's future solo album in English. In August 1988 he is working in the US and UK on Radio Silence. In autumn and winter "Aquarium" gives several concerts, but Grebenshchikov is constantly absent from the USA, appears in the press and gives concerts independently of the group.

In the early 1990s, the activities of "Aquarium" were terminated.

In 1991-1992 Grebenshchikov headed the group BG-Band... "BG-Band" was assembled by Grebenshchikov in the spring of 1991 and was a kind of reincarnation of "Aquarium" in a new name and sound and in new "old" faces, among which there was no core of the classic "Aquarium" - Gakkel, Romanov, Feinstein. The ensemble includes Grebenshchikov, Oleg Sakmarov (flute), Sergei Shchurakov (accordion, mandolin), Andrei Reshetin (violin) and Sergei Berezovoy (bass). Reshetin and Shchurakov have already taken part in the recording of Equinox (1987), while Sakmarov and Berezovoy were known for their touring work with the last line-up of Aquarium.

During its existence, the BG-Band group gave 171 concerts in Moscow, Leningrad-St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, Riga, Kazan, Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk, Kharkov and several cities of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia, where completely new songs were performed and some of the former repertoire of Grebenshchikov and Aquarium.

The new "Aquarium" was assembled in September 1992. It includes Aleksandr Titov, Oleg Sakmarov and Aleksey Zubarev, who have already played in Aquarium and BG-Band, as well as two new members: Aleksey “Lord” Ratsen and Andrey Vikharev. A little later, Sergey Shchurakov joined this six.

In 1994, two solo albums of Grebenshchikov were released - "Songs of Alexander Vertinsky" and "Heartfelt Songs" (the latter was recorded together with "Aquarium", designated on the cover as "The Anna Karenina Quartet"). In addition, the collection "Boris Grebenchikov & Aquarium 1991-1994" appears in France for European listeners. It is timed to coincide with Grebenshchikov's big concert at the Parisian Theater de la Ville.

In 1997 Grebenshchikov together with The Band (the famous American group, among other things, accompanying Bob Dylan) recorded the album Lilith, which was released in two versions (Russian and American).

In January 1998 he became a laureate of the Triumph Prize.

March 31, 2002 - Grebenshchikov and "Aquarium" were awarded the prize of OUR radio "PoboRoll" for their contribution to the development of music.

2003 - 50th anniversary of Boris Grebenshchikov and a big concert in the Kremlin on this occasion.

March 2005 - organized a meeting of a number of rock musicians and producers with Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of the presidential administration, which caused a great resonance in the media.

May 22, 2005 - began his career as a radio host and runs an almost one-hour author's program "Aerostat" on Radio Russia.

In 2006, Grebenshchikov underwent an operation to correct his vision.

On March 18, 2013, Grebenshchikov announced the termination of communication with the press in Russia, continuing to occasionally give interviews abroad. In January 2013 "Aquarium" resumed cooperation with the guitarist of the 90s Alexey Zubarev. At the end of 2013, in honor of BG's birthday, the twenty-second "natural" album "Aquarium Plus" was released, containing, among others, replayed little-known songs of the group. “This is a fantasy on the theme“ how the songs of Aquarium would sound if everything were different ”. The album was recorded between St. Petersburg, London and Los Angeles with the active help of our new colleague Mitchell Frum. Not a single panda was harmed during the recording, ”BG commented on the album.

2014 - BG solo album "Salt", "the best in over 40 years."

On March 18, 2016 "Aquarium" released a mini-album of three songs "Songs of the Unloved". Two of them were recorded in Cuba exclusively with Cuban musicians.

On June 16, 2017 the group "Aquarium" unveiled a new song "Peggy Piston". In a recent interview BG spoke about the work on the new album of "Aquarium". In June 2017, a tour dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the group started at the "Aquarium". Festive concerts dedicated to the 45th anniversary of Aquarium, with the participation of guests from different countries, were held on June 30 in Moscow at the STADIUM club and on July 2 in St. Petersburg at the Yubileiny Sports Palace.

On October 20, 2017, the mini-album "Doors of the Grass" was released with three songs composed in the 1970s and 1980s and recorded in St. Petersburg and Paris in 2017.

