Many years have passed since that fatal shot that ended the life of the musician Igor Talkov. And viewers and critics continue to discuss his biography, unravel the deepest secrets of his work and reflect on what made the talented lyric singer become a civil denouncer and a fighter against power.
Childhood
The future musician was born in 1956 in the Tula region. The Talkov family had ancient noble roots. The boy's father and mother were repressed, they met in places of detention. Rehabilitation allowed the parents to start a new life, but large centers were closed to them. They chose the town of Shchekino near Tula.
Igor's favorite school subjects were literature, history and geography, exact sciences were given to him with difficulty. At one time, the teenager became interested in hockey, began to train a lot. In dreams of a career as a great athlete, he went to the capital, but did not qualify for the sports societies of the army and Dynamo.
First steps in music
The only thing Talkov could not do without was music. When he and his brother organized concerts, any household utensils became instruments: plates, lids from saucepans, a washboard. In parallel with the general education school, the boy attended a musical accordion class. During the years of study, he never acquired theoretical knowledge, which he later regretted. He considered his main advantages to be good ear and the ability to improvise. He easily mastered the piano and guitar, and as a high school student he led the school choir. Later, a violin and a drum were added to the list, but Igor's favorite instrument was the saxophone, which he did not play, but loved to listen to. At some point, the voice of a novice musician began to wheeze. The doctor determined the cause - chronic laryngitis. Even after treatment, the hoarseness returned. Years later, the already experienced artist, having worked out the concert, sometimes did not utter a word at all.
Talkov wrote his first work "I'm a little sorry" at the age of seventeen, two years later the ballad "Share" appeared. At school, Igor created an ensemble with an unusual name "Past and Thoughts". And having received a certificate, he became a member of the "Fanta" collective of the regional philharmonic society. To learn the works, the beginner was forced to urgently master the musical notation. It took one summer to catch up.
The young man tried several times to get an education, but they all ended in failure. His love for performances led him to the theater school, but his lack of knowledge in literature prevented him from passing the competition. He studied for a year at a pedagogical university, where he was finally convinced that physics and mathematics were not his profile. After the 1st year, he left the walls of the Leningrad Institute of Culture. He never received a special musical education.
Like all Soviet children, Igor was brought up on communist examples and youthful disillusionment with the ideology of the Soviets became painful for him. When, for the first time in 1975, he began to criticize the authorities, the case almost went to trial. The "unreliable intellectual" was sent to the army. In Nakhabino near Moscow, he continued to compose and perform as part of the Zvezdochka army team.
Start of a professional career
After serving, Talkov did not return home, but went to Sochi to earn money with his work. He was lucky to become a bass player and vocalist in the collective of Alexander Barykin. In 1979, his work was appreciated by the singer from Spain Michel and offered the musician a vacant place in his ensemble. It was a great success. The tour as part of the group lasted for several months and ended with the recording of a gramophone record in Moscow. Performing in restaurants gave Igor the opportunity to meet famous artists, but at the same time seemed humiliating to him. He decided to start a professional career. The groups "April" and "Kaleidoscope" created by him performed in small towns and enjoyed the success of the public. During this period, the author wrote many songs, but did not dare to perform most of them. After one such incident in the capital's Nauka club, the head of the institution was removed from office, and Talkov was denied access to such events for a long time.
Lyric songs
Since 1984, the musician's work has reached a new level. Cooperation with leading pop performers began. He accompanied Lyudmila Senchina, made arrangements for Stas Namin, and sang in a duet with Irina Allegrova at the Electroclub. During this period, the songs "Vicious Circle" and "Aeroflot" appeared. Thanks to the hit "Chistye Prudy" the singer became famous. Talkov began to be perceived as a lyric musician, the composition reached the final of Song-87.
civil position
At some point, Talkov was interested in Russian history. He spent a lot of time in archives and libraries. The accumulated new knowledge led to changes in the musician's repertoire. Lyrical notes are replaced by songs of a civic orientation. The song "Russia" was created by him in one night. In 1988 the Vzglyad program organized a collective concert in Luzhniki, among those invited was Igor Talkov. Instead of the declared song, he performed another, for which he was removed from the stage. The performer's talent and courage were regularly met with official barriers and scandals.
In the early 90s, Talkov's popularity reached its peak. In the "Song of the Year" sounded "Former pissed up" and "I'll be back." After the first video "Russia" the musician was offered the main role in the film "Prince Silver". But the change of director entailed a complete change in the classic script, characters and even the name. Igor could not accept this, he refused to work in the midst of the creative process. The fate of the film "Beyond the Last Line" turned out to be more successful. Although here it was not without a scandalous story. Refusing to shave off his beard and mustache, Talkov received the negative role of the leader of the racketeers.
Farewell tour
The artist traveled a lot around the country. Once the plane, en route to Tyumen, began to shake because of a thunderstorm. The passengers were worried, and Igor, who was among them, reassured everyone and said prophetic words that this time everything would be all right, and he would die “in the presence of a large crowd of people, and the murderer would not be found”. The next six months were marked by a tour of the performer and the group "Lifebuoy" in the cities of Russia. A new program "Court" was presented to the attention of the audience, where, in addition to lyrics, poignant social works were sounded. Talkov stigmatized the Soviet past, starting with the October events and following all the leaders of the state, who, he believed, were the cause of the current state of the country.
The musician met the August PUTCH on the main square of the Northern capital. The songs "War", "Globe", "Lord Democrats" were sounded from the stage. Disappointment in the activities of the first president was reflected in the composition "Mr. President", the recording of which Talkov found an opportunity to hand over personally to Boris Yeltsin. He believed that historically the Russian people trust the words of poets more than politicians, therefore, with his work, he tried to convey new ideas to the masses, to make people think and act. Once, in the middle of a performance in the city of Gzhel, Igor's guitar string suddenly broke. This concert was the last for him.
Mysterious death
On October 6, 1991, in the St. Petersburg hall "Jubilee" Talkov was waiting behind the scenes for his exit. After the singer Aziza asked the artist to change places in the performance, the artist's guard Igor Malakhov entered his dressing room. A verbal skirmish ensued between the men. Pistols were in their hands, and shots rang out from both sides. Seconds later, another unexpected bullet struck Talkov's heart. All charges were dropped from suspect Malakhov after the investigation determined that the fatal shot had been fired by the group's administrator Valery Shlyafman. By that time, he was in Israel and was able to escape punishment.
Personal life
With his wife Tatyana Talkov lived for eleven years. They met by chance on television and got married soon after. The continuation of the great love of two people was the son Igor. When grief happened in the family, the boy was nine years old. As a teenager, he mastered his father's synthesizer and began to disassemble his records. Since then, he took up creative work and recorded his debut album "We must live". The collection includes the works of the young author and the songs of Talkov Sr., which received a new sound. The son considers this to be his contribution to preserving the memory of the famous father. The wife of the deceased musician gave many years to the Mosfilm film studio. Today she is raising three grandchildren and sees in them the continuation of her husband.
