Leonid Nikolayevich Agutin (; born July 16, 1968) is a Russian pop musician and songwriter, Meritorious Artist of Russia (2008).
Personal life
Agutin's mother is Jewish, father is Russian. He was born in Moscow on July 16, 1968. His father was Nikolai Petrovich Agutin, a musician, and his mother was Lyudmila Leonidovna Shkol'nikova, an elementary school teacher. His father was a singer in the Soviet band
VIA music "Golubye Gitary" (Blue Guitars) and worked as a manager for the popular Soviet musical groups "
Vesyolye Rebyata", "Poyushchiye Serdtsa" (Singing Hearts), and "
Pesniary".
Along with receiving a regular school education, the young Agutin also completed a course of musical study on the piano at the Moscow Jazz school "Moskvorechie".
In 1991, Agutin began to tour former Soviet republics as an opening act for other performers. Two years later, he graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Culture. In 1997, Agutin married the stage performer Anzhelika Varum, his second marriage.
Agutin has two daughters, Elisaveta with Varum,
Career
In 1991, Agutin started touring the
Soviet Union with a musical act. He took part in and won the 1992
Yalta international pop music contest, and also won a similar contest in Jūrmala in 1993. Agutin released his first solo album,
Bosonogiy Malchik ("Barefoot Boy") in 1994, which was a success and launched his career.
The album ascended the charts and he won Russian Grammy awards for "Singer of the Year", "Song of the Year", and "Album of the Year". The album included the hits "Hop hey, la la ley" and "Golos visokiy travy" (Sound of the Tall Grass). In 1995, Agutin released his second album, titled "Dekameron". It was another commercial success and, along with
Philipp Kirkorov,
Valeriy Meladze, and
Lubeh, Agutin became one of the most successful recording artists in Russian Grammy balloting.
Cosmopolitan life
Agutin released the album
Cosmopolitan Life with the guitarist Al Di Meola and producer and lyricist
Alex Sino in 2005, which gained success and worldwide recognition as a result of the Montreux Jazz Festival. Following the festival, the Austrian directors
Hannes Rossacher and
Rudi Dolezal of
DoRo Productions made a documentary about the lives of Agutin and Di Meola, called
Cosmopolitan Live, released in February 2008.
Discography
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| Босоногий мальчик | Barefoot Boy | 1994 |
| Декамерон | Decameron | 1996 |
| Летний дождь | Summer Rain | 1998 |
| Compilation | 1998 |
| Служебный роман | Workplace Romance | 1999 |
| Леонид Агутин | Leonid Agutin | 2001 |
| Дежа вю | Deja Vu | 2003 |
| Compilation | 2004 |
| Compilation | 2004 |
| Cosmopolitan Life (with Al Di Meola) | 2005 |
| Любовь. Дорога. Грусть и Радость. | Love. Path. Sadness and Happiness. | 2007 |
| Время последних романтиков | Time of Last Romantics | 2012 |
|
| Тайна склеенных страниц | A Secret of Agglutinated Pages | 2013 |
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External links