In 2017, Boris Grebenshchikov became the artistic director of the annual St. Petersburg festival “Parts of the World”.

Boris Grebenshchikov's height: 176 centimeters.

Personal life of Boris Grebenshchikov:

The first wife is Natalia Kozlovskaya. They got married in the fall of 1976 after graduation. The wedding was played at Astoria. According to the recollections of friends, they walked widely, noisily, and cheerfully. The musicians of the Time Machine came to the celebration.

At that time BG led a bohemian lifestyle, perhaps this was the reason that the family broke up after three years. Divorced in 1980.

Daughter Alisa presented her grandson Alexei (born 2008).

The second wife is Lyudmila Shurygina (1980) (before that, the common-law wife of Vsevolod Gakkel). Artist, worked as a cleaner in school 222. He lived with Lyuda BG from 1980 to 1989.

Son Gleb Grebenshchikov (born December 14, 1984) - known as DJ gebe. Granddaughter - Alisa Grebenshchikova.

The third wife is Irina. Married since 1991. The ex-wife of Alexander Titov, who played in the "Earthlings" group at the Kemerovo Conservatory. Boris and Irina raised Mark Titov and Vasilisa Grebenshchikova - the son and daughter of Irina and Alexander, adopted by Boris. Irina's children received higher education. Gleb lived with his father since the death of his great-grandmother Ekaterina Vasilievna. Mark plays in several independent bands and writes electronic music under the name Bio C, Vasilisa is an artist.

Boris Grebenshchikov, wife Irina and Joanna Stingray

Is not an adherent of any particular religion. In the early 1990s, he became seriously interested in Buddhism, calling himself a student of the Dane Lama Ole Nydahl, a preacher of the Europeanized version of the Karma Kagyu school in the West and in Russia. Repeatedly visited the ashram of the famous Indian guru Sai Baba. In 2006, in Malaysia, he met the famous neo-Hinduist guru Sri Chinmoy, who gave the musician the name Purushottama (translated from Sanskrit means "great man"). With the support of Sri Chinmoy, Grebenshchikov's concerts were organized in London, at the Albert Hall, in August 2007 - a solo concert at the UN, in which Grebenshchikov was accompanied by Sri Chinmoy's students.

Sometimes he attends Orthodox churches and participates in Orthodox services. For a long time he was engaged in compiling a list of the miraculous icons of Russia. Studying Indian and Chinese philosophy. He translated several Buddhist and Hindu texts from English. Since 2009 he has been working on the translation of the Bhagavad Gita into Russian. The musician claims that this "genius book of humanity" has been translated into Russian "so that it is impossible to read it. I'm trying to make it clear to everyone. "

Among Russian classics, Grebenshchikov likes the works of Pushkin, Pasternak, Mandelstam, Bulgakov and Akhmatova; of contemporary writers - Boris Akunin and Viktor Pelevin.

Favorite films - "Sherlock Holmes" by Guy Ritchie, "White Sun of the Desert" by Vladimir Motyl and "The Island" by Pavel Lungin, as well as the popular TV series "Poirot" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".

Boris Grebenshchikov is a big fan of The Beatles, which significantly influenced his work and attitude.

Filmography of Boris Grebenshchikov:

1981 - Tbilisi-80 | Soviet rock (Finland, documentary)
1981 - ... Ivanov (short) - Borya, musician
1986 - Dialogues (documentary) - guitarist of "Pop Mechanics"
1986 - Yya-xha! (short)
1988 - Sickle and Guitar (From Russia with rock / Sirppi ja kitara) (documentary)
1988 - Rock (documentary)
1990 - City - Boris Grebenshchikov
1991 - Clone (documentary)
1991 - BG 1991 (documentary)
1992 - Above Dark Water - episode
1993 - Two captains - 2
2000 - Tender age - Boris Grebenshchikov
2005 - Alexander Bashlachev. Fatal Flight (documentary)
2005 - The cultural layer. Rock 70s-80s: All Siblings (Documentary)
2005 - The cultural layer. Rock-80s: Choi is alive (documentary)
2006 - 40: 0 in favor of BG (documentary)
2008 - Poetry and Time. Andrey Voznesensky (documentary)
2008 - Living history. Russian rock (documentary)
2009 - Rockers
2010 - The cultural layer. Rock samizdat (documentary)
2010 - Tatiana Okunevskaya. Swing of Fate (documentary)
2010 - The Last Rock and Roll (documentary)
2011 - Peter Mamonov. Black and White (Documentary)
2011 - Heat. Fire and Water (documentary)
2011 - Alexander Kaidanovsky. Stalker's Mysteries (documentary)

