The news of the death of the legendary singer Chris Kelme appeared in the press. What caused it? Why did the singer spend the last months in solitude and almost did not communicate with colleagues, friends, or journalists?
Chris Kelmi is a legend of the Soviet stage, whose songs sounded in every home or, as they said at the time, “even from the iron”. In recent years, he was remembered only in scandalous shows, where they talked about his problems with alcohol, and at the beginning of 2019, news appeared in the press that the musician had died at his dacha near Moscow. What really happened? What did Chris Kelmi die of?
Biography and personal life of Chris Kelme
Anatoly Arievich Kelmi, whom everyone knows as Chris Kelmi, was born in Moscow at the end of April 1955. The boy's parents were employees of Gidrospetsstroy, an organization involved in the construction of the metro in the capital.
Chris graduated from an ordinary Moscow school, from the age of 4 he studied to play the piano with a tutor, and at the age of 8 he entered the Dunaevsky music school. Parents tried to occupy the boy "to the fullest" and in parallel with the general and musical education Chris went in for sports - tennis, football. In the first sport, he was even the best in the city in his age category.
After leaving school, Kelmi entered the university, which his parents chose - the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineering, graduated with honors, and entered graduate school. But music attracted him more, and Chris Kelmi in 1983, already at the age of 27, entered the "Gnesinka", where he mastered the profession of a pianist.
Chris Kelme - with music for life
Chris Kelmi created his own musical group back in the period of his life when he studied at a technical university, but the brainchild did not last long. After the collapse of "Sadko" Kelmi performed for some time in the group "Leap Summer", then moved to "Autograph".
In 1980, Kelmi again attempts to create his own musical group, and it turns out to be more successful. The Rock-Atelier group performs on the stage of the Lenin Komsomol Theater, releases its own mini-records, and then a full-fledged album, the songs of which become hits.
All-Russian fame for Chris Kelmi comes in 1982, when he makes his debut on television, in the program "Morning Mail" with the song "If a Blizzard."
Chris Kelmi differs radically from the crowd of Soviet vocalists, he is perceived as a foreign performer, someone because of his unusual pseudonym, someone because of the original music and performance. The songs of Chris and his group are heard in every home, but such popularity has a downside.
Cause of death of Chris Kelme
Throughout his musical career, Chris Kelmi is accompanied by an addiction to alcohol. Because of this addiction, he had problems both in the professional sphere and in his personal life.
In 2016, Chris divorces his wife, with whom he has been married for 30 years, his only son Christina refuses to communicate with him. The singer understands that the time has come to change his life and change himself.
In 2018, he admits his problems, and publicly, on one of the largest TV channels. But one confession is not enough, the illness does not leave Chris.
He spends the last months of his life in seclusion, at his dacha, where he dies on the first day of 2019. Concert director Chris Kelmi announces to the press the official cause of his death - heart failure due to alcohol poisoning.
