Valeriya

Valeriya (Russian: Валерия) is the stage name of Alla Yurievna Perfilova (Russian: Алла Юрьевна Перфилова; born April 17, 1968), a Russian singer and fashion model.^[1] Valeriya, who is a recipient of the titles People's Artist of Russia (2013) and People's Artist of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (2016), has also won numerous awards, including Golden Gramophone (thirteen), Pesnya goda (thirteen), Muz-TV (four: Best Performer in 2004, 2010 and 2015, Best Video, 2014), and MTV Russia Music Awards (two, Best Performer, 2004, Best Song, 2005). She has been a member of the Council for Culture and Art under the President of the Russian Federation since 2012.

Biography

Valeriya was born on April 17, 1968, in a town of Atkarsk in the Saratov Oblast.

Career

In 1985 Valeriya enrolled in the Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow which she graduated 1990.

In 1989 Valeriya recorded two albums. Her first English-language disc, The Taiga Symphony came out in 1991 via Shulgin Records.^[2] Pobud' so mnoi (Stay with me), a collection of traditional Russian romances, was released by Lad Records a year later.^[3] In 1992 she won the first prize in a national TV contest Morning Star. Also that year she won the international contest Bratislavskaya Lira and received an Audience Choice Award at Yurmala-92.

In 2005 Valeriya was awarded the Honoured Artiste of Russia title and ranked 9th in the Forbes magazine list of 50 most highly paid people in movie, sport, literature and music industry.

In March 2009 Valeriya was invited to join as a special guest Simply Red's "The Greatest Hits" Tour in the UK. She also took part in the Russian National Final for Eurovision 2009 with the song "Back to Love" and later finished second behind "Mamo" by Anastasia Prikhodko. In 2010, Valeriya joined forces with Avon as a celebrity judge for Avon Voices,^[4] Avon's first ever global, online singing talent search for women and songwriting competition for men and women.

Valeria's 2013 studio album Po serpantinu featured four duets (with Valery Meladze, Nikolai Baskov, Alexander Buynov and, notably, Goran Bregovich, one of her all-time favourite artists). Most of the reviews, though, centered on the Russian chanson-tinged title track and "I Will Be Waiting for You", the latter included into the comedy Polar Flight soundtrack.^[5] It was followed by the Best Of compilation Eto vremya lyubvi (This Is the Time of Love), which included "Ty moya" (You Are Mine), the duet with her daughter Anna Shulgina.^[6]

Valeriya's 2016 studio album Okeany served well to "prove the singer's intention to remain a 'a healthy man's perfect female singer'," but her "'formula of happiness' here is here being pronounced with the strictness of a harsh pedagogue," according to critic Alexey Mazhayev.^[7] The material for her 2017 studio album K solntsu (Towards the Sun) has been provided by the team of young, unknown songwriters, including Cyrill Yermakov from Belarus, "but if the idea was to bring in the feeling of freshness, it succeeded only in fragments," according to Mazhayev.^[8] Highly successful though proved to be the singles "Minor Infarctions" and "The Heart Is Broken". The video for the latter gathered 112 million views on the YouTube in the first week.^[9]

Activism

Public activities and statements of the singer have triggered and still trigger mixed, at times even strident response in the neighboring (to Russia) countries.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

Personal life

Valeriya has been married three times. Her first husband was Leonid Yaroshevsky, her second husband was Alexandr Shulgin. She is currently married to Iosif Prigozhin. Valeriya lives in Moscow.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1992 — Pobud' so Mnoi (Stay With Me)
• 1992 — The Taiga Symphony
• 1995 — Anna
• 1997 — Familia. Chast' 1 (Family Name. Part 1)
• 2000 — Perviy Internet Albom (First Internet Album)
• 2001 — Glaza Tsveta Neba (Eyes the Colour Of Heaven)
• 2003 — Strana Lyubvi (Loveland)
• 2006 — Nezhnost' Moya (My Tenderness)
• 2008 — Nepodkontrolno (Out Of Control, also the title of this album's English version)
• 2010 — Vo Mne Moya Lubov' (My Love Inside Me)
• 2013 — Po serpantinu (Upon the Serpentine)
• 2016 — Okeany (Oceans)
• 2017 — K Solntsu (Towards the Sun)

Compilation albums

• 1999 — Samoye Luchsheye (The Very Best)
• 2010 — Pesni, Kotorye Vy Polyubili (The Songs You've Come to Love)

Singles

Books

• 2006 — Tears and Love (autobiography, Azbuka-klassika, ISBN 5-91181-135-9)
• 2010 — Yoga with Valeriya (self-help, Eksmo, ISBN 978-5-699-49341-8)

