Alexander Gradsky personal life children. Alexander Gradsky: biography, personal life, family, wife, children - photo

“Look around, stranger passerby. I know your incorruptible gaze” - this composition is known to every Soviet person. And, listening to her, many see Alexander Gradsky with their own eyes. The song is very popular and has been covered by many performers - Joseph Kobzon, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Edita Piekha. The best performance of this hit was still awarded to Gradsky. Of course, this man can be called a cult personality in our show business. He is a composer, a singer, the founder of Russian rock and roll, and a theater and film artist. Despite his age, the talented performer continues to amaze his fans. His participation in the jury in the show project “The Voice” was appreciated by many viewers.

https://youtu.be/wQLuANXglXE

The childhood and youthful life of Alexander Gradsky

The future rock star was born on a November day in 1949 in a small town near Chelyabinsk. In 2018, the artist will turn 69 years old. Despite his advanced years, he is full of enthusiasm, actively engaged in creativity, raising children and devoting a lot of time to his family.

Alexander grew up in an intelligent family. His mother is the famous actress Tamara Gradskaya, his father is a mechanic. Despite the misalliance in the professional sphere, the family lived amicably. From early childhood, his parents tried to instill in the boy a love of music. At the age of 8, he already began attending a music school in Moscow, where the family moved in 1957. At first the boy disliked playing the violin; he was more interested in literature and the humanities. But he grew up to be a purposeful and persistent guy, and therefore did not give up his music studies.

At the age of 14, having become interested in the Beatles, a turning point came in his life, and he completely decided to connect his future life with a career as a musician. After graduating from school, Gradsky entered the Gnessin School, and subsequently graduated with honors. In 1965, the young man became the vocalist of the pop group “Cockroaches”. The first popular track was recorded by him as part of this group. In addition to their compositions, the group became famous for singing Elvis Presley songs.

Personal life of Alexander Gradsky

As for the personal life of the talented composer, it is very stormy and eventful. He managed to be in an official marriage only 3 times, and now he lives in a civil marriage. True, he was not very lucky with his chosen ones; his family life ended too quickly. But that was before, and now Alexander Gradsky and his wife Marina Kotashenko have been married for more than 10 years, and I think this is the last marriage. He also has children - sons Daniel, Alexander and daughter Maria.

Gradsky's wives

The performer's first official marriage lasted only three days. Alexander married Natalya Smirnova. Unable to withstand his quarrelsome nature, a couple of days after the wedding, she went to the performer’s friend Gleb May, with whom she lives to this day.

For the second time, Alexander married Anastasia Vertinskaya, a famous actress.

In her interviews, she calls her ex-husband nothing less than “Gadsky.”

Their marriage lasted only 4 months.

In 1980, Gradsky married again. This time Olga Fartysheva became his chosen one. The singer often calls this marriage a guest marriage, and therefore the longest.

Throughout the entire family union, which lasted 20 years, the couple lived in different apartments. In his marriage to Olga, Alexander had two children - Daniel and Maria. In 2004, Gradsky again changed his life partner. This time it is a young model - Marina Kotashenko. He is still happy with her.

In his interview, Gradsky says that the secret of such a long relationship with Marina lies in understanding each other perfectly. According to the horoscope, the lovers are both Scorpios; they “bite” violently and make up quickly.

Children of Gradsky

The family of Alexander Gradsky today is his wife Marina and son Alexander. However, the performer also communicates closely with children from a previous marriage. Maria, his daughter, was seen by many in the “Voice” project. She is a successful art manager and TV presenter.

The composer's eldest son Danil is a businessman with an economic education. In addition to doing business, he is interested in extrasensory perception and is a fan of Vita Mano, an American psychic who took part in the “Battle of Psychics.”

The performer’s youngest son is still small, he is now 3 years old. In photos on social networks you can often see a happy Gradsky with his young wife and little son.

Alexander Gradsky is one of the few Soviet artists who had the opportunity to work with such star idols as Liza Minnelli and Charles Aznavour.

https://youtu.be/OEfYOKsrg94

The artist’s discography includes hundreds of songs; viewers consider the most popular:

• "How young we were";
• “How beautiful this world is”;
• “We cannot live without each other”;
• "The Bird of Happiness";
• "Closing the circle."

Gradsky's first wife, Natalya Smirnova, married him back in 1973, while a student. Alexander was then a member of the group “Skomorokhi”. Gradsky himself calls this marriage a “youth act.” At that time, the young people were in love with each other, but at some point the feelings began to cool and Alexander offered to refresh them by registering an official marriage.