Boris Grebenshchikov's vocals in the cinema:

1984 - Sweetheart, dear, beloved, the only one ... - song "Knocking on the grass door"
1985 - Strangers don't go here - song "City"
1987 - Assa
1988 - Tragedy in the style of rock
1989 - Black rose - the emblem of sadness, red rose - the emblem of love
1991 - House under the starry sky
1991 - Afghan
2000 - Tender age
2008 - 2-Assa-2
2011 - How to get to the library? (the songs "The Promised Day", "The Day of Joy" were used)

Boris Grebenshchikov's works in cinema as a composer:

1981 - ... Ivanov (short)
1985-1991 - Patience labor (documentary)
1986 - The Art of Being Meek (short)
1988 - Rock (documentary)
1988 - Thirst (documentary)
1989 - You Calm Me Down (documentary)
1990 - Yoli-Pali, or Mitki in Europe (documentary)
1990 - City - music of the "Aquarium" ensemble, conductor
1991 - The Adventures of Stingray (short)
1992 - Grass and Water (short)
1992 - Mitki do not want to defeat anyone, or Mitkimayer (animation)
1993 - Two captains - 2
2006 - Communication
2010 - Golden ratio
2012 - Dance of Delhi

"Prehistoric" albums by Boris Grebenshchikov and "Aquarium":

1973 - The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium (BG + George)
1973 - Minuet to the farmer
1974 - The Proverbs of the Count Diffuser
1976 - On the other side of the mirrored glass
1978 - All brothers are sisters (BG + Mike).

"Historical" albums by Boris Grebenshchikov and "Aquarium":

1981 - Blue Album
1981 - Triangle
1981 - Electricity
1982 - Acoustics
1982 - Taboo
1983 - Radio Africa
1984 - Ichthyology
1984 - Silver Day
1986 - Children of December
1986 - Ten arrows
1987 - Equinox
1989 - Radio Silence (BG)
1991 - History of the Aquarium Volume 3 - Archive
1992 - Russian album (BG)
1993 - Favorite songs of Ramses IV
1993 - Letters from Captain Voronin
1994 - The Sands of Petersburg
1994 - Songs of Alexander Vertinsky
1994 - Kostroma mon amour
1994 - Heartfelt Songs (BG + Anna Karenina Quartet)
1995 - Navigator
1996 - Snow Lion
1996 - Chubchik (BG)
1997 - Hyperborea
1997 - Lilith (BG)
1998 - Refuge (English "Refuge"; BG + Gabrielle Roth & "The Mirrors")
1998 - Prayer and Fasting (internet-only album) - CD released for the first time in 2001
1998 - Boris Grebenshchikov and Deadushki (BG + Deadushki)

1999 - Ψ
2000 - Territory
2002 - Ferry ("Bardo"; BG + Gabrielle Roth & "The Mirrors")
2002 - Sister Chaos
2003 - Songs of the Fisherman

2005 - ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM
2006 - Careless Russian tramp
2007 - Feudalism (entry 1990)
2008 - The horse is white
2009 - Pushkinskaya, 10
2009 - BG + Zombie (entry 1998)
2010 - Oracle of the Divine Bottle (1998 entry)
2010 - Day of joy
2010 - Our life from the point of view of trees (1988 entry)
2010 - Notes on Flora and Fauna (entry 1982)
2011 - Arkhangelsk
2012 - Dates and prices (entry 1983)
2012 - 21st century
2012 - Aeronautics in the company of the sphinxes
2012 - The Secret History of Beekeeping
2013 - Aquarium +
2014 - Salt (BG)
2016 - Songs of the Unloved EP
2017 - Doors of Grass EP.

