The famous Russian chansonnier Alexander Novikov is one of the most prominent Russian performers of this genre. Over the years of his creative career, the artist has composed more than three hundred songs, released 20 numbered albums, as well as 10 albums-recordings from live performances and 8 video discs.
Creative biography of Alexander Novikov
Alexander Vasilyevich Novikov was born on October 31, 1953 in the Sakhalin Region to the family of a military pilot and a housewife. At the age of sixteen, the future chansonnier left for the city of Yekaterinburg, which at that time was called Sverdlovsk. The artist lives in this city to this day, holding the position of artistic director of the Yekaterinburg Variety Theater. Not so long ago, Alexander Novikov published his autobiographical book "Notes of a Criminal Bard".
The artist has repeatedly become a laureate of various awards, for example, in 1995 he was awarded the national award "Ovation" in the category "Urban Romance". Alexander Novikov was repeatedly awarded the Chanson of the Year award.
In 1980, Novikov created a musical group "Rock-polygon", in which he was a soloist, playing the guitar, and also wrote songs. The group's creativity, according to critics, was quite eclectic for that time - some songs could be called rock and roll, while others even reggae and punk rock. A year after the creation of "Rock Polygon" Alexander Novikov organized a recording studio, giving it his name - "Novik Records". In this studio, albums were recorded not only by the owner and founder, but also by such Ural musical groups as Chaif and Agatha Christie.
Criminal prosecution of an artist
However, not everything went smoothly in the artist's creative career. In the mid-80s of the last century, Alexander Novikov was convicted by the Sverdlovsk court under Article 93-1 of the RSFSR Criminal Code. According to the verdict of the court, the artist had to spend 10 years in prison. The artist was arrested in the fall of 1984. Not long before that, he released the album "Take me, cab". Although the musicians from the Rock Polygon, in particular Alexei Khomenko and Vladimir Emelianenko, took part in the recording of this album, it was obvious that the group had abruptly moved away from performing rock music.
The musician, who became popular after the release of his first album, was accused of selling fake.
The criminal investigation was related to the fact that Alexander Novikov, in addition to his creative activities, was engaged in the manufacture and sale of electronic music equipment. The criminal case was initiated under article 93-1 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, that is, "repeated theft of state or public property on an especially large scale." It is worth noting that in 1989, the producer of the then extremely popular pop group "Laskovy May" Andrei Razin, who was charged with theft of state property on an especially large scale, was also accused under the same article. The producer was convicted of selling "leftist" tickets for his band's concert performances. The total damage from Razin's actions, according to a number of domestic media outlets, exceeded 8 million rubles.
The verdict in the case of Alexander Novikov was handed down in 1985, but 5 years later, according to the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the artist was released. Some time later, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled to cancel the sentence due to the lack of corpus delicti.