The wedding took place, but soon the feelings completely faded away. The newlyweds parted as friends just three months after the wedding.

Anastasia Vertinskaya

Three years after his first marriage, in 1976, Gradsky married again. This time his chosen one was the talented actress Anastasia Vertinskaya. They met at a party with friends. Alexander immediately began to actively court the bright woman, but she did not pay attention to him.

Six months after the first meeting, Gradsky gave a concert near Alushta. At that time, Anastasia was vacationing with relatives and friends in a neighboring village. As soon as I found out that her longtime fan was giving a concert nearby, she immediately went to see him.

When Vertinskaya arrived, the concert had long ended. Alexander had already managed to get enough and sat on the seashore, wondering whether he should swim or not. The girl appeared before him in an old dressing gown and cracked glasses, so Gradsky did not immediately recognize her. From that moment on, the musician and actress began a relationship.

It so happened that they returned from Crimea separately from each other: Gradsky by car, Vertinskaya by plane. On the way home, Alexander's car was involved in an accident. Nastya, as soon as she found out about this, found him and took him to her place. Since then, they began to live together and got married, but the marriage did not last long. After a couple of years, they became strangers to each other, and in 1980 they filed for divorce. By that time, the singer already had a new passion.

Gradskaya Olga Semenovna (Fartysheva)

Like his first wife, she married Alexander while a student at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. They met at the Shchukin School at a performance, after which Gradsky’s friends, together with a new acquaintance, went to his party. Alexander and Olya began to communicate, their relationship began and in 1980 they got married.

At the time of their marriage, Olga was expecting a child from Alexander and, despite the terrible living conditions, she kept him for her future husband. And the conditions were truly unsuitable for living together: Gradsky then lived in a inferior apartment, Olga in a dormitory.

But, despite the difficulties of the first years, the couple lived together for 23 years and divorced only in 2001 on the initiative of Olga, who fell in love with another man and chose to throw in her lot with him.

During the marriage, Olga gave birth to Alexander a son, Daniil Gradsky (1981), and a daughter, Maria Gradskaya (1986). The son is currently a musician and entrepreneur, lives in Moscow. The daughter is an automated workplace manager and TV presenter in Miami.

Marina Kotashenko

Less than three years had passed since the divorce, when Alexander found himself a new wife - Marina Kotashenko. The acquaintance was banal: a musician, driving down the street, saw a beautiful woman through the car window and invited her for a ride. And although at that moment he was driving from the construction site in work clothes, the girl agreed to take his phone. And then I called him back a couple of weeks later.

At the time of their acquaintance, Marina had absolutely no idea who Gradsky was. It’s not surprising, because almost her whole life was spent in Ukraine.

Marina was born in Kyiv in 1984 and the age difference with Alexander was 31 years. At school, the girl attended a modeling school, but graduated from college with a degree in law. Then she decided to move to Moscow to try her luck in the modeling business.

After only a year of meeting Gradsky, Marina moved to live with him, and in 2009 she entered VGIK. After graduating from the institute, she was taken to the workshop of Vsevolod Shilovsky, where she began to play on the theater stage. Since 2010, she began to be invited to film roles.

Simultaneously with her acting career, Marina also built a modeling career. From 2010 to 2014, she was the most popular model in Moscow - a blue-eyed blonde with an ideal figure (87-60-90) and a height of 176 cm was angelically beautiful. In 2014, she took a break due to pregnancy: Marina gave birth to Gradsky’s son Alexander, and in 2018 another son, Ivan. The birth took place in one of the best clinics in New York under the supervision of first-class doctors.

Despite 14 years of marital happiness, Alexander and Marina are in no hurry to register their relationship, preferring to live in an unofficial marriage. Marina maintains friendly relations with the children from her third marriage despite the fact that she is their same age.

The married couple lives in the Moscow region, in the village of Novoglagolevo. Alexander earns money by giving vocal lessons and writing music. He hosts the show “The Voice” and runs his own theater, “Gradsky Hall”. The wife raises children and runs the household. A nanny and numerous staff help her with this. They communicate with journalists rarely and reluctantly, trying not to talk too much about the family and each other.

In one of her few interviews in 2017, Marina spoke about her eldest son as an unusually talented child. Already at the age of three, the child learned to play a specially purchased children's guitar and has an absolute ear for music. The couple want to further develop their son’s abilities and even plan to send him to Alla Pugacheva’s school.

