An interesting comparison: Russian stars on stage and at home

Bogdan Titomir

The man who made a kind of revolution in the 90s. Today you won’t surprise anyone either with the nudity of the torso or frank texts. And then he, Bogdan Titomir, was the pioneer of this path in the post-Soviet space. Provocative compositions, unambiguous appeals and defiant behavior on stage made Bogdan one of the most recognizable young singers.

Bogdan Titomir

The man does not lose his grip today. Returning to the stage a few years ago, he showed and proved that there is still gunpowder in the flasks. Titomir is still attractive, and is not afraid to show it.

★ Also interesting ★Unusual collections of Russian stars

Unusual stars have been at all times and eras

They know how to draw attention to their person and stand out from the competition. Our heroes do it on a professional level and, most importantly, sincerely and from the heart

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Dmitry Nagiev and his son Kirill

Kirill, who was a difficult teenager and did not study well, started working on the programs that his father led as a schoolboy. True, the “positions” were unenviable, like a loader and an errand boy, and dad paid him a salary from his own pocket.

Dmitry Nagiyev with little Kirill

Then Kirill received a higher acting education from the same teachers who once taught Nagiyev Sr. According to his father, the guy never aspired to be an artist, it was just that there was not much to choose from with his certificate of a threesome.

Dmitry without fanaticism, but honestly tried to introduce his son to the elite of show business. He gave him roles in his series and performance, and together with Cyril, he conducted the very first broadcast of the Voice show in 2012.

"Evening Urgant" / YouTube

But the showman of the first magnitude did not come out of the guy, as, indeed, the actor. And in general, father and son in a creative sense, it seems, “didn’t agree on the characters”: Nagiyev Sr. is a rabid workaholic, ready to plow for wear and tear, Nagiyev Jr. is indifferent and blissful, not ready to subordinate life to any routine.

Kirill with his mother Alice Sher in Goa

Kirill Nagiev / Instagram

“For me, real success is freedom,” says Kirill, who is under 30. His Instagram header says “actor of theater and cinema,” but this is hardly his vocation. A couple of years ago, the host's son decided to arrange glamping (glamorous camping) on ​​the Karelian lake. Someone would have completely plunged into this business, but not him.

Kirill Nagiev / Instagram

“At night, I can stand behind the turntables at the fiercest party in Moscow, in the morning I can already rush to Karelia, and in the evening I can ride kitesurf along the Gulf of Finland. Or one day to share a seat in an Indian train with beggars, but happy boys, and a day later - in a tuxedo to be the host at an expensive wedding in Boston, ”says Nagiyev Jr. Everyone who has a “stable” life and salary, apparently, can only envy.

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Zemfira

All Zemfira's solo concerts also take place without the use of a phonogram, however, fans are upset by the fact that the singer gives them infrequently

Each concert of this performer is another full house, and it doesn’t matter what size the venue will be - Zemfira easily collects stadiums. By the way, the singer and her team prepare very well for each concert, so the performances are held at the highest level.

However, do not forget that the live performance of the listed stars can be heard at their solo concerts or, in extreme cases, at individual concerts. Alas, it so happened that at recorded concerts, and even more so at shows in which many performers take part, only a phonogram is used - even the most desperate fighters for live sound have to sing along with it. This is due to the complexity of setting up the equipment individually for each artist.

By the way, a striking example of such an event is the concert "Song of the Year". And you know what? After realizing this, one curious question began to worry me: it turns out that the audience of “Song of the Year” is something like extras present on the set of the show? Then why do they pay huge money for tickets, and not vice versa?

Alexey Makarov

The famous actor Alexei Makarov once posted a photo with Efremov on his profile, and then congratulated his friend on his birthday. One of the subscribers commented on this photo, saying that Mikhail Efremov's father was a real talent, and accused the actor himself of venality.

Alexei Makarov did not tolerate such a disrespectful attitude towards his friend and sent the girl to three letters. This behavior of a Russian movie star greatly surprised the audience and even outraged her.

It is strange, but for some reason, modern stars consider it permissible to insult and humiliate those people, thanks to whose love they have acquired all the benefits that they now dispose of. It should be understood that some celebrities offend people by accident, due to the ardor of their temperament, then they begin to apologize for what they have done.