Solo discography of Boris Grebenshchikov:

1989 - Radio Silence (BG)
1992 - Russian album (BG)
1996 - Chubchik (BG)
1997 - Lilith (BG)
1999 - Songs of Bulat Okudzhava (BG)
2004 - Without words - did not go on sale, applies only to the concerts of the group (BG)
2014 - Salt (BG)
2018 - Time N.

LAUREATE "TRIUMPH" BORIS GREBENSCHIKOV

Have Boris Grebenshchikov there are many magnificent epithets - a teacher, a legend, a guru ... He does not like this, but shows the deepest long-term calmness about this, creating more and more musical masterpieces. Experts say that at concerts Boris Grebenshchikov it is worth going at least once a year. Do not know. Connoisseurs know better. What I am sure of is that this person has a lot to learn from each of us. Don't imitate, no. But to find your own path and without changing the decision, to follow it - yes.

The beginning of the "Aquarium"

Born in 1953 in Leningrad in the family of the director of the Baltic Shipping Company plant and a legal adviser of the Leningrad House of Models. Grandfather Boris died during the blockade of Leningrad, and his grandmother became for him the closest and dearest person in the family.

After graduating from the Physics and Mathematics Lyceum, Grebenshchikov began to devote a lot of time to music - together with friends he recorded songs in home studios. The group was named. The touring activity did not prevent the musician from studying at the Leningrad State University. Zhdanov at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics. Moreover, he took part in the activities of the experimental student theater, and after receiving his diploma he became an employee of the Research Institute of Sociology.

Despite the fact that he was the leader of the group and the author of most of the songs, he strove to ensure that the listener understood that the work of "Aquarium" was in front of him. Already in 1969 Boris composed and sang songs in English in a school ensemble. He soon came to the conviction that the lyrics of the songs should be Russian.

Not like everyone else

Despite the "official" isolation of the inhabitants of the USSR from Western culture, Western music on the "Aquarium" always influenced. The musicians were inspired by the work of Mark Bolan, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Bob Marley,. In the early 1970s, he was one of those people who had new records instantly.

Thanks to his good knowledge of the English language, the leader of "Aquarium" was well-versed in foreign musical trends, and the bar that he set for himself was always at the level of world quality.

The very first album "The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium", which was sold in samizdat in 1973, became almost the first experience of creating a conceptual piece of music in Soviet Russia. This music had nothing to do with the work of the Leningrad rock bands of that time, performing highly specialized Soviet songs. Aquarium has organically become a part of the world rock culture, assimilating it in the Soviet musical space.

After the appearance of this band, the concept of Russian rock music has changed dramatically. "Aquarium" and became the most famous musical projects in the USSR in the 1980s. They collected stadiums.

Collisions

In October 1977, together with other well-known figures of the underground subculture, he began publishing the first samizdat rock magazine in the USSR, Roxy, and until 1979 published articles in this edition. Aquarium's relations with the authorities at this time were relatively level, with the exception of a few minor clashes.

group "Aquarium"

One day, the musicians who had gathered on the steps of the Engineering Castle for a small concert were detained by the police, who were looking for hooligans who smashed statues in a nearby park. A little later, the BBC reported that it was the first Russian rock festival, where more than a thousand people were arrested.

Nationwide fame and "Aquarium" acquired after participating in the All-Union festival of VIA and rock groups "Spring Rhythms", held in Tbilisi in November 1980, where the performance of the musicians, bold for those times, had the effect of an exploding bomb and entailed many complaints from the authorities ...

At this time, the punk style was not yet recognized even among the rock underground, and almost no one foresaw what impact it would have on contemporary music, painting, and literature.

And his entourage was one of the first to notice this new musical direction. There was also an acquaintance with the group "Kino", then still "punks in law".

Artemy Troitsky invited musicians to the festival in Tbilisi with an acoustic program. But without With the knowledge of the organizers of the festival, the program was changed. For the first time, the audience heard such songs as "Minus 30", "Piece of Life", "Heroes".

During the performance of "Aquarium" the full jury demonstratively left the hall. Returning to Leningrad, the musicians lost their place for rehearsals in the recreation center. For the most Boris Grebenshchikov this ended with the deprivation of a Komsomol card and a place of work at the Research Institute of Comprehensive Social Research of Leningrad State University, where he worked as a junior researcher, and as a result - the acquisition of favorable conditions for free creativity.