Biography, life story of Alexander Borisovich Gradsky

Gradsky Alexander Borisovich - singer, composer, poet.

Childhood and youth

Alexander Gradsky was born on November 3, 1949 in the city of Kopeisk, Chelyabinsk region. His father Boris Abramovich Fradkin worked as an engineer at a factory, his mother Tamara Pavlovna Gradskaya was an actress in the drama theater. At one time, she was invited to play at the Moscow Art Theater, but she was forced to leave with her husband to the Urals, where he was assigned after graduation.

The Gradskys returned to Moscow in 1957. Alexander's father worked at a factory (mechanical engineer), his mother led theater clubs, and then was a literary employee at the Theater Life magazine. Due to the excessive employment of his parents, Alexander lived with his grandmother in the Moscow region, in the village of Rastorguevo, Butovo district, before school.

In Moscow, the family lived for several years until the early death of the mother (1963) in an 8-meter basement on the corner of Frunzenskaya Embankment in the “company” of 9 other families. By the way, it was the untimely death of Tamara Pavlovna that became the reason why Alexander changed his last name (Fradkin) to his mother’s maiden name. Thus, he wanted to pay tribute to his loved one. From 1958 to 1965, at the insistence of his parents, Gradsky studied violin at a music school (teacher “student of E.F. Gnessina” V.V. Sokolov). The following fact speaks about how good this teacher was: when Sokolov, for some purely everyday reasons, was forced to move to the less prestigious school named after. , almost his entire “Gnessin” class left behind him. The boy really liked music classes at school, but the need for many hours of home exercises was depressing.

In secondary school, relationships with subjects developed immediately. Sasha did not like all mathematical disciplines, physics and chemistry, but history and literature immediately became his element. He voraciously read prose and poetry, and at the age of thirteen he wrote his first poem. Early (for those times) he became acquainted with Western music (B. Haley), on the Soviet stage he gave preference to songs performed by L. Ruslanova, and was fond of classical singing (Caruso, Chaliapin, Gigli,).

CONTINUED BELOW

All this was subsequently reflected in his writing and singing style. Already while studying at school, Gradsky tried his hand at school evenings, sang, accompanying himself on guitar and piano, played in a theater group...

At the end of 1963, Gradsky appears at the Moscow State University interclub and sings with a group of Polish students “Cockroaches” at several concerts (the repertoire included two blues and one rock and roll). The first song that Alexander Gradsky performed as part of “Cockroaches” was A. Babajanyan’s twist “The Best City on Earth.”

1964 - the time of moving to a more or less decent apartment and... ... At this time, the decision was made to become a musician, singer, guitarist, composer, poet, in a word - Alexander Gradsky...

First steps

In 1965, A. Gradsky and Mikhail Turkov organized a group called “Slavs”. Later they were joined by Viktor Degtyarev (bass guitar) and Vyacheslav Dontsov (drums). Two months later - Vadim Maslov (electric organ). "Slavs" became the third Soviet rock group in time of creation (after "Brothers" and "Falcons"), which became famous and popular (lasted in this composition for no more than a year). The group's repertoire consisted almost entirely of songs and. Alexander Gradsky decided that only the Russian language should be the basis of his future music and songs, hence his creation of the group “Skomorokhi” (1966), focused exclusively on songs and compositions of his own composition in Russian.

In 1965, another significant event occurred: Gradsky wrote one of his famous early songs, “Blue Forest,” which later became his calling card. At the same time, he continues to work with Degtyarev and Dontsov in a group called “Scythians”. Initially, this group consisted of Sergei Sapozhnikov (bass guitar), Yuri Malkov (drums) and Sergei Dyuzhikov (guitar) plus Gradsky. Landmarks: instrumental (big beat) music. A couple of months later, Sapozhnikov and Malkov are replaced by Degtyarev and Dontsov, then Yuri Valov (later a member of the American group “Sasha and Yura”) comes in instead of Gradsky. It is interesting that after the departure of A.G. From "Skifs" his relationship with Dontsov and Degtyarev did not end; on the contrary, they organized a group called "Los Panchos" and until 1968 they played Western hits at dances in clubs and schools.