However, some people, as the public has long known, do it on purpose, trying to attract attention in such a dirty way - PR, so to speak. Personally, I think that such behavior is unacceptable, because respect for other people has not yet been canceled

Oleg Gazmanov and his son Rodion

Since childhood, Rodion had every chance to replace his father in the position of a pop superstar. Oleg wrote the song "Lucy" for his 7-year-old son, which became a real popular hit, and was able to promote a video filmed in a simple home video format on TV. The boy struck the audience with sincerity, charm and "jumpy" energy, like a dad. He was absolutely not afraid of the stage, even large stadiums were nothing to him.

The Gazmanovs soon had another duet hit "Dance while you're young." The father, incredibly popular in the 90s, pulled his son onto the stage at every opportunity. At some point, it even became annoying.

RIA Novosti / Ptitsyn

Despite all efforts, Rodion failed to stay on top. At the age of 16 he quit music, at 18 his father stopped financing him. Gazmanov Jr. went into business, but in 2012 he left it to return to the stage again.

Since then, he has been trying to be heard, performing at various festivals and concerts. In 2017, on the 30th anniversary of the song "Lucy", he even held a solo album in the Kremlin. Popular TV projects, including the same "Voice", cannot do without his participation. True, his success there, frankly, is not very good.

galinavlalala / Instagram

Who else?

TV presenters of the show "Eagle and Tails" Regina Todorenko and Kolya Serga met thanks to the Ukrainian "Star Factory".

Actors Yevgeny Tsyganov and Pavel Barshak have known each other since their studies at GITIS, created the Grenki group in their youth, played punk rock. Later they starred in the tapes "Walk", "Peter FM".

Actors Sergei Lavygin and Mikhail Tarabukin (Senya and Fedya) did not know each other before filming the TV series "Kitchen", but after working on the project they continue to communicate with pleasure.

Famous actors Alexander Shirvindt and Mikhail Derzhavin have been friends almost all their lives and, as they assure, they never quarreled.

Actors Dmitry Pevtsov and Alexei Serebryakov are such close friends that they can call each other even at night.

Actors Yuri Kolokolnikov and Pavel Derevyanko are best friends after filming the movie Cook.

Director Valeria Gai Germanika and actress Agniya Kuznetsova have known each other for almost 10 years and did a lot in life at the same time, for example, they abandoned teenage dreadlocks and fell in love with male dancers.

All

Shura - from outrageous to teeth

The outrageous singer Shura attracted the attention of the whole country not so much with his work (well, really, who now remembers what he sang then?), but with a non-trivial appearance: for some time the artist did without front teeth. However, that didn't bother him at all.

Shura's most famous songsThe summer rains have faded"and" Do good "became the objects of numerous parodies.

After a period of popularity, Shura suddenly disappeared. As it turned out later, he was seriously ill. Evil tongues started talking about the singer's drug addiction and alcoholism. Medvedev confirmed his drug addiction, calling it the main cause of a terrible disease - cancer. But Alexander managed to defeat the disease, although it took a very long time for this: the disease was diagnosed in a very neglected form. In 2015, Shura celebrated the 20th anniversary of his creative activity and took part in the popular show of reincarnations "One to One!" No details of his personal life are currently known. In 2017, there were rumors that Shura plans to acquire heirs, but the singer did not comment on this information.

“I climbed over the fence and went straight to Pugacheva in the dressing room”

I took my first photos with the stars in 1985, when the All-Union Film Festival was held in Minsk at the Sports Palace - the largest concert venue of that time. I was then a first-year student at the Institute of Culture, and among other excellent students, I was selected as a volunteer. I, a young boy of 20 years old, was assigned to Vyacheslav Tikhonov for a week, so that I would always follow him and help in everything: bring something or go to the store.

Then I bought a cheap Smena-8 camera with a scholarship and took pictures with Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Pavel Kadochnikov and other famous artists of that time. It was then that my passion was born, which led me to journalism.

At the end of my studies, I was assigned as the director of the House of Culture in Shchomyslitz, but I did not leave my hobby. If I saw an announcement about the performance of an artist, I tried to get to the site in any way as a cultural worker. If it was not possible, then he was on duty at the entrance - he developed his collection in every possible way.

