Alla Pugacheva

Alla Borisovna Pugacheva, is a Russian musical performer, composer, actress, and television personality, who has sold more than 250 million records worldwide since 1965. Pugacheva's discography includes over one-hundred records, CDs, and DVDs, with more than 500 songs in Russian, English, German, French, Kazakh, Hebrew, Finnish, and Ukrainian. In addition to the former Soviet Union and Russia, her albums were released in Japan, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and the former Czechoslovakia. Pugacheva holds an iconic status across the former Soviet Union as the most successful Soviet performer in terms of record sales and popularity.

Alla Pugacheva was born in Moscow in 1949. Pugacheva studied piano and vocal performance at Music School No. 31 in Moscow from 1956 through 1965. From 1965 to 1971, she studied singing and choir directing at the Moscow College of Music Ippolitov-Ivanov. From 1976-1981, she studied acting and directing at the Lunacharsky State Institute of Theatre Arts, later the Moscow Institute of Theatrical Art, from which she graduated as director. Pugacheva released her first pop-rock track "Robot" on the radio in 1965, launching her popular-music career. In 1975, Pugacheva won the grand prize at the Golden Orpheus Song Festival in Bulgaria for her rendition of Arlekino ("The Harlequin"), which was broadcast on Soviet television and recorded for Melodiya, the Soviet record monopoly, and brought her public recognition.

During the late 1970s and the 1980s, Alla Pugacheva released hit singles and records, performed sold-out concerts in the Soviet Union, performed regularly at European song festivals, and began to appear in films and television productions. Pugacheva made her film debut in 1977, playing the title role in Zhenshchina, which was a box office hit in the Soviet Union. She also composed the film's score under the pseudonym Boris Gorbonos. In 1979, Pugacheva was named the best actress of the USSR. In 1988, Pugacheva was named artistic director of the Theatre of Song, a Moscow studio theatre. That same year, she toured the United States for the first time. In 1997, Pugacheva she released a thirteen-volume set of her recordings titled Kollektsiya ("Collection") and represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, where she finished in fifteenth place. In the 1990s, Pugacheva launched lines of clothing, footwear, and perfumes. Pugacheva released her last album Priglasheniye na Zakat (“Invitation to a Sunset”) in 2008.

Alla Pugacheva was named Honoured Artist of the RSFSR in 1980, People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1985, People's Artist of the USSR in 1991, a Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 1995, and an honorary citizen of the city of Makhachkala in 2006. Pugacheva was awarded Order of Merit for the Fatherland 2nd Class in 1999, Belarusian Through Art to Peace and Understanding Award in 2006, Order of Merit for the Fatherland 3rd Class in 2009, Mesrop Mashtots Order in Armenia in 2009, Order of Friendship in Azerbaijan in 2009, and Order of Merit for the Fatherland 4th Class in 2014.