The return of Boris Grebenshchikov

After the tragic death of Viktor Tsoi, "Kino" ceased to exist, "Aquarium" fell apart after him. Then, until the mid-1980s, he worked in different places like other "aquarists". In 1989 he recorded a solo album in English "Radio Silence" and created a new musical project "BG-Band".

In 1993, the members of the "Aquarium" group reunited and, as if finding a second wind, began to conquer the fans of Russian rock music with renewed vigor. Albums "Favorite songs of Ramses IV" are released, "Kostroma mon amour", "Navigator", "Snow Lion". There are a lot of waltzes in them - typically Russian melody, melodiousness. The eclecticism so beloved by “Aquarium” reappears, the great influence of oriental music and philosophy is felt. In 1997, the albums "Hyperborea", "Lilith" were released, recorded with Western musicians - this time with The Band.

He records not only his own songs. In 1994, a disc of songs performed by him was released, in 1999 -. Both of these discs are authentic, convey the original spirit of the songs, but at the same time are absolutely individual. Other projects are also underway, such as recording instrumental albums, as well as the album "Refuge" - Tibetan mantras, and in 2002 - the album "Bardo". In 2001, an album of songs based on poems by Anatoly Gunitskiy "Pentagonal Sin" was released.

In 1999, a completely different album "?" Was released, in 2002, in the year of the 30th anniversary of "Aquarium" - "Sister Chaos" - a tough, versatile album that called many things happening today by their proper names. In 2003 "Aquarium" released the album "Songs of a Fisherman", which was recorded in Russia and India, with the participation of Indian musicians.

In 1998, he became the first and only rock musician to be a laureate of the Triumph Russian prize for encouraging the highest achievements in literature and art. In 2003 he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree.

Summary and continuation

For many years of creative activity, the group Boris Grebenshchikov received several music awards.

In 2005 Grebenshchikov became a radio host of the author's program "Aerostat" on "Radio Russia", and two years later played Royal albert hall.

Lives and works in St. Petersburg. It is known that he is fond of Buddhism and translates the written works of famous gurus into Russian. He also compiled a list of all the miraculous icons in Russia.

FACTS

In 1982 he produced the first album of the "Kino" group - "45".

He was officially married three times. From his first marriage, he has a daughter, Alisa, a famous film actress, from the second, a son, Gleb, who works as a DJ. In 1991, he married the ex-wife of Alexander Titov, Irina, and adopted her children, Mark and Vasilisa.

More than 40 albums have been published with the "Aquarium" group, more than 500 songs have been written. Among the megahits: "Old Man Kozlodoev", "The Golden City", "Rock and Roll is Dead", "Children of December", "Sister", "Silver of My Lord", "Dubrovsky".

London is one of my favorite cities Boris Grebenshchikov, and here he often works on albums.

Updated: April 13, 2019 by the author: Elena

Boris Grebenshchikov was born on November 27, 1953 in Leningrad.
In 1974 he graduated from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics - Control Processes of the Leningrad State University. In July 1972, the "Aquarium" group was created, at its origins were Boris Grebenshchikov and his school friend Anatoly Gunitsky. Boris Grebenshchikov's first performance took place in the spring of 1973, and the Aquarium group debuted in November 1974. The performance at the rock festival in Tbilisi in 1980 brought fame to both the group and its leader. With the opening of a rock club in Leningrad, Grebenshchikov took an active part in its activities. For a decade and a half of creative activity "Aquarium" has released many albums, marked by experiments in the field of style. In the mid-1980s, with the advent of the era of "glasnost and perestroika", the group came out of the "underground" state and began a rich concert activity, albums and records began to be widely released. The songs of "Aquarium" sounded in the films "Assa", "Darling, dear, beloved, the only one", "Black rose - the emblem of sadness, red rose - the emblem of love", "House under the starry sky", "Tender age". Grebenshchikov himself acted as a composer and actor in the film "Two Captains-2". The author of the music of songs on the verses of Gumilyov for the play "Liar" by R. Viktyuk by Goldoni.