In 1997, at one of the events, I met a journalist from Vecherny Minsk, who saw how easy it was for me to communicate with artists, and offered to write to the newspaper. My first interview was with Tatyana Bulanova, a mega-popular artist in the 90s. We had known each other before: during a concert in Minsk, I gave Bulanova a selection of my poems (I have been writing poetry since childhood, I have already published two collections). Since I didn’t have money for a ticket then, I simply distracted my grandmother at the entrance, ran inside, hid in the toilet, and then went straight to Bulanova’s dressing room. She liked some of my poems, and since then we began to communicate well, I stayed at her dacha near Leningrad. I still have a notebook at home with her autograph and lip print.

In 1998, I moved to the newspaper "7 Days" - my first job for them was an interview with Alla Pugacheva: then I was the only journalist in Belarus who spoke personally with the singer. I remember the first time I saw her: then Alla gathered a full Dynamo stadium, 50 thousand spectators. She was guarded no worse than the president - a whole escort of cars, police. The stadium was cordoned off, but I climbed over the fence and went straight to her dressing room.Pugacheva is a creative woman and, probably, that is why she appreciated my deed. Plus, I told her that I was her biggest fan, and my mom too. As a result, she signed a huge poster with her portrait for me.

In the 90s, people were still afraid to approach the stars, they probably thought that they would send them. So there was a huge demand for my interviews - I wrote for probably ten publications at that time. At that time, one could simply watch for the artist and win him over with his charm.

I still regularly publish in Seven Days, and since 2005 I have been publishing the magazine Odnoko Zhizn with my classmate, Belarusian writer Alexander Kazakevich. Now I have dozens of exclusive interviews with world and Russian stars. At the opening of the Slavyansky Bazaar, I received an award from the Ministry of Information, and in winter a prize from the Writers' Union of Russia. In total, I already have more than 10 professional awards.

Vlad Stashevsky - from love to sewage

One of the ex-husbands of Natalia Vetlitskaya, Vlad Stashevsky, became famous after the very first serious album, “Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore!” The young singer very successfully met Yuri Aizenshpis in one of the clubs, and he did not have to wait long for success.

However, Stashevsky's career ended just as quickly - in 1999, Vlad broke off cooperation with Yuri Aizenshpis, deciding to become a producer, lyricist and composer all rolled into one. As a result, the new disc did not find a wide response from the public. Now, according to journalists, the singer owns the Volna-M LLC company, which specializes in the removal and processing of sewage and solid waste, as well as the processing of scrap metal and waste of metal origin. In addition, Vladislav periodically gives concerts.However, most often the artist performs at corporate parties.

Irina Allegrova

Often, Irina Allegrova is simply not in the mood, which is why she allows herself to break into the fans who came to the concert. True, after the incidents that have occurred, the star tries to apologize, but people still have an unpleasant aftertaste.

Not so long ago, at one of her concerts, the singer saw how the flash of someone's smartphone went off in the hall, because of which she became indignant. The singer reminded the audience that filming the concert is prohibited, and in order to discourage violators, she asked everyone to hand over their phones. By the way, after this concert, the singer basically did not accept flowers from anyone, demonstrating how much she was offended.

By the way, such an incident, which occurred due to "unauthorized" shooting, is far from the only one in the singer's creative biography.

I want to be a drag queen - what's next?

What to do for those who have just decided to embark on the thorny path of the diva? To help aspiring artists, there are so-called drag universities at gay clubs. The visit is free, but the “students” must purchase cosmetics, costumes and the necessary paraphernalia themselves. Meetings are held once a week. On them, participants are given the task to create a certain image. On weekdays, debutantes perform, listen to criticism and receive advice from experienced queens. Every week, the most successful number among beginners is chosen and put in the form of a prize in the program for the weekend.

The mentioned university is not the only opportunity to get the necessary skills and inspiration.

Zhanna Aguzarova - from "Bravo" to abstract painting

Popularity came to Zhanna Aguzarova back in the 80s, however, in the mid-90s, the singer actively toured the camp with the Bravo group, gave concerts as part of Boris Yeltsin's election campaign and participated in the New Year's musical project Old Songs about the Main - 2". In 2001, she performed at the largest rock festival "Maksidrom".

