The work of the famous Raimonds Pauls is well known not only in his native Latvia, but also in other countries. His songs were performed by many pop stars.
Childhood, adolescence
Raimonds Pauls was born in Riga on January 12, 1936. His father worked as a glassblower, his mother embroidered with pearls, and later became a housewife. Little Raymond went to a kindergarten opened at a music institute. When he was ten, he went to the music school. Darzina. Raymond studied playing the piano with Olga Borovskaya.
Later Pauls entered the conservatory. Vitola, first he studied piano, and then composition. In his youth, he was fond of jazz, played dances, improvising a lot. It was then that Pauls realized that he would be engaged in music all his life.
Creative activity
In 1964, Raymond took the position of artistic director of the Riga Pop Orchestra, and people began to recognize his music. Several years later Pauls prepared the 1st author's program, which was presented at the Latvian Philharmonic. All tickets were sold out.
For many years Pauls was a conductor for state radio and also worked as a music editor. During this period, Pauls created the musical Sister Carrie. In 1975, the song "Yellow Leaves" was released, which is still popular.
A new stage in the biography - cooperation with the Prima Donna. Songs such as "A Million Scarlet Roses", "Ancient Clock", "Maestro" became symbols of the era. Later Pauls collaborated with Laima Vaikule, Valery Leontiev. The composer also wrote music for films and theatrical performances.
Raymond Pauls was invited to take part in the filming of a movie. In 1978 he got a role in the movie "Theater", in 1986 he played in the movie "How to Become a Star". In 1986 Pauls proposed to create the Jurmala competition, the initiative was supported.
In 1989, the composer became the Minister of Culture of his country, and 4 years later he was appointed as a Cultural Adviser. In 1999 Pauls ran for president of Latvia, he passed the first round, but later withdrew.
In the 2000s, Raymond created new musicals "Ladies' Happiness", "The Legend of the Green Maiden". 10 years later, the works "Marlene", "Leo" were released. In 2014, the famous play "All About Cinderella" was created. Pauls continues to maintain contacts with performers, is the chairman of the "New Wave" competition, which was created by the composer in 2002 together with Igor Krutoy.
Personal life
Pauls' wife is Svetlana Epifanova, whom the composer met in the fifties. She lived in Odessa, Raymond Pauls came to the city on tour. At that time, the girl was a university student, she studied foreign languages. Svetlana responded to Raymond's advances, and they got married.
The couple had a daughter, Aneta. The family helped the composer to get rid of bad habits. Aneta became a TV director, her husband is a Danish citizen. Pauls' daughter gave birth to two girls and a boy. Only Monica is fond of music, she masters playing the piano. In 2012, Raymond and Svetlana celebrated their golden wedding.