Awards

State awards

• 2003 — The Order "For the Revival of Russia"^[15]
• 2005 — The title Merited Artist of the Russian Federation^[16]
• 2013 — The title People's Artist of Russia (2013) ^[17][18]
• 2018 — Order of Friendship^[19][20]

Music awards

• 1992 — Morning Star TV contest, winner
• 1992 — International contest Bratislavskaya Lira, winner
• 1992 — Jurmala-92, Audience Choice Award
• 1993 — Russian Union of Journalists, Person of the Year
• 1994 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate, with "Business as Usual"
• 1995 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate, with "Airplane"
• 2000 — Hit-FM Award, "Metelitsa"
• 2000 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate, "Riga-Moscow"
• 2000 — Golden Gramophone national prize for "Riga-Moscow"
• 2001 — Alexander Popov Professional National Prize, Radio Favorite of the Year
• 2001 — Record- 2001, "Riga-Moscow"
• 2001 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate with "I Am Melting". Also: Klavdiya Shulzhenko Prize, Singer of the Year
• 2003 — 7 Days magazine Awards, Best Female Act, Best Looking Female Act^[21]
• 2003 — Golden Gramophone, for "Chasiki" (Small Watch), Song of the Year
• 2003 — Song of the Year TV Festival, with "Chasiki"
• 2003 — Business People 2003 contest, laureate
• 2004 — Muz-TV Awards 2004, Best Female Act^[22]
• 2004 — MTV Russia Music Awards 2004, Best Female Act^[23]
• 2004 — Record 2004, Radio Hit of the Year, "Chasiki"
• 2004 — Golden Gramophone, "Black and White"
• 2005 — MTV Russia Music Awards, Best Duet, "You Are Sad", with Stas Piekha^[24]
• 2005 — Golden Gramophone, for "You Are Sad"
• 2006 — "Golden Gramophone", Brilliant voice of Russia, for "My Tenderness"
• 2007 — Record 2007, Radio Hit of the Year, for "My Tenderness"
• 2007 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate, with "We Are Together"
• 2007 — Golden Gramophone for "We Are Together"
• 2007 — Olympia Prize (from the Russian Association of Businesswomen)
• 2008 — Golden Gramophone for "The Rain Man"
• 2008 — The Ovation Award, the Best Vocalist
• 2008 — ZD Awards, Best Artist, Best Video
• 2008 — Olympia Prize, from the Russian Association of Businesswomen
• 2008 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate, with "The Rain Man"
• 2009 — ZD Awards, Best Female Act, Best Video
• 2009 — Golden Gramophone for "Nobody Like You"
• 2009 — Song of the Year TV Festival, Klavdia Shulzhenko Prize, Singer of the Year
• 2010 — Muz-TV Awards 2010, Best Female Act^[25]
• 2010 — ZD Awards, Best Artist
• 2011 — Golden Gramophone for "Bird of the Parting"
• 2011 — Song of the Year TV Festival, Best Duet, "Keeping the Love", with Nikolai Baskov
• 2012 — Song of the Year TV Festival, "I've Let You Go", with Igor Krutoi
• 2012 — Stars of the Road Radio, laureate
• 2012 — RU.TV, Best Duet, "Keeping the Love", with Nikolai Baskov
• 2013 — Song of the Year TV Festival, for "Do Not Lose Me", with Valery Meladze
• 2014 — Muz-TV Awards 2014, Best Video for "Do Not Lose Me", with Valery Meladze^[26]
• 2014 — Golden Gramophone for "We Are Afraid to Love"
• 2014 — Song of the Year TV Festival, with "Time to Love"
• 2014 — Stars of the Road Radio, laureate
• 2015 — Muz-TV Awards 2015, Best Artist of the decade^[27]
• 2015 — Muz-TV Awards 2015, Best Duet, for "You Are Mine" with Anna Shulgina
• 2015 — MUSICBOX-2015, Best Duet, for "You Are Mine" with Anna Shulgina
• 2015 — First Russian National Music Prize, for "I've Let You Go"
• 2015 — Golden Gramophone Jubilee, for "Riga-Moscow"
• 2015 — RU.TV, Best Dance Track for "This Is the Time of Love"
• 2015 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate, with "The Formula of Happiness"
• 2016 — Stars of the Road Radio, laureate
• 2016 — Song of the Year TV Festival, laureate, with "Oceans"
• 2016 — Fashion Summer Awards, the Stylish Female Act
• 2016 — Fashion People Awards, Artist of the Year
• 2016 — MUSICBOX-2017, Best Duet, "Love Is Not for Sale", with Kristina Orbakaitė
• 2016 — Chanson of the Year, for "He and She", with Alexey Glyzin
• 2018 — Zhara Music Award, Collaboration of the Year, "Chasiki" with Egor Kreed

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Valeriya.

• Official website
• Valeriya discography at Discogs