Since that time, Aguzarova's popularity has been gradually declining. Since 2006, the singer has given infrequent concerts with guest musicians in clubs. The reason for this decline, many familiar artists consider Jeanne's excessive eccentricity. Today, Aguzarova rarely appears on the big stage, her videos are not played on music channels, and she herself mainly performs in various clubs. In addition to rare concerts, the singer also paints and draws abstract paintings.

Grigory Leps

“If you went on stage, sweat for real” - this is the opinion of Grigory Leps. By these words of the singer it is meant that any artist who has come out to his audience must work out the concert at full power. In the arsenal of Gregory there is another opinion: he is sure that the artist who went on stage owes his audience. “I owe everyone,” Leps says.

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Indeed, such an attitude of Grigory Leps towards his audience is felt at each of his solo concerts - the artist gives all his best, sending crazy energy into the hall, which makes the audience in incredible euphoria and visit the show again and again.

Vitas

Vitas is a man who appeared "out of nowhere" and conquered the whole country. Yes, there is the whole world. His Opera No. 2, with an explosive and unusual chorus for the pop genre, won the hearts of listeners in a matter of seconds. Vitas is now much more popular abroad than at home. This artist is a man of mystery. His work is distinguished by originality, subtlety.

Vitas

And it's not just the singer's voice range and his data. Each composition is imbued with a certain magic, a mystery. By the way, the life of Vitas is also shrouded in mystery. There are so many rumors around his person that no Russian pop star can boast of.

Ilya Lagutenko — from Vladivostok to protection of tigers

Ilya Lagutenko and the Mumiy Troll group took off to the musical Olympus in the late 90s. The very first album "Marine" was named the best-selling in 1997, and songs such as "Flow", "Girl", "Vladivostok 2000" sounded literally from every window. In hot pursuit, the album "Caviar" was released. Music critics gave him an excellent rating, but the audience took it much cooler than the first work. Then the musicians released a disc every 2-3 years. Many songs have been translated into English and published in the USA.

Now Ilya lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughters and writes books. The first one is the Book of Travels. My East" is actually a memoir of the Mumiy Troll group. The second book, Vladivostok-3000, is a fantastic story about a Pacific republic. The latest work "Tiger Stories" - a trilogy about the life of Amur tigers - was published with the support of the Russian Geographical Society.By the way, Lagutenko is a member of the International Tiger Protection Coalition, in which he is the main representative from the Russian Federation.

Sergey Penkin

Does not recognize the phonogram and Sergei Penkin, who, by the way, has incredible voice data. Spectators who have attended his concert at least once assure that this event is just some kind of miracle created by an elegant, mannered and incredibly talented artist who gives all the best for the audience at 300%.

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Despite a long performance, Sergey Penkin can delight guests with strong and beautiful vocals, during which the phonogram does not turn on for a second. In general, it is not surprising that Sergey's concerts are sold out, and they are expected in all cities of Russia (and not only).

Natalya Vetlitskaya - from Playboy to a blog

In the early nineties, almost everyone knew her songs “Look into your eyes”, “Playboy”, “But just don’t tell me” and “Moon Cat”. The audience enthusiastically discussed the stormy life of the star - Natalia had many novels with famous men. The first husband of Natalia was the musician Pavel Smeyan. She then lived for three years with Dima Malikov. The next chosen one of Vetlitskaya was Zhenya Belousov. After the singer was married to fashion model Kiril Kirin and an unknown yoga trainer Alexei, from whom in 2004 she gave birth to a daughter, Ulyana. In 1993 year Natalia Vetlitskaya met a young singer Vlad Stashevsky, who was just starting his career, but their relationship lasted only a few months.Natalia also had an affair with the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. After parting, Natalya did not grieve when she met Mikhail Topalov, who at that time was the producer of the Smash group.

In the mid-2000s, the spectacular singer disappeared both from the stage and from the pages of gossip columns. After the end of her musical career, Vetlitskaya moved to Spain with her daughter, where she still lives and maintains a very malicious blog on the Internet. Now the singer is 52 years old, and fans still call her the Russian Sharon Stone.