The first “Skomorokhs” (except for Alexander Gradsky) were Vladimir Polonsky (drums), who subsequently played for a long time in VIA “Veselye Rebyaty”, and (piano), he also ended up in VIA “Veselye Rebyaty”, after which he made a solo career. The uniqueness of this group was, first of all, that they "they walked along paths unknown to anyone before". Gradsky determined the “purity” of the idea, but otherwise everyone was equal. Songs were performed (“Alyonushka” and “Grass-murava”), as well as hits by bass guitarist Yuri Shakhnazarov (“Memoirs” and “Beaver”), who joined the lineup a little later. Immediately after this he was drafted into the army and never returned to the group...

The eternal lack of money to purchase equipment pushes the band's musicians to work in philharmonic societies. Gradsky accepts the offer of the then aspiring composer and pianist David Tukhmanov and goes on short tours around the country, playing the guitar and carefully not showing vocals, so as not to “expose himself.” Sometimes (without Tukhmanov) Polonsky joined him, sometimes they worked on a trip, and A.G. conquered Moscow with Los Panchos; in 1968, Gradsky even got a temporary job at the famous VIA "Electron", where he replaced Valery Prikazchikov on lead guitar, but again did not sing...

In two or three years, he traveled almost half of the Union with a wide variety of repertoires and with a variety of musicians and soloists, and almost never sang anywhere... Only once, to the roar of a stunned audience, he sang a solo concert instead of a sick philharmonic soloist, calling himself by a false name ...

This was the idea to earn money for equipment while traveling, then come to Moscow, prepare a repertoire and produce Russian rock and roll...

Training, success

1969 is the year of A. Gradsky’s admission to the State Medical Pedagogical Institute named after. Gnessins to the faculty of solo singing to teacher L.V. Kotelnikova. Subsequently, he improves his skills in N.A.’s class. Verbova. Chamber class teacher – G.B. Orentlicher; in the opera class such masters as S.S. worked with him. Sakharov, N.D. Spiller and M.L. Meltzer. Gradsky began a parallel solo career, performing alone with a guitar. This time includes “The Ballad of the Poultry Farm”, “Buffoons” and the small rock opera “The Fly-Tsokotukha”.

A significant period begins when Gradsky, in fact, becomes one of the first experimenters in rock with texts in Russian (his own and those of famous poets). He also turns to Russian folklore.

In 1969, the “Skomorokhs” still played as a three-piece (A.G. plus Polonsky and Shakhnazarov), in 1970 they were joined by Alexander Lerman, an intellectual, linguist and professional musician, leader of the group “Winds of Change” (later with Yu. Valov worked in the USA in the group "Sasha and Yura", while simultaneously teaching linguistics at an American university), and instead of V. Polonsky, who moved to the VIA "Jolly Fellows", came the breathtaking drummer Yuri Fokin (then left for the USA, a little later became priest of the Russian Orthodox Church in a parish near New York). This is the star group cast of “Skomorokhov”. They freely sang songs of their own composition in three or four voices. Moscow was conquered once and for all. There were no equals, as they say. Unfortunately, almost no records from that period have survived...

Serious creative activity

At the end of 1971, A. Lerman and Yu. Shakhnazarov (later the founder of the group "" of the Lenin Komsomol Theater, with whose name all subsequent musical successes of Lenkom are associated, a man who then worked as the head of the music group) left 10 days before the start of the All-Union Festival in Gorky Gradsky and Fokin...

Fokin brings pianist Igor Saulsky, the son of a famous composer and jazzman, to Gradsky, and on the Moscow-Gorky train, Gradsky teaches Igor how to play the bass guitar and at the All-Union festival of beat groups “Silver Strings” in Gorky, sharing first place with Chelyabinsky “ ”, “Skomorokhi” won 6 first prizes out of 8. And three of them – “for guitar”, “for vocals” and “for composition” - were received personally by Gradsky. All the previous seven years fit into twenty minutes of a fantastic show on the stage of the Gorky Palace of Culture. After the festival, the group is joined from time to time by flautist, pianist and vocalist Gleb May, who later made a career as a composer, and the magnificent drummer from Yerevan Armen Chaldranyan...

The period of the first sound recording experiments begins. One of the jury members of the Gorky competition, musicologist Arkady Petrov, who was working at the Yunost radio station at that time, organized studio recordings of Gradsky and Skomorokhs on the radio at his own risk. Alexander Gradsky was the first among Soviet rock musicians to create a cycle of compositions based on poetry and a kind of encyclopedia of rock styles: from blues to rock and roll (10 years later it was recorded on a record).

At that time it became completely clear: “Skomorokhs” is Alexander Gradsky. The Voice of America and Moscow Radio spoke about him and the group, his first songs were heard throughout the Union.

