Why all Soviet girls were in love with Valery Leontiev and how he looks now

Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the album Valery Leontiev "On the Way to Hollywood". For the author, this record was a fateful turn of fate. The critics also call it album The best of Russian pop music of the 90s. However, the audience somehow coolly reacted to this period of Leontiev’s work.



In the 90s, Leontiev became one of the most famous singers of the domestic stage. His work was gaining popularity, he recorded many new songs, hits. However, new performers began to appear on the stage, and Leontiev gradually began to move to the rank of a singer of the previous generation.

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Leontiev is familiar to the public with his love of experiments. After perestroika, his hands untied, and he went a long way from disco to glam rock and lyrical ballads. But the singer decided not to stop there. He invited the composer Yuri Chernavsky, and together they began recording a new record.

Recording began a couple of months later, in early 1995. The album was produced in Los Angeles by A&M Records. The instruments were recorded by American musicians. So the album really sounds "Hollywood." By the way, this studio wrote such artists as Joe Cocker and Sting, and the label was created by Charlie Chaplin.



A lot of money was invested in this album. Renting a studio and musicians in Hollywood is not cheap. On the other hand, Soviet musicians got to high-quality American equipment, and they managed to record the album in the way that Western professionals do. Leontiev himself said about the album that Hollywood is a kind of bar for every musician.

The most interesting thing is that the album was recorded very quickly, in just a week. This was facilitated by the professionalism of Chernavsky as a composer: as a producer, he motivated Leontiev to give his best.



After the release of the album and video, the singer had to go on tour and tour. For many artists of the USSR, live performances were a very important part of creativity. In addition, people could see their favorite idols live, sing their favorite songs with the artist live. In addition, for the album “On the way to Hollywood” Leontiev made a real show. Inspired by the performances of Michael Jackson, he decided to repeat this in his speeches.

Times change, but time does not stand still. New artists developed, fresh hits appeared. It turned out that you don’t have to go abroad to record an album to make a quality product. A good song can be created at home: with the development of technology and programs for writing and mixing music on the computer appeared a new interesting sound and a very large number of artists.



In addition, Valery Leontiev with this album could not "jump his youth." Of course, the record came out very high-quality, competent in terms of music. The album appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time. The audience was busy with very different music, and most missed this worthy album.



A couple of years after the release of the album, Leontiev stopped spending money on his shows - they became more like ordinary concerts. Perhaps this work was the peak of the musician’s creativity. A kind of Olympus, which he managed to climb. “On the Way to Hollywood” made history, although it did not receive widespread public recognition. It is time to give way to the young, but I also wanted to declare myself. What about Valery Leontiev’s work? Share your favorite song in the comments.