Alsou and her daughter Mikella

Everyone remembers the grandiose scandal that erupted this spring on the project “Voice. Children" after the victory of 10-year-old Mikella Abramova. Now it's a shame for everyone: for those who ensured the cheating of tens of thousands of votes, and for those who then furiously persecuted the child and her mother, the singer.

Mikella Abramova / Instagram

But you can't argue against facts. On the eve of the show, Alsou praised Mikella - they say, she is so musically gifted that she gets right to tears and goosebumps. This continued during the project, plus many show business stars desperately drowned for "their own", suggesting to millions of subscribers on social networks who to vote for.

As a result, the investigation of Channel One showed that more than 40 thousand bot votes “fit in” for Mikella. According to experts, this cost unidentified customers 3 million rubles.

"Voice.Children" / YouTube

But in general, the indignant hysteria would not have happened if the audience had not felt deceived. With her undoubted talents, Mikella was still objectively weaker than the other favorites. Someone really wanted to "drag" her, but as a result, he monstrously harmed the aspiring singer and tarnished the reputation of Alsou herself.

Mikella Abramova / Instagram

“The President is not an artist to be photographed with him”

Of the Belarusian stars, I am not particularly friends with anyone. For many years I communicated only with Sasha Tikhanovich. His birthday was in July, and every time during the "Slavianski Bazaar" he celebrated it in his favorite restaurant "Golden Lion" in Vitebsk: he invited the Belarusian, Russian beau monde and me.

I have an autograph of Alexander Lukashenko at home - the president signed a photo where he dances with Sofia Rotaru. Lukashenka's autograph is different in that he writes his name with a small letter. I have never seen anything like this: first a small “a”, and then a signature.

I remember how I wanted to make a joint meeting with the President in May 1996, when I was not yet a journalist, the Golden Knight Film Festival was held in the Minsk Concert Hall. These were the first years of Lukashenka's presidency. After the grand opening, the actors from Serbia approached Alexander Grigoryevich and began to take pictures with him right on the stage. I decided: “Since he takes pictures with them, then he will take a photo with me.” I got into this mass of artists and went up on stage with them. But when I reached into my pocket for my camera, they twisted my arm and took me backstage, they began to interrogate who, what and why. I said that I was a fan and would like to take a picture with the president, to which they answered: "The president is not an artist to be photographed with him." Searched and thrown out of the room.

Now I have more than two thousand pictures in my collection. I don’t know yet who I will take an autograph from next time. At the last "Slavianski Bazaar" I had a goal to once again sign the photographs of Kusturica, Bregovic, Depardieu and Natalia Oreiro. I did everything except the photo of Depardieu: he again categorically refused - the whole floor was blocked by security and no one was allowed into the dressing room.Of course, I still went straight to him, but I only got an autograph.

Text: Tamara Kolos

archive of Azar Mehdiyev

Russia's first drag house Haus of Tina

Thanks to the efforts of the artist Tina Abrahamyan, now the audience gathers not only in gay clubs. The founder of Haus of Tina released drag to non-LGBT venues.

She liked painting since childhood, and for the first time she came into close contact with the drag theme at a parade in Amsterdam. Another source of inspiration was the legendary RuPaul show: the girl met drag artists in the community of his fans. Thus, the first connections within this world appeared. Soon followed by recognition from the art community. Tina sent her works to Andrey Bartenev, who highly appreciated them. And the artist came to his exhibition in a fantastic way, like a living art object.

Photos of Haus of Tina. Tina and Andrey Bartenev

Bartenev noted a bold step and even offered to exhibit in his gallery. The girl at that time was 18 years old.

