Igor Nikolaev is a Russian composer, poet and singer. His musical career began in one of the restaurants in his native Sakhalin. He gained popularity after moving to Moscow, when his song "Old Mill" became a hit in 1986.
Biography: early years
Igor Yurievich Nikolaev was born on January 17, 1960 in the city of Kholmsk, on the southwestern coast of Sakhalin Island. He spent his childhood and youth there. Father, Yuri Nikolaev, at that time was already a rather famous poet in the Far East. The second mate on the ship, he wrote poetry mainly about the sea and nature of Sakhalin. He was a member of the Union of Journalists, and later - the Union of Writers of the USSR. Igor Nikolaev's mother worked in accounting.
From an early age, his father instilled in his son a love of poetry. Igor tried to write poetry at school. Soon, the parents noticed that their son was interested not only in poetry, but also in music. At the age of seven, he was brought to a music school, where he began to master the violin. Unlike other boys, after lessons Nikolaev was in a hurry not to the football field, but home to once again hone the technique of playing the violin. However, Igor did not have a good relationship with this instrument. After school, he abandoned it and began to master the piano.
After graduating from the eight-year school, Nikolaev entered the local music school. Then he was 14 years old, but by that time he had already composed several tunes. During the summer holidays, Igor began to earn money as a musician in Sakhalin restaurants.
Soon a group of composers from Moscow came to the island on tour. Nikolaev decided to show one of them, Igor Yakushenko, his most successful melody in his opinion. A month later, Igor received a letter from the capital. In it, he saw the very melody that was finalized by Yakushenko. The composer discerned talent in Igor and showed his notes to his colleague Sergei Balasanyan. Soon, Nikolaev received an invitation to "Merzlyakovka" - a music school at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Then Igor was only 15 years old. Despite this, the parents decided to let their young son go to Moscow.
After graduating from college, Nikolaev did not want to continue his studies at the conservatory. He became interested not in classical, but in pop music. Teachers and classmates did not approve of his hobbies. However, Nikolaev firmly decided to enter another university. In 1977 he became a student at the pop department of the Moscow Institute of Culture. Nikolaev got into the class of composer and jazz musician Igor Bril.
Career
In parallel with his studies at the institute, Nikolaev acts as a musician with various artists. So, in 1979 he worked with the singer Irina Brzhevskaya.
In 1980, Igor graduated from the institute. Speaking at the same concert with Alla Pugacheva, Nikolaev dared to offer her his candidacy for the role of a musician in her group "Recital". Then she had already gained all-Union fame and toured with success. Pugacheva invited Igor to audition. The singer and her director Yevgeny Boldin liked Nikolaev's performance. They took him to their team for the role of keyboardist and arranger.
At the same time, Igor met the family of songwriters Mikhail Tanich and Tatyana Kozlova. He often visited their apartment, where they tried to write poetry together. After some time, their joint songs will be performed by popular artists. So, in 1983, Alla Pugacheva took the stage with the already legendary "Iceberg", and the audience accepted the song with delight. Nikolaev was the author of the music, and the poems were written by Tatyana Kozlova.
The next song was "Tell, Birds". Pugacheva performed it in the same year. Nikolaev wrote not only music, but also poetry.
At the end of 1983, Igor went to serve in the army, where he continued to compose songs. During this period, he wrote a whole cycle of poems for the first solo album of Alexander Kalyanov.
After the army, Nikolaev composes songs with a vengeance. In 1985, he co-authored with Nikolai Zinoviev wrote the song "Ferryman", which was performed by Pugacheva. And after her, but already in tandem with Mikhail Tanich, he presented the famous Komarovo. This song was first performed by Igor Sklyar.
In 1986 Nikolaev began his solo career with the song "Old Mill". In the same year, Pugacheva's eighth album, "Happiness in Personal Life," was released, which consisted entirely of Igor's compositions. In addition to "Ferryman", it included such songs as:
- "I'm sorry, believe me";
- "One Hundred Friends";
- "Ballet";
- "Balalaika";
- "Glass Flowers";
- "Two stars";
- "Wishing you happiness in your personal life."
A year later, Nikolayev's debut solo album was released. It was called "The Mill".
Igor's songs became popular not only among the audience, but also among the performers themselves. They literally lined up for new compositions by Nikolaev. In the 90s, Igor wrote a lot of songs for Irina Allegrova, Philip Kirkorov, Natasha Koroleva, Diana Gurtskaya, etc.
In the 2000s, Nikolaev continues to write hits. In 2001, he recorded Five Reasons. The song was at the top of the country's charts for a long time.
Awards
Igor Nikolaev has many awards and titles on his account, including:
- "Honored Artist of the Russian Federation";
- multiple laureate of the Ovation Prize;
- "Best composer of 2002";
- Order of Service to Art;
- a personalized star on the alley of the 850th anniversary of Moscow park;
- laureate of the I. Dunaevsky for his great contribution to the development of the song.
Personal life
Igor Nikolaev has three marriages behind him. Elena Kudryashova became the singer's first wife. Nikolaev married her when he was barely 18 years old. They were familiar from school. Soon, a daughter, Julia, was born. In 1991, the marriage broke up.
The reason for the breakup was Natalia Poryvay (later - the Queen). When she met Nikolayev, she was only 16 years old. Natalia came from Ukraine and dreamed of becoming a singer. Nikolaev was already very popular then, he agreed to become her producer. The creative union soon grew into a family one. Over the years of their life together, the couple recorded several duets. The most popular of them is Dolphin and Mermaid. In 2001, Nikolaev and Koroleva filed for divorce. According to rumors, the reason for the breakup was again Igor's betrayal.
After parting with the Queen, the singer lived for several years in a civil marriage with Angela Kulakova, his concert director.
In 2010, Nikolaev married for the third time. Yulia Proskuryakova, an aspiring singer from Yekaterinburg, became his wife. Nikolaev recorded several duets with her. Five years later, the couple had a daughter, Veronica.