Since 1972, the group has become Gradsky's individual (along with guitar, vocals, etc.) instrument for the approval of his musical and poetic ideas. Gradsky's first recordings in the studio became the only and first rock compositions of their kind in the USSR, recorded in a studio multi-channel method, in which he acted as a multi-instrumentalist, the author of all the music, some poetry, a super vocalist, who for the first time in the USSR carried out multiple overdubbing of four voices, and one composition (“Only you trust me”) was for the first time recorded by him in its entirety (parts of all instruments and voices)... In the same 1972, at the suggestion of Tukhmanov, he recorded two of his songs for the LP “How beautiful this world is.”

For the first time in the Union, 16-channel equipment was used to record “La Gioconda” and “Once Upon a Time”.

In the same 1972, “Skomorokhs” went on tour to Kuibyshev and Donetsk. At the same time, Yu. Shakhnazarov, G. May, drummer Boris Bogrychev appear in their lineup especially for the trip...

At the end of 1972, next to Gradsky on stage for the first time, the audience saw bass guitarist Yuri Ivanov, who many years later was part of the Skomorokhs as needed.

At the beginning of 1973, Gradsky and Ivanov (I. Saulsky had by that time taken up a number of other projects, playing alternately with different musicians and groups, as well as Yu. Fokin) perform constantly together, changing drummers and inviting Fokin and then Fokin to different concerts. Chaldranyan (over time, Igor Saulsky moved to the USA, making a fantastic career as a professional computer engineer, manager and composer).

Leapfrog with the composition, taking into account that the group (according to A.G.’s conviction) should consist of no more than 4 people, led to a search, and then to the invitation to the group of new members, who, as it turned out, were permanent and forever true friends Alexander Gradsky, with whom he recorded all the main songs, compositions, music for films, performances, vocal suites and much more... Outstanding drummer, superjazzman and stylist Vladimir Vasilkov and one of the most powerful saxophonists and flutists of the Union Sergei Zenko, together with Gradsky and Ivanov composed those “Skomorokhs” who can be heard in the recording and be convinced of the skill of the entire group and each of its members individually.

In 1973, Alexander Gradsky’s first solo EP was released with the compositions “Spain”, “Buffoons”, “Blue Forest”, “Coal Miner’s Girlfriend”. In the same year, at one of the studio recordings, again organized by Arkady Petrov, the director of the future film “Romance of Lovers”, invited by Petrov, appears in the control room. He immediately makes Gradsky an offer to participate in the film, first as a singer, and then as a songwriter, part of the poems and all the music... An unprecedented case at that time: a 23-year-old composer (not a member of the Union of Composers!) receives an order for music for A 2-part musical film by one of the most famous and talented directors of the country... The film was released on the screens of the Union in 1974, in the same year A. Gradsky’s first LP with music from “Romance” was released, for which “Billboard” (international musical supermagazine) awards Gradsky the title “Star of the Year” for 1974 for his outstanding contribution to world music.

In the same year, Gradsky received a diploma from the Institute. Gnessins as an opera and concert chamber singer. Then he became a laureate of the international pop song competition "Bratislava Lyre".

Fame

Career A.G. unfolds at breakneck speed. He gets the opportunity to tour the country, and his concerts are held in crowded halls with enormous public excitement. In huge sports palaces, he performed three to four solo two-hour concerts a day, stunning the audience with a three-octave range of his voice, a completely unusual repertoire for that time, tough, hard rock accompaniment (in those cases when the group “Skomorokhi” was with him), extraordinary acting style, etc. All this work was organized through philharmonic societies and the stamp of official art appeared on Gradsky’s work, i.e. rock music became officially permitted. Few people remember that A.G. broke through this insurmountable wall first, and after him all the other rockers rushed into the gap formed...

In 1974, Gradsky completed work on the song cycle “Reflections of a Fool.”

In 1975, he worked (following the footsteps of "Romance...") on several films, not forgetting about recordings, even participating in projects of other authors (G. Gladkov, V. Terletsky, E. Kolmanovsky, M. Fradkin, M. Minkov and etc.). At the same time, he entered the Moscow Conservatory in the composition class of T.N. Khrennikov and... recorded “How Young We Were” and N. Dobronravov (everyone knows the result...). By the way, this song performed by Gradsky is the only one that was promoted by TV and Radio. All his other works were suppressed and continue to be suppressed, despite any changes in politics and everyday life...

In 1976, Gradsky composed and recorded the first part of the suite “Russian Songs”, and in 1978, on the advice of A. Petrov, he recorded the second part. “Russian Songs” is the first rock record in the USSR (released in 1980), which became one of the most significant works in rock music of that time. The album's style was defined as a "vocal-instrumental suite".

From that time on, Gradsky produced one studio work after another. Vocal suites “Utopia AG”, “Satires”, “Life Itself”, “Star of the Fields”, “Nostalgia”, “Flute and Piano” based on classic poems, “Concert Suite”, “Reflections of a Jester” (collection of recordings 1971-1974 years, in which A.G. proved the possibility of singing in Russian in different rock styles), “Monte Cristo”, “Expedition” based on his poems, the opera “Stadium” (libretto by A.G. and Margarita Pushkina), ballet “Man” (libretto by A.G.), intended for LP, but their release was constantly delayed for obvious reasons... The record here belongs to the suite “Reflections of a Fool”. Despite the release of the single in 1978, the entire work was published 16 (!) years after recording.

A.G. continued touring, songs based on his poems actively appeared in his repertoire, sometimes satirical, sometimes simply dangerous for the existing regime... He wrote a number of articles in defense of the rock music genre, actively polemicizing with retrogrades and... making a bunch of enemies for himself.

New milestone

At one time, Gradsky began teaching. After several years of working at the Gnessin School, he graduates from the course. A few years later, another course was released at the Gnessin Institute. This stage of his work ended with two years of heading the vocal department as a professor at RATI (GITIS). According to him, further teaching was possible only if we had our own class; most likely, we would have to create something like an educational institution...

1980 - the year of death - becomes a turning point for A.G. He completely goes into the category of “Protestants”, mixing tragic satire and dramatic lyrics on a fatal musical basis (“Song about a friend”, “Song about television”, “Monologue of a loaf for 28 kopecks made from premium flour”, “The story of a man who was able to go on vacation to the Canary Islands”, etc.). At first they did not touch him, but then in 1983-84. some troubles did happen, but voice and talent were always taken into account... Gradsky was reluctantly accepted into the Union of Composers only in 1987, and his first trip abroad (to the USA) took place only in 1988 to a conference together with a group of figures from art, cinema and politics. He sang brilliantly at the closing of the conference, and the Americans gave him a 15-minute ovation...

1987 Work at the radio station “Yunost”. Alexander hosts the “Gradsky Hit Parade”. It was there that the songs “ ”, “ ”, “ ”, “Cloudy Edge”, “ ”, “ ”, “ ” were first performed. According to the composer, his hit parade was a confrontation "boring officialdom".

In the same 1988, he already heard a 25-minute ovation addressed to himself and, naturally, to the famous conductor Eug. Svetlanov and his stage partners, participants in the Bolshoi Theater production of “The Golden Cockerel,” one of the most difficult operas to perform. The role of the astrologer, the most difficult role in the world operatic repertoire, A.G. “cracked” like a nut...

By that time, thanks to the support of Valery Sukhorado, director of "Melody", he was releasing almost all of his works in the form of LPs, writing music for the films "The Prisoner of the Chateau d'If" and "The Art of Living in Odessa", thus increasing the number of films with his music and songs up to 38! Since that time, he has gradually reduced his touring activities, completely switching to creating the Theater of Contemporary Music in Moscow. With the support of the Moscow Government, he receives a building in the city center and begins its reconstruction...

The Moscow Theater and Concert Music Association (MTKMO), under his leadership, is implementing a number of complex projects, including: organizing two “crazy” solo concerts in Moscow (January 25, 1990 and March 17, 1995) with the participation of symphony orchestras and Russian orchestras folk instruments, rock bands and their friends in the “workshop”, the release of the “AG Collection”, i.e. 13 CDs with the complete works and recordings of Alexander Gradsky, the creation of two musical films “Anti-Perestroika Blues” (1991) and “Live in Russia” (1996).

The first trips abroad give results. Gradsky worked in joint projects and concerts with such “whales” of Western music as Liza Minnelli, John Denver, Kris Kristofferson, Diana Warwick, Sammy Davis, Grateful Dead, Cindy Peterson in the USA, Germany, Spain, Greece, Sweden. Finally, in 1990, after one of his joint concerts with John Denver in Japan, Gradsky received a contract with VMI (VICTOR), a leading Japanese company, and released two CDs under its label (Metamorphoses and The Fruits From The Cemetery). He also gives several concerts in Japan with a very diverse repertoire, from his own songs in Russian to Western hits and Japanese classical romances... Three of his ballets ("Man", "" and "Jewish Ballad") were staged by the Kyiv Theater ballet (choreographer - G. Kovtun), two more - by the Ice Ballet Theater (artistic director - I. Bobrin). All these performances traveled throughout Europe and America with enormous success. Despite everything, Gradsky did not stop there and persistently continued the construction of his musical theater in the literal and figurative sense.