For the first time, Tina staged a show of drag queens as part of her exhibition at the Sold Out Gallery in Red October in 2019. The project was successful and Tina decided to create her own house. This is a unique case: as a rule, such an association is led by reputable drag queens or drag kings. Tina notes that her main task is to organize a show, find a venue, negotiate with photographers, etc.:

Photos of Haus of Tina. Tina. Photographer Igor Zaitsev

The number of participants in Haus of Tina dropped from fifteen to nine during the year. Their average age is 25 years old. Tina notes that nine is the optimal number. The more people, the more difficult it is to maintain comfortable conditions within the team.The problem is that it is not always possible to organize the performance of all artists at once, and then resentment and discontent arise. Now the house is dominated by inner peace. Together with photographer Anna Normant, Tina managed to release a zine with pictures of the stage, backstage and exclusive materials from the Charli XCX concert, in which her queens took part. There are plans to tour Haus of Tina and even participate in Superball Amsterdam, the most grandiose annual drag competition in Europe.

The activity of Haus of Tina expands the audience of drag queens. Events at home are attended by many straight people who treat what is happening with warmth.

Photos of Haus of Tina. Journal at home

However, public love is still far away.

Zemfira

In 2013, at one of the concerts held by Zemfira in Rostov, one of the fans shouted: “Come on Daisies!”. The singer reacted very angrily to this remark: “I’ll give you right now - you won’t take it away!” Of course, the thrown angry phrase offended the fan, because of which he sued the performer, subsequently punishing her with 306,000 rubles.

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It is worth noting that the scandal that had begun did not end there, because after the audience began booing the singer, she nervously got up and left the stage, shouting: “Arividerchi!”.

Nikolai Baskov and Anastasia Volochkova

The tenor and the ballerina have known each other for many years and have spent a lot of time together as real and close friends.So close that a couple of years ago they were even credited with a novel. Celebrities, on the other hand, insisted on their “free” relationships and confused the public in every possible way. “Kolyanych and I are really great friends. Friends so much that we can sleep in the same bed, ”Volochkova said in an interview. Baskov confirmed the close relationship even more clearly: "We have one step from friendship to bed." The couple published joint photos of a very gentle, and even frank nature. But it didn’t come to the family and kids - friends (or lovers?) Didn’t even go out together. According to the ballerina, she did not take a kind of “relationship” with Nikolai seriously, declaring that the same man was not next to her. The affair ended, and the singer and dancer became good friends again.

“Yellowness is prohibited in Belarus”

My hobby allows me to make new acquaintances, communicate with interesting people. And, of course, there is an element of excitement here. I know about 50 people in Minsk, Moscow, Kyiv, Sochi, who also collect autographed photos of celebrities. And when you take a unique photo with your favorite actor, and then share this picture on social networks, it's like a healthy competition.

Personally, I value communication with the idols of my childhood more than modern "stars" who just broke out. The same Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Lyubov Sokolova - I had a good relationship with both. I dedicated a poem to Lyubov Sokolova, which she loved to read at creative evenings. Vyacheslav Tikhonov invited me to the 80th birthday party shortly before his death - he was a benevolent, polite person who loved animals very much. So quiet that his second wife, an ordinary English teacher, suppressed him.

I have stacks of celebrity photo albums in my house. Here is a photo with Van Damme - we talked to him twice, a very friendly person; Sofia Rotaru - she signed our joint photo and then apologized for accidentally touching my nose with a marker; Valery Leontiev, Dmitry Peskov, the Melage brothers, Sami Naseri and many others.

Some stars are friendly and easy to get in touch with, while others are very arrogant. For example, Gerard Depardieu. I remember once in Kyiv a fan approached him with a huge folder containing all his photos and press clippings. She asked for a joint photo, but Depardieu was adamant, did not want to see or hear her, and went to the elevator.

This woman was so emotional that she knelt in front of him - only then did he take pity and take one single picture

The woman asked to take a second shot, as it didn't come out quite clearly, but Gerard said, "No." A hard, unfriendly person.

Grigory Leps does not take pictures with anyone at all. My friend last year on the New Wave asked him eight times for a photo - and received a categorical no: “I don’t take pictures with strangers.” Moreover, Leps is a rather rude person: at first he speaks in a good way, and if you get it, he can send it in plain text, which happened to my friend.

But Leps and I were introduced by Igor Krutoy. Igor and I have known each other since 1997, when Alexander Lukashenko invited him to head the Slavianski Bazaar. Krutoy brought his team to Vitebsk and made a chic festival. After that, the "Slavianski Bazaar" came to life, and Igor Krutoy said that we would manage on our own.

