Russian music lovers know Andrei Sapunov well for his work in the "Resurrection" group as a guitarist and vocalist. In addition to this group, he was a member of other well-known groups - the group of Stas Namin, "Samotsvety", "Lotos" and some others. Sapunov is also the author of the music of many songs.
Childhood and youth
Andrey Borisovich Sapunov was born in the city of Krasnoslobodsk near Volgograd on October 20, 1956 into a family of teachers. Andrey is the second child in the family, his older brother Vladimir was born four years earlier. In the late 1950s, Sapunov's parents moved to live in Moscow. Here Andrei went to the first grade of a comprehensive school. Parents attached great importance to the physical development of their sons, so Andrei was intensively involved in sports such as table tennis, badminton and football.
The Sapunov brothers have been "sick" with music since childhood. Vladimir gave Andrey a guitar, and he very quickly learned to play it. At school, the guys organized their own vocal and instrumental ensemble: they went to all sorts of tricks to get access to school equipment, rehearsed every day, and then performed at dances and school evenings. The ensemble's repertoire consisted of popular songs from Russian and foreign pop music. Young musicians tried very hard to bring the performance of each song to perfection.
Unfinished education
After leaving school, Andrei Sapunov entered the Astrakhan Institute of Fisheries, but studied there for only a year. After that, he returned to Moscow and transferred to the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, but he did not stay here for long either: six months later he took the documents. At first, Andrei told only his brother about this, and when his mother found out about her son's departure from the institute, she, according to Sapunov, felt bad. But Andrei could not do otherwise: all his thoughts were occupied with music.
Having interrupted his higher education, Andrei received a summons to serve in the army. He spent two years in the air force near Kaluga. Here he continued his musical activity: he performed at cultural events, which played a positive role for him - for example, helped him get rid of the manifestations of hazing.
Musician career
Returning from the army, Sapunov became a member of Stas Namin's group, where he worked for almost a year. And in 1979, the 23-year-old musician became a student of the pop-jazz singing department of the Gnesins State Musical College. Andrey's vocal teacher was the famous Mira Lvovna Korobkova, who gave voice to many Russian pop artists. And in his first year, a significant event took place in his biography: famous musicians drummer Sergei Kavagoe and bass player Yevgeny Margulis, having left Andrei Makarevich's group "Time Machine", created a new collective - the rock group "Resurrection", and invited Andrei Sapunov as guitarist and backing vocalist. The leader of the group was Alexey Romanov, who came from the Kuznetsky Most group; he was also the author of the songs on the first album of the "Resurrection" group.
In 1980, Sapunov invited his friend, musician Konstantin Nikolsky, who also wrote songs, to the group. A year later, the group recorded their second album, and the musicians organized the studio in the basement of the Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).
In 1982, the group "Resurrection" broke up, and Andrei Sapunov decided to focus on his studies. In 1983 he graduated from the "Gnesinka", worked a little in the "Olympia" group, and in 1984 got a job in the "Gems" ensemble. According to Sapunov, in this group he was attracted not by the repertoire, but by the opportunity to earn money, since "Gems" were very popular and in demand. For two years of work in the team, Andrei realized his plans: he earned money and bought a cooperative apartment in Moscow and a car.
In general, Andrei Sapunov did not stay for a long time in any one project. After leaving "Gems" in 1986, he worked in the "Lotus" group, created by him together with the pianist and arranger Alexander Slizunov. The musicians managed to obtain the status of philharmonic artists, due to which they had the opportunity to tour the country with concerts, as well as perform at festivals, for example - "Rock Panorama-87". During this period, the famous song "Ringing" appeared, permeated with a Christian-philosophical idea. The text was written by Alexander Slizunov, the music was written by Andrey Sapunov, he also performed it as a vocalist. In addition, Sapunov composed several songs based on the texts of the famous Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov.
A couple of years later, Lotus also fell apart. In 1990, the musician took part in the recording of the album "I Know" and the concert performances of the "SV" group for some time, and then became a member of the third line-up of the "Trio" collective together with Alexei Romanov and drummer Andrey Kobzon, the son of the famous Joseph Davydovich. The main principle of the "Trio" was performance "live", that is, without a phonogram, so they were gladly invited by Alexander Barykin to take part in his program "Living Water".
In 1992, Sapunov left the "Trio". And in 1994 he became a member of the revived "Resurrection", and this was the longest period of the musician's work in one team - until 2016. Together with Yevgeny Morgulis, Alexei Romanov and Mikhail Shevyakov, Andrey Sapunov took part in the recording of the group's studio albums - "All over again" (2001), "Slowly" (2003), in numerous concert performances and their studio recordings. In addition, in 2001, Sapunov created his own group "Trio Sapunova" and recorded the live album "Live Collection".
The split in "Resurrection" occurred in 2016, when the group was invited to tour the Crimea. Andrey Sapunov and Alexei Romanov had fundamental disagreements over the annexation of the Crimean peninsula to Russia: Romanov was in support, and Sapunov was categorically against. "Resurrection" went to Simferopol without him, and already at the concert an incident occurred when Romanov had to explain the absence of one of the famous band members. In fact, relations between Sapunov and Romanov deteriorated long ago, and the position on Crimea became the final point. Despite Andrei Sapunov's departure from the group, his older brother Vladimir continued his work at Resurrection as the group's director and supported Romanov's political position; Vladimir Sapunov died in the spring of 2018 from cancer.
Today Andrei Sapunov performs in recitals, sometimes joins the "Resurrection" group at some performances - for example, anniversary performances, is engaged in studio work, collaborates with other groups and performers.
Personal life
Sapunov always tried to hide his personal life from prying eyes as much as possible. However, some information was leaked. Andrei Sapunov and his longtime friend, colleague, and now political opponent Alexei Romanov are married to their own sisters. This fact also became one of the reasons for the discord between the musicians.
Andrei Sapunov's wife's name is Nina, her sister Larisa (Romanov's wife) is known for having once danced in Boris Moiseev's "Expression" collective. The Sapunovs have a daughter, Tatyana, presumably born in 1979.
In addition to music, Andrei Sapunov continues to be fond of sports, he even played football for some time in the Olimpiyskiy Sports Complex as part of the Starko amateur team, which included Russian pop stars. Sapunov is very friendly with the Presnyakov family - with father Vladimir Petrovich and son Vladimir.