A television

Gradsky has always been distinguished by his dislike for the big world of show business, for pathos and bohemianism, and has always disliked representatives of the press... However, this did not stop the artist from becoming a mentor to a young performer in the popular television project “The Voice” in 2012. So to speak, Gradsky plunged headlong into that environment from which he had tried to stay away all his life. By the way, his ward Dina Garipova won that project. A year later, Alexander Borisovich took part in the show again.

Personal life

Gradsky first married in his youth to a girl named Natalya. Their family life did not last long - soon the young people realized that they had made a mistake.

Alexander married the second time in 1976 to an actress. Alas, this marriage was also fleeting - after two years they separated, and after another two years an official divorce was filed.

Gradsky was a little more fortunate with his third wife. He lived with a woman named Olga Semyonovna, who bore him two children (in 1981, son Daniel, in 1986, daughter Maria), for twenty-three years.

After his divorce from Olga, Alexander fell madly in love with the charming model Marina Kotashenko. Despite the thirty-year age difference, Gradsky began to court the girl. Over time, they began to live together. In the fall of 2014, Marina gave birth to Alexander’s son. The little one was named after his father.

News from Gradsky Alexander Borisovich

Alexander Borisovich Gradsky, a famous Soviet and Russian composer, one of the founders of Russian rock, recently became a father for the third time. On September 1 of this year, Gradsky’s partner Marina Kotashenko, thirty-three years old...

The future star was born in the small town of Kopeisk, near Chelyabinsk, in November 1949. Since childhood, the boy felt a craving for creativity, and his parents gave him the opportunity to develop in this direction. Dad Boris Fradkin was an ordinary factory engineer, but mother Tamara Gradskaya graduated from GITIS and was a director and actress. To develop the boy’s talents, after moving to Moscow, little Sasha was immediately sent to a music school.

In the capital, they, their parents and grandmother, huddled in an 8-meter basement on Frunzenskaya Embankment with nine other families. But this only strengthened the young talent and gave a goal - to arrange life so that loved ones would not need anything. And in 1964 he managed to move into a normal, comfortable apartment.

Creation

He is a graduate of the Musical Pedagogical Institute named after. Gnesins. Then there was the Conservatory. There were also performances as part of the Polish ensemble “Cockroaches”. After which his own rock band “Slavs” was born. In 1966, the ensemble “Skomorokhi” began to ring throughout the country, and it was he who received the Grand Prix of the All-Union Festival.

Gradsky and the group were talked about on Moscow Radio and the Voice of America. Fame thundered throughout the world. Songs began to be included in radio charts, and he began to tour cities of the Soviet Union with concerts.

An amazing feature: being the author of compositions and poems, the musician also recorded his performances by overdubbing several voices. For example, the work “Only You Believe Me” was born from beginning to end by him alone in multiple persons - Alexander Borisovich performed all the parts, both voice and instrumental.

Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky invited the singer to help in the filming of the film “Romance of Lovers,” and he wrote and performed several songs for him and created the entire arrangement for the film.

Then a solo record was recorded with melodies from the film - this is how Gradsky became “Star of the Year,” wrote the editors of the Billboard publication, making a colossal contribution to global musical history.

The discography of the singer and musician includes more than 40 albums with rock music, film music and songs. In 2003, a unique record “Chrestomatiya” was released, which contains melodies of popular instrumentalists.

Gradsky was invited to write music for many dozens of films. Among them are the classic “The Investigation is Conducted by Experts” and the animated films “The Pass”. He personally recorded songs for many films. There was also a live musical film - the famous “Anti-Perestroika Blues” and “Live in Russia”.

Popular recognition

At the beginning of the third millennium, Gradsky received the People's Artist of Russia and was awarded the title of laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation.

He is so versatile and talented that he even staged his own opera, “The Master and Margarita,” personally performing the arias of four characters. His original opera featured Andrei Makarevich, Oleg Tabakov, Valery Zolotukhin, Gennady Khazanov, Alexander Rosenbaum and other very famous musicians and actors. The opera is published in the format of an old book, inside of which four discs with musical recordings are luxuriously decorated.