I took a photo with Leps on the New Wave, when it was still in Jurmala.Igor Krutoy then introduced me as follows: “Grisha, this is a journalist friend of mine, he writes well, without yellowness, yellowness is prohibited in Belarus.” And Leps agreed to take a photo, even without his usual black glasses.

If a person does not make contact, you need to be recommended by one of your mutual friends. Or you should devote more time, become familiar - as I did with Stanislav Govorukhin. He was a very good director, but difficult to communicate, he made contact only with acquaintances. He sent me several times to various festivals, and in the end I decided to change tactics: I began to go to the same beach at Kinotavr in Sochi as he did. As a result, it was put in Govorukhin’s head that I was kind of his own, and by the end of the festival he agreed to an interview.

Madonna refused to be photographed with me, but signed my photo. Like Lady Gaga - only an autograph. Of the Russian performers, only Irina Allegrova refused me, and very rudely. In the 2000s, she was supposed to perform in Minsk as part of the anniversary tour. The day before, her producer called me and said that Dmitry Malikov recommended me to him and “could you prepare a PR company for us?” I agreed in exchange for an interview and a photo.

After the concert, my friend and I went backstage to Allegrova. The administrator said: “Wait, I’ll go ask her.” As a result, we waited for two hours - Allegrova came out only when she was already leaving the Palace of the Republic. I approached her and said: “How is it, we agreed with your producer.” And she replied: “What questions for me? You agreed with the producer, so let him answer. Sent after I did this work. Very ugly.

If we talk about benevolent artists, then Pierre Richard can be cited as an example. I remember 18 years ago he just came to the film award to Nikita Mikhalkov. I then ran after him, asked him to take a photo - and in the camera, as evil, the film ran out. However, Pierre Richard waited patiently while I reloaded it. Absolutely simple, without star illness, the person.

Is it easy to be a diva?

Saturday, midnight, Three Monkeys Club. Loud music stops, fanfares blare, and a voice from backstage announces the start of the show. Sophie speaking. Artificial smoke makes it difficult to immediately see who enters the stage. Only the silhouette is visible - a stereotype of embodied femininity with perfect curves. You can already see a dress sparkling with rhinestones on the floor, perfectly laid curls to the shoulders, incredible makeup. The diva, whose real name is Victor, begins to sing in the voice of Whitney Houston.

Travesty shows are an obligatory attribute of metropolitan gay clubs. The usual program of the night with the drag queens includes songs to the soundtrack, communication with the audience and dancing.

A fantastic image on the stage, causing delight and admiration of the public, costs the artists dearly. Cosmetics, wigs, costumes, props - depending on the quality and quantity of materials, the price of entry into the world of dredge can reach 20, 50, and 150 thousand rubles. Moreover, it will be possible to start earning in it at least in a year and a half, and for some, monetization occurs even later. It is most convenient to become a resident of the club: this will provide stable employment and, accordingly, earnings. Many queens in the conditions of high competition are forced to switch to freelance.

As one of the divas of the house Vanilla Absolut notes, now there are about forty drags on the Moscow stage, and every year there are more and more people who want to get there. But the number of sites is not increasing - many dream of becoming residents of the "Three Monkeys" or "Central Station". Although travesty shows are held not only in clubs, but also in specialized saunas (for example, in Our Spa and Paradise).

Photos of Haus of Tina. Vanilla Absolute. Photographer Alexander Kuznetsov

Those who want to get into the world of the dredge are not embarrassed by either the price tag of the profession or the accompanying difficulties. The amount of earnings largely depends on the reputation of the queen, her status in the club.

Sergei Shnurov

Who doesn't know Songs "Leningrad" We can assume that this person simply has not yet been born, because the work of the group is a kind of anthem for generations. At the beginning of the 2000s, the whole country fervently sang "WWW Leningrad ...". Today, too, many, young and old, know who Sergei Shnurov is and what was the last track released by his ensemble.

Sergei Shnurov

Cord is a man full of contradictions. On the one hand, this is a cheerful guy in a vest who hums his obscene songs throughout the country. On the other hand, he is an educated, well-read man who makes a high-quality musical product, because he knows what people need.