Valery Meladze

Valerian Shotayevich Meladze (born 23 June 1965), known professionally as Valery Meladze, is a Russian singer of Georgian descent and a Meritorious Artist of Russia. He is the brother of composer and producer Konstantin Meladze, who writes songs for him.

Biography

Early life

Valeriy Meladze was born on 23 June 1965 in Batumi in the family of Shota and Nelly Meladze, who were engineers. Valeriy has a brother, Konstantin (1963), and a sister, Liana (1968). He was an impatient and disobedient child, while his brother was very quiet. He went to music school and learned to play the piano. In school he did not study well. Since his parents, his grandmother and his grandfather were engineers, he decided to enter the Engineering Institute. Meladze entered the Nikolayev Shipbuilding Institute in Ukraine to study mechanical engineering of ship power plants. In 1985, Valeriy's brother started playing keyboard in the group "April". After some time, Valeriy started to sing in this group as a back-up vocalist, but this group broke up.

First success

When he was studying in his third year he met his future wife Irina. They married in 1989. He lived in a dormitory and lacked scholarships to feed his wife and daughter. During this year, his homemade album "April" reached the producer of the successful Soviet Union group Dialog. The producer liked Valeriy's voice, and Valeriy joined Dialog as the lead singer, with Konstantin starting to write songs for the group. This culminated in the band's 1991 album, "Poseredine Mira" (Посерeдине Мира; Middle of the World).

Dialog's popularity had declined, however, and the group disbanded in 1991. In 1992, Valeriy joined Dialog's founder Kim Breitburg and guitarist Viktor Litvinenko to form Gruppa Dialog and, later, Mistiquana, but in 1993 he also launched his solo career. During The Moscow Tour, Valeriy and Konstantin met their future producer Evgeniy Friedland. Evgeniy helped to record the first of Valeriy's songs – "Ne Trevoz Mne Dushu Skripka" (Не тревожь мне душу, скрипка; Don't Disturb my soul, violin). After the success of the song, Evgeniy asked Valeriy to change his last name (surname) from "Meladze" to "Lisov" or "Lisovskiy," in effect translating it from Georgian to Russian ("mela" and "lisa" both meaning "fox" in their respective languages). However, he refused to change his name.

Many labels didn't want to work with Meladze, "because this music was not modern...long and not happy." But in 1995 Alla Pugacheva heard their demo record, and she invited Valeriy to sing their song at "The Christmas Meeting" in Moscow. After his success there, Valeriy released his debut solo album "Sera" (Сера) on the music label "Souz." The eponymous "Sera" became relatively popular, with "Poserеdine Leta" (Посередине Лета; The Middle Of Summer) and "Noch' Pered Rozdestvom" (Ночь Перед Рождеством; Christmas Eve) also seeing significant success.

Valerian Shotayevich Meladze (born 23 June 1965), known professionally as Valery Meladze, is a Russian singer of Georgian descent and a Meritorious Artist of Russia. He is the brother of composer and producer Konstantin Meladze, who writes songs for him.

Biography

Early life

Valeriy Meladze was born on 23 June 1965 in Batumi in the family of Shota and Nelly Meladze, who were engineers. Valeriy has a brother, Konstantin (1963), and a sister, Liana (1968). He was an impatient and disobedient child, while his brother was very quiet. He went to music school and learned to play the piano. In school he did not study well. Since his parents, his grandmother and his grandfather were engineers, he decided to enter the Engineering Institute. Meladze entered the Nikolayev Shipbuilding Institute in Ukraine to study mechanical engineering of ship power plants. In 1985, Valeriy's brother started playing keyboard in the group "April". After some time, Valeriy started to sing in this group as a back-up vocalist, but this group broke up.

First success

When he was studying in his third year he met his future wife Irina. They married in 1989. He lived in a dormitory and lacked scholarships to feed his wife and daughter. During this year, his homemade album "April" reached the producer of the successful Soviet Union group Dialog. The producer liked Valeriy's voice, and Valeriy joined Dialog as the lead singer, with Konstantin starting to write songs for the group. This culminated in the band's 1991 album, "Poseredine Mira" (Посерeдине Мира; Middle of the World).

Dialog's popularity had declined, however, and the group disbanded in 1991. In 1992, Valeriy joined Dialog's founder Kim Breitburg and guitarist Viktor Litvinenko to form Gruppa Dialog and, later, Mistiquana, but in 1993 he also launched his solo career. During The Moscow Tour, Valeriy and Konstantin met their future producer Evgeniy Friedland. Evgeniy helped to record the first of Valeriy's songs – "Ne Trevoz Mne Dushu Skripka" (Не тревожь мне душу, скрипка; Don't Disturb my soul, violin). After the success of the song, Evgeniy asked Valeriy to change his last name (surname) from "Meladze" to "Lisov" or "Lisovskiy," in effect translating it from Georgian to Russian ("mela" and "lisa" both meaning "fox" in their respective languages). However, he refused to change his name.

Many labels didn't want to work with Meladze, "because this music was not modern...long and not happy." But in 1995 Alla Pugacheva heard their demo record, and she invited Valeriy to sing their song at "The Christmas Meeting" in Moscow. After his success there, Valeriy released his debut solo album "Sera" (Сера) on the music label "Souz." The eponymous "Sera" became relatively popular, with "Poserеdine Leta" (Посередине Лета; The Middle Of Summer) and "Noch' Pered Rozdestvom" (Ночь Перед Рождеством; Christmas Eve) also seeing significant success.