Alexander Gradsky can boast of performances with Liza Minnelli, Cindy Peters, Charles Aznavour, Kris Kristofferson, Diana Warwick and others.

Now he runs his own theater in Moscow, Gradsky Hall, which is unofficially called the Gradsky Theater. Musical evenings, award ceremonies and various concerts are held here.

Personal life

The musician does not like to talk publicly about his life. But it is known from his biography that he started a family three times. Gradsky's second wife was actress Anastasia Vertinskaya. In his third marriage, in 1981 and 1986, he had a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Maria.

Despite his age, he fell in love again. This time, the young attractive model Marina Kotashenko. The master's beloved is 31 years younger than him. It was she who gave birth to his son Alexander in 2014.

This blue-eyed, slender blonde immediately won the heart of the music guru. At the time we met, she worked in one of the modeling agencies in the capital and fully supported herself. During the 10 years of their marriage, Marina graduated from VGIK, began acting in TV series, and studied to be a lawyer.

Their marriage is not registered, but they tell journalists that they live in perfect harmony. Gradsky became a father for the third time at the age of 64.

Gradsky Alexander is a singer, poet, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He stood at the origins of Russian rock. People's Artist and Honored Cultural Worker, winner of many awards. He is the director of the theater of the same name.

Born in November 1949 in the city of Kopeisk. At the end of the 50s, the family came to the capital. The greatest influence on his creative personality was his mother, who graduated from GITIS. After her death, Alexander took her surname.

In 1974 he graduated from the Academy of Music. Gnessins in the class of academic singing. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory for a year in the composition department.

In the mid-60s he created the third rock band in the Soviet Union. At the end of the 80s he became a member of the Composers' Union. He is the author of music for almost a hundred films and cartoons, the author of rock operas and many songs.

Personal life

His father is a mechanical engineer, his mother is an actress, director and employee of the Theater Life magazine. Mother's brother Boris Gradsky worked as a soloist in Igor Moiseev's ensemble, composed plays and played various instruments.

For the first time he married Natalya Mikhailovna, but they quickly separated. He married Natalya Vertinskaya for the second time in 1976, but four years later they also divorced. In the same year, he married Olga Semyonovna, from whom a son, Daniel, was born in 1981, and a daughter, Maria, in 1986.

In 2003, this marriage also broke up, and a year later he became friends with Marina Kotashenko, with whom he lives in an unofficial relationship to this day. In 2014, she gave birth to a son, Alexander.

Apartment of Alexander Gradsky

The musician has lived for more than twenty years in a multi-room apartment on Maria Ulyanova Street, 17K2. His children were born here, but he did the renovations only in the early 90s. The renovation took a little over a year and the owner took an active part in it, while simultaneously building his own theater.

The interior turned out to be very bright. A snow-white fireplace with soft sofas and the same snow-white grand piano were installed in the living room. The overall design can be described as discreetly luxurious.

According to CIAN, at Maria Ulyanova, 17K2, there are currently two offers for sale at prices ranging from 13 to 16 million rubles.

After the birth of his second son, he bought a second apartment on Mosfilmovskaya Street, which is more likely intended for work and comfortable rest after it. When remodeling a 30 sq.m. kitchen. meters, the owner decided to invite one of the popular programs about repairs to help.

All the rough work had already been done in the room, so the program specialists only had to think through the design project and bring it to life. One common space was divided into three functional areas: kitchen, dining and relaxation area.

The kitchen apron and the floor under it were laid out of black granite, and the rest of the floors here were laid out with marble slabs. The kitchen set, measuring almost six meters, was made in a Russian factory; the light-colored facade is made of oak with a patina effect and milling.

Gradsky chose the Art Nouveau chandelier for himself. At the beginning of the project, he agreed that he would choose one interior object himself.

Parquet boards were laid in the dining and living areas. At the very beginning, the designer proposed a round table for the dining room, but during the work process they decided to replace it with a square-shaped table, since the owner wanted a more masculine space, with clear and simple lines.

The room has three very wide windows, which, at the owner’s request, were not covered with dark curtains, but only two of them were hung with transparent tulle and light-colored curtains, and the third was left open.

The relaxation area was equipped with a soft sofa with high pillows and a plasma with professional sound equipment. This part is convenient not only to relax, but also to work. The sitting area is separated from the dining area by a long cabinet, which can also serve as a bar counter.

According to CIAN, apartments on Mosfilmovskaya Street cost from 12 to 110 million rubles.