Valeriya

This article is about the Russian singer. For other people bearing the name, see Valeria (given name).

Valeriya Валерия
File:Valeriya Russian singer.jpg
Born	Alla Yurievna Perfilova (Алла Юрьевна Перфилова) (1968-04-17) April 17, 1968 Atkarsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Alma mater	Gnessin State Musical College
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1992-present
Awards
Website	http://www.valeriya.net/

Valeriya (Russian: Валерия) is a stage name of Alla Yurievna Perfilova (Russian: Алла Юрьевна Перфилова, born April 17, 1968 in Atkarsk), a Russian singer.

Biography

Early years

Valeriya was born on the April 17, 1968 in a small town Atkarsk (Saratovsky region) in middle Russia in a family of classical musicians. She studied piano at the only musical school in the town where her father Yuri Ivanovich was a director and her mother Galina Nikolaevna was a teacher. Since her early childhood Valeriya knew that she wanted to be a singer.

Career

Beginning

In 1985 Valeriya left her hometown and moved to the capital of Russia. In Moscow she entered the most famous music academy in Russia - Gnesin Academy of Music - and successfully graduated from it in 1990. Among her teachers were People’s Artistes of Russia: professor Iosif Kobzon and Gelena Velikanova.

In 1989 Valeriya recorded her first album in English “The Taiga Symphony”. At the same time she recorded an album of traditional Russian romances “Pobud’ so mnoi” (“Stay with me”) which was released by “Olympia Disk” UK company.

At the beginning of her career Valeriya took part in various contests for young singers. In 1992 she won the first prize in a national TV contest “Morning Star”, in 1992 she won an international contest “Bratislavskaya Lira” and got an Audience Choice Award at “Yurmala-92” festival.

1990s

In 1993 Valeriya began to work on her studio album “Anna” together with her husband Alexandr Shulgin who was also her manager and as well as her song writer.

At the end of December, 1995 Valeriya released “Moya Moskva” (“My Moscow”) single and in 1996 she presented to the public her album “Anna” that had been staying on top of various charts for quite a long time and made the singer widely popular. From artistic point of view, 'Anna' was Valeriya's masterpiece which she was never able to reach in the future. The same year Valeriya became a teacher at the Gnesin Academy of Music.

In 1997 Valeriya finished her album “Familia. Chast’ 1” (“Family name. Part 1”). Later the singer released several successful albums ("Glaza Tsveta Neba" 2001) but in 2001 she suddenly left the stage because of difficulties with her manager and family circumstances. In April, 2003 the contract between Valeriya and her manager was legally terminated.

2000s

Only after a long period of silence Valeriya found courage to get back on stage. On April 7, 2003 she signed a contract with a famous manager Iosif Prigozhin and his company “NOX Music”.

In 2003 Valeriya released her new long-expected album “Loveland” which sales exceed those of all her previous albums. In 2004 Valeriya got the Best Female Artiste awards from the two main national music channels – MuzTV and MTV Russia. Later she got numerous Golden Grammophone awards and an MTW RMA Award for the Best Song.

In 2005 under the President’s decree Valeriya was awarded a title of “Honoured Artiste of Russia”. In the Forbes magazine list of 50 most highly paid people in movie, sport, literature and music industry Valeriya was ranked 9th (August, 2005).

Valeriya has her own jewellery and perfume lines – “De Leri”.

In 2006 Valeriya’s autobiography “Life, Tears and Love” was published. In the book for the first time she revealed shocking details of her marriage with Alexandr Shulgin.

In April 2006 Valeriya released a new album “Nezhnost’ moya” (“My Tenderness”) and began to prepare her new concert program. In September she went on the album’s promo tour during which she gave more than 10 concerts in Russia and over 30 shows abroad. The tour was concluded with a grand sold-out show at a huge Olimpisky stadium in Moscow in November.

In March 2007 Valeriya released a new album “Out Of Control” that was recorded in two versions: English and Russian. The album shows some great collaborations with outrageous producers and musicians such as Ray St. John (the author of Sade’s “Smooth Operator”), David Richards (record producer)(producer of several Queen’s albums), Chantal Kreviazuk (the author of hits performed by Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani). One of the tracks is a cover version of famous disco hit “Stayin' Alive” sang by the legendary Bee Gees. Valeriya recorded the track together with one of the Gibb brothers – Robin Gibb.

In 2008 Valeriya became a goodwill envoy for the Russian Federation on behalf of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an agency she has teamed up with for the past year to combat human trafficking. Valeriya’s anti-trafficking clips already appear on Russian television and she plans to dedicate some of her concerts around Europe next year to raising public awareness of the problem.

Valeriya was a member of a jury in the Russian version of famous TV show “X-Factor”. She is regularly invited as a judge to the International contest for young performers “New Wave” in Jūrmala.

In January 2009 Valeriya took part in Midem 2009 Rusia! Time for Partnership! day, co-organized with trade publication Billboard Russian Federation. She gave a show at The Midem Opening Night Party Russia at "Palais des Festivales" in Cannes.

March - April 2009 Valeriya was a special guest at Simply Red "The Greatest Hits" Tour in the UK.

In 2010, Valeriya joined forces with Avon as a celebrity judge for Avon Voices, Avon’s first ever global, online singing talent search for women and songwriting competition for men and women.

Personal life

Valeriya has been married three times. Her first husband was Leonid Yaroshevsky, her second husband was Alexandr Shulgin. She is currently married with Iosif Prigozhin. Valeriya has three children: Anna, Artemy and Arseny, whose father is her second husband.

In July 2014 she was banned from entering Latvia because of alleged "through words and actions having contributed to the undermining of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Discography

Albums

• 1992 — "The Taiga Symphony"
• 1992 — "Pobud’ so Mnoi" (Be With Me)
• 1994 — "Moya Moskva" (My Moscow)
• 1995 — "Anna"
• 1997 — "Familia. Chast’ 1" (Family Name. Part 1)
• 1999 — "Samoye Luchoe" (The Very Best)
• 2000 — "Perviy Internet Albom"
• 2001 — "Glaza Tsveta Neba" (Eyes Of Colour Of Heaven)
• 2003 — "Strana Lyubvi" (Loveland)
• 2006 — "Nezhnost’ Moya" (My Tenderness)
• 2008 — "Nepodkontrolno/Out Of Control" (the album was released in both Russian and English)
• 2010 — "Vo Mne Moya Lubov'" (My Love Inside Of Me)
• 2010 — "Best of 2003-2010"

Singles

• "The sky belongs to me" 1992
• "Stay with me" 1992
• "My Moscow" 1995
• "S dobrim Utrom!" / "Good Morning!" 1995
• "Moskva slezam ne verit" 1995
• "Samolet" / "Airplaine" 1995
• "Obichnie Dela" / "Simple Stuffs" 1995
• "Noch nezhna" 1997
• "Popolam" 1997
• "O tom chto bilo" 1997
• "Jal" 1997
• "Ty gde to tam" 1999
• "Tsvety" 1999
• "Snowstorm" 2000
• "Riga - Moscow" 2000
• "Taju" / "I'm melting" 2000
• "Ne obijay menya" 2001
• "Ne obmanyvai" 2001
• "Bolshe chem zhizn" 2001
• "Malchiki ne plachyt" 2001
• "Bila lubov" 2003
• "Chasiki" 2003
• "Pereley voda" 2003
• "Raduga duga" 2003
• "Cherno Beliy Tsvet" 2003
• "Obo mne ne vspominay" 2003
• "Ti grustish" - Valeriya and Stas Pjekha 2004
• "Otpusty menya" 2006
• "Prosto tak" 2006
• "Malenkiy samolet" 2006
• "Ot lubvi do razluky" 2006
• "Ty poimesh" 2006
• "Nejnost moya" 2006
• "Rasstavanie" - Valeriya and Stas Pjekha 2006
• "Break It All" 2007
• "Mi vmeste" 2008
• "Chelovek dojdya" 2008
• "The Party's Over" 2008
• "Wild" 2008
• "Stayin' Alive" - Valeriya and Robin Gibb 2008
• "Nikto kak ty" 2009
• "Back to Love" 2009
• "All That I Want" 2010

Video

• Stay with Me 1993
• The Taiga Symphony 1993
• "Ottsvely Khrizantemy" 1994
• "Tsvety" 1994
• "Kak khoroshi te ochy" 1994
• "Ne pozabyd bilye uvlecheniya" 1994
• "Tolko raz bivaet v jizny vstrecha" 1994
• "Merry Christmas to the world" 1994
• "Moya Moskva" 1995
• "Samolet" 1995
• "S dobrym utrom" 1995
• "Moskva slezam ne verit" 1995
• The Taiga Symphony & Stay with Me 1997
• Familiya & Anna 1997
• