Philipp Kirkorov

Philipp Kirkorov: biography

Philipp Kirkorov is an outstanding representative of the Russian show-business, whose creative potential is immense. During 30 years the pop-king enchants the audience with his musical hits, which are recognized not only in Russia but also in the countries of the post-Soviet area.

A Russian artist of Bulgarian origin is popular as a musical performer, a talented composer, producer and charismatic actor, who never stops surprising the audience.

Philipp Kirkorov was born in April 1976 in the Bulgarian town Varna. It's not surprising, that since young years he was engaged with the art, as he was brought up in the family of the artists. His father - the Armenian Bedros Krikorian, a famous Bulgarian singer, worked with Leonid Utesov, Jury Silantiev, Adi Rosner.

By the words of Bedros Philippovich, they had to change their last name to Kirkorov, do that Philipp could enter the Bulgarian school. His mother - Victoria Markovna Likhacheva grown up in the family of the circus artists and she was the host at the concerts.

The boy spent his childhood in touring performances of his parents. In 1974 his family moved to Moscow, where he went to the first class and attended piano and guitar lessons because at this time he already dreamed of becoming a popular artist. Philipp finished school with distinction and received a gold medal. He tried to enter GITIS, but his attempt failed – the Admission Board of the Musical Comedy Department didn't appraise his talent.

In 1984 future singer began his studies at the State Musical Academy of Gnesinyh. He finished his studies four years later and received the diploma with distinction. Being a student of the first course, in 1985 he performed in the TV program "Shire Krug", where he sang a popular song at that period of time "Alesha" in the Bulgarian language. In such a way he began his creative of the Russian singer and producer.

Songs and music videos

In 1987 the singer was invited to work in the "Leningrad Music-Hall", the director of which was Ilya Rakhlin. At the very time, the singer with his creative group went on tour to Berlin, where he performed in the theater show "Friedrichstadt-Palast". When Philipp returned from the foreign tour, he understood that this work was not for him and quit the Music - Hall.

Soon, the singer got acquainted with the poet and songwriter Ilya Reznik and with the help he made his first steps at the Russian stage. At the "vernissage" of Reznik in 1988, Philipp Kirkorov met Alla Pugacheva, who invited the singer to take part in the "Christmas evenings".

By that time the aspiring singer already performed in Yalta at the first contest in his career and filmed a music video for the song "Carmen". At the same period, Philipp made another important acquaintance with the poet Leonid Derbenev, who later wrote for the singer the songs, which became hits: "Nebo I Zemlya", "Ti, ti, ti", "Nochyu I Dnem", "Atlantida".

Philipp Kirkorov began his solo career in St. Petersburg in 90-s. With his song "Nebo I Zemlya" he got Grand-Prix at the festival "Shlyager-90". Then every song, that he performed, became famous. In 1991 the album "Ti, ti, ti" was sold in the record number of copies, and his music video to the composition "Atlanta" was called the best music video of 1992.

In 1993 his songs "Ti skaji mne, vishnya" and "Marina" became hits. Moreover, he started to tour outside Russia – in Germany, Australia, Canada, Israel. Here he won the first international award "Golden Orpheus" and in the native country he got the honorable title of the "Best singer of the year".

In 1995 Philipp Kirkorov took part in "Eurovision" as a representative from Russia, but he was at the 17th place at this international music contest. Such low result didn't prevent the singer from continuing his brilliant musical career. In Russia, Kirkorov was at the peak of his popularity and he was getting extremely famous rapidly, creating and releasing new hits and music videos.

In 1997 the singer expanded his creative career and became the composer and producer for the young Russian musical performers, and also he became the main expert for the participants of Eurovision. His fosterlings – Angelica Agurbash, Dmitry Koldun and Ani Lorak with the help of their master represented the country with dignity in different years at the international contest.

Next 5 years Philipp Kirkorov was working actively: almost every year he released new songs and music videos. Among his albums are the following:"Ya Ne Raphael", "Primadonna", "Skazi Solncu -"Da", "Edinstvenaya", "Oi, Mama Shika Dam", "Vlubloniy I Bezumno Odinokiy". The singer was at the peak of his popularity at the end of 1990-s. At that time the singer received the second prestigious prize "World Music Awards" (he got his first prize in 1996 for the record number of sold cassettes among the Russian singers, which was amounted as 2 million copies).

In 1999 Philipp Kirkorov took part in the charity programme "Michael Jackson and Friends. What more can I give", where Michael Jackson invited him. In 2000 Kirkorov was producing and acting in different movies. Alongside with this, he continued to perform with his own concert programmes ("Diva", "Korol mambo", "Korol remeikoff", "Prosto podari").

Movies and projects

Philipp Kirkorov had his debut as an actor in 2000, he played the role of the pop - star Evgeny Slavin in the series of melodrama "Beauty Salon".

The next role he got in the movie "Love in the Big City" (2008), in which the Russian star appeared as St. Valentine. The soundtrack to this movie "Prosto podari" by Kirkorov was at the first place in the hit-charts of the country during half of the year. In 2009 and 2013 Kirkorov appeared in the second and third parts of the same movie.

More than once Kirkorov took part in different New Year's musicals. Philipp Bedrosovich played the roles in the movie "Women's happiness", in TV-series "My Fair Nanny" and "Svati 4". Also, he was a host in the morning entertaining author's programme "Morning with Kirkorov", which was on the screen from 2003 till 2005. The singer participated in the awards "Zvukovaya Dorozhka" (2004), in the festival "5 stars" (2005), in the project "The minute of fame", (2010) and "Factor A" (2011, 2012, 2013).

The pop - king didn't limit himself with this. He also conquered the theater stage.

In 2000 he took part in the musical "Metro", what encouraged the musician to leave the Broadway musical "Chicago". The Russian singer both was the producer and actor in this musical, he played the leading role. In Russia, this performance was called "The premiere of the year". "Chicago" was recognized by the American producers. The pop-singer was called the best performer of Billie Flinn, and his portrait in an image of the main character was placed in the Musical's portrait gallery on Broadway.

Eurovision and shows

The King of the pop-music continued to conquer the world of show-business. In 2016 Phillip Kirkorov became the main assistant and producer of the Russian singer Sergey Lazarev, who took part in Eurovision-2016 with the song "You Are The Only One". But the results were very unexpected: according to the spectators voting Lazarev became the sure winner of the contest, but in the summary table, he was at the 3-rd place, as the jury gave the first place in Eurovision-2016 to the Ukrainian singer Jamala.

One more exciting event in the singer's career was the tremendous show of the world level under the title "Me". The project in Kremlin was a performance of the record full house. The singer conquered Russian people with the musical performance, in which tonnes of equipment were used, unique transformer stage, elevators, hundreds of costumes, Led screens of a new generation, with glaring 3D-graphics. Each song in this show had its own unique image, and the fans of the singer heard their favorite hits and new songs, which enchanted the numerous audience.

The composition "Yarkiy Ya" , which Philipp Kirkorov sang in duet with "Diskoteka Avaria", became the hit of 2016: the music video for this song was filmed in the style of the popular game "Pokemon Go" with elements of quest, where the main characters, participants of the band "Diskoteka Avaria", dressed in "pokemons", were walking through the streets of Sochi and were trying to find a rare "Philippon".

Personal life

Personal life of Philipp Kirkorov is not less full and intense than his career. Legends are told about his love affairs. It was said, that Anastasia Stotskaya was his beloved woman. Primadonna of the Russian pop-music Alla Pugacheva was also in the status of the woman he loved. With his one and only official wife the singer got acquainted in 1988 and during next 5 years, he was pursuing her love. Finally, Pugacheva agreed to his proposition.

The marriage of Kirkorov and Pugacheva was registered on the 15th of March, 1994 in St. Petersburg by the Mayor of the northern Russian capital Anatoly Sobchak. Two months later the couple underwent the church wedding ceremony in Jerusalem. This news about the wedding was shocking for all the groupies of Kirkorov because Philipp was 18 years younger than his wife.

The family life of this famous couple was accompanied by all the possible gossips and legends: the details about their marriage, unsuccessful attempts of having a baby, - all this was discussed in the press. Also, it was said that this marriage was just another "project" of Primadonna. In 2005 it was announced about the divorce of Kirkorov and Pugacheva, their marriage lasted for 11 years

Six years later after the divorce, Kirkorov understood, that he couldn't marry anymore. The singer announced, that he couldn't find one more "queen" like Alla Pugacheva, and he wouldn't settle for anything less. Such conclusions made him think about the main mission of each man – the reproduction.

Children

In 2011 the King of pop-music engaged the services of the surrogate mother, who gave birth to his daughter. The girl was called Alla-Victoria in honor of Alla Pugacheva and singer's mother.

Phillip's son Martin - Christin was born in 2012. This name was given to him to honor Philipp's idol Ricky Martin. The pop-king didn't tell any details about the mother of the boy and their relationship.

In 2016 Philipp Kirkorov commented on the gossips, that his son Martin and the son of Anastasia Stotskaya Alexander are brothers. The singer said that their resemblance was just coincidence.

Philipp Kirkorov at present

In April 2017 the star of the Russian bandstand was at the top of the news. Philipp Kirkorov became the guest of the project "Secret for a million", where he solved a secret, which he was concealing during 10 years. In 2004 the artist performed in Atlantic-City at the stage of the casino Trump Taj Mahal, the owner of which was Donald Trump.

At the concert, when Philipp was going down from the stage, he pushed the guard. Thomas Rodgers, who was 70 years old, fell down and was faint.

The elderly man was taken to the hospital and he saves. Though Rodgers got through a couple of operations, he was suffering from headaches and 5 years later he died during routine surgery. The relatives of Thomas took legal actions and accused Kirkorov of the man's death. Philipp Bedrosovich brought to the studio the judgment of the Court of New-Jersey, in which he was accused of killing Rodgers.

The witnesses of the incident admitted, that Kirkorov pushed the man deliberately, he didn't help him to get back on his feet and was laughing while the man was lying on the ground. Philipp Bedrosovich admitted, that he pushed the invisible obstacle as he was blinded by the light.

The judicial investigation lasted for 6 years. Philipp Kirkorov attended the court hearings each half a year and prepared for the worst - to life imprisonment. He even visited the prison to prepare himself emotionally and psychologically for the local environment. The attorney's fees and expenses for the visits to the USA cost the singer a tremendous amount of money.

The Court accused the singer partially, by admitting that the guard broke the instructions and was injured in particular because of his own actions. Kirkorov was justified.

At the programme, Philipp Kirkorov opened up his personal life and called his marriage with Alla Pugacheva "the great times". The TV-host Lera Kudryavtseva and the audience heard, that a couple of celebrities dreamed about children, but "this topic was not the most important". The couple got their stamps in the passports due to the Mayor of St. Petersburg - Anatoly Sobchak. At his initiative in March 1994, Kirkorov and Pugacheva found themselves in the St. Petersburg marriage registry office.

In April 2017, Philipp Kirkorov took part in another rating show - "Today's evening". During the programme, the TV-host Tina Kandelaki told the truth, that their love affair with Phillip could have led to the marriage. They started their romantic relationship after Kirkorov had divorced with Pugacheva.

On the 30th of April, 2017, the pop-king celebrated his 50th anniversary. The celebration gala-concert took place at the stage of the Kremlin palace.

Philipp Kirkorov told Ivan Urgant about the preparations for his anniversary in the TV show "Vecherniy Urgant". Kirkorov was preparing his concert show together with the director Franko Dragone. This idea was born 10 years ago in Los-Angeles on behalf of Celine Dion.

Except for Dragone, the programme was prepared by the American director-choreographer Tony Testa, designer and architect Markos Vinale, lighting designer Alan Lorti, French arranger and musical director Ivan Kassar.

Discography

• 1990 – "Philipp"
• 1990 – "Sinbad-Morehod"
• 1991 – "Ti, ti, ti"
• 1991 – "Nebo I Zemlya"
• 1992 – "Takoi Sakoi"
• 1994 – "Ya Ne Raphael"
• 1994 – "Primadonna"
• 1995 – "Skazi Solncu -"Da"!
• 1998 – "Edinstvennaya"
• 1998 – "Oi, Mama Shika Dam"
• 2000 – "Chelofilia"
• 2001 – "Magico Amor"
• 2001 – "Vlublonniy I Bezumno Odinokiy"
• 2003 – "Neznakomka"
• 2004 – "Duets"
• 2007 – "For You"
• 2011 – "DruGOY"
• 2016 – "Me"

Filmography

• 2000 – "Beauty Salon"
• 2001 – "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka"
• 2003 – "The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"
• 2007 – "Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors"
• 2008 – "Love in the Big City"
• 2009 – "The Golden Key"
• 2009 – "As Cossacks"
• 2009 – "Svati-4"
• 2012 – "Little Red Riding Hood"
• 2013 – "The Three Bogatyrs"

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