Yuri Fedorovich Malikov is the creator and leader of one of the most famous ensembles in the Soviet Union - VIA "Samotsvety". People's Artist of Russia, performing on stage for several decades, producer and musician, he continues his creative activity today.
More than one generation remembers and loves songs performed by VIA "Gems", the permanent leader of which is Yuri Malikov. In the mid-seventies, the songs of the ensemble sounded in almost every home, at concerts and dance floors. The family traditions were continued by the children of the musician. Inna and Dmitry Malikov are well known to the modern public.
Childhood and adolescence of a musician
The future famous musician was born in the middle of the war, in 1943, on July 6, in the Rostov region (Chebotovka farm).
Yuri's creative biography began in his youth. The boy's father was seriously wounded during the fighting, was demobilized and returned to his family from the front. From early childhood, he taught his son to play the harmonica, although the boy did not show much love for music. But the lessons that his father gave him were not in vain and later helped Yuri to master the accordion. Living in the village until the age of 11, he spent more time on the street, playing with his peers.
In 1954, the family moved to the Moscow region, where Yura went to school and began to take an active part in amateur performances and all musical activities in the class. He gets a few friends together and they start playing accordions at school evenings.
Yuri does not give up music lessons after school. Having entered the technical school in Podolsk, he begins to play in a brass band and again participates in all musical events of the technical school. After watching the film "Serenade of the Sun Valley", popular in those years, Malikov decides to learn how to play the double bass, which captivated the young man with its sound. To do this, he enters a music school and begins to get involved in jazz compositions. The orchestra of the technical school where Malikov studied did not have a double bass, and for almost a year he persuaded the management to buy it. As a result, his dream came true, and by the time he graduated from college, Yuri had already played several instruments, and his passion for playing the double bass helped him make the final choice - he firmly decided to devote himself to music. But his creative career did not begin immediately.
After graduating from college, Malikov enters the Automotive Institute and at the same time continues to study music, performing on an open concert veranda in the central park of the city. It was there that the famous double bass player Vladimir Mikhalev noticed him, having arrived in the city with concerts as part of a symphony orchestra. He liked the young musician's playing, and he invited Yuri to Moscow so that he could continue his musical education. So a young musician ends up in the capital, leaving the institute, and enters first at the Ippolitov-Ivanov music school, and then at the State Conservatory. From this moment his professional career in music begins.
Music and creativity
Yuri began his career in music with performances as part of an ensemble, whose soloist was Emil Gorovets, a famous performer of pop songs in those years.
Malikov graduated from the conservatory in 1969, for a long time his work was associated with the "Mosconcert". During this period, vocal and instrumental ensembles began to appear, in which the vocalists themselves played instruments. Having heard the first performances of VIA, Malikov decides to organize his own team in a completely new format. He managed to do this only a year later, after a trip to Japan, where Yuri managed to earn enough money and buy new equipment for the future team.
An audition for the new ensemble was announced immediately after Malikov's return to Moscow. The group was formed, and already at the beginning of 1971, the whole country started talking about VIA "Gems", as Yuri called his team. The first performance of VIA took place on the radio, in the program "Good morning!" Their songs immediately became hits and sounded from TV screens and on the air of the All-Union Radio. Already in 1972, VIA was invited to the song festival held in Dresden.
Gems very quickly became popular throughout the country. Kind, uncomplicated poems penetrated the hearts of listeners, and the melody could be hummed constantly.
The composition of the ensemble was selected only by Malikov. He found young and talented musicians and performers in music schools, amateur groups and in cities where he toured. Many famous performers began their creative careers as part of "Gems": A. Glyzin, V. Dobrynin, V. Kuzmin, V. Vinokur.
The work of musicians attracts many famous songwriters and composers who begin to write new poems and music for them. Among them were: R. Rozhdestvensky, L. Derbenov, M. Plyatskovsky, E. Hanok, V. Shainsky, D. Tukhmanov, M. Fradkin and many others.
VIA tours are held throughout the Soviet Union, collecting huge halls and stadiums. All performances are accompanied by a full house, and the favorite song is "My address is the Soviet Union", with which the musicians begin and end their performances. Their melodies were recognized immediately, and the songs "I'll take you to the tundra", "Good omens", "This never happens again", "Don't be sad" became hits for many years.
Choosing young performers for his ensemble, Yuri Malikov drew attention to a blond young man with an open Russian face and excellent vocal abilities. It was Valentin Dyakonov, who later became the leading soloist of "Gems".
Malikov was not mistaken in his choice. The whole country fell in love with the singer, he had hundreds of fans, and the success of the collective was largely due to this particular musician. But in 1975, a conflict occurs between Malikov and Dyakonov, which led to the departure of most of its composition from the team. The musicians announced a kind of boycott to the leader, hoping that he will return them to the ensemble after an apology. But Malikov decided differently. He gathered a new line-up of the group, inviting Vladimir and Elena Presnyakovs to become soloists.
In the early 1990s, new bands, a new musical format and new idols of the public appeared on the stage. "Gems" are no longer so in demand and are taking part in various concert performances less and less.
In 1992, Malikov decides to disband the team. The group got together again only in 1996, on their anniversary. Having updated the repertoire and made new arrangements of the songs loved by the audience, "Gems" again began to perform at concert venues. The head of the team today is Yuri Malikov.
Personal life of a musician
Yuri's wife is Lyudmila Mikhailovna Vyunkova. They met in 1969. Yuri saw his future wife in the music hall, where she worked as a dancer. It was love at first sight. The husband and wife have lived together all their lives and have never parted.
The couple had two children. Son - Dmitry Malikov, a well-known musician and singer throughout the country, and daughter - Inna Malikova, producer, actress and soloist of the "New Gems" group. The famous grandfather hopes that his grandchildren, and there are four of them in the family, will continue the musical dynasty.
Yuri Malikov made a huge contribution to the development of a new musical direction, which became popular in the USSR.
In 2018, Yuri Fedorovich celebrated his anniversary. For his 75th birthday, a documentary film about the musician's work - "The Gems of His Life" was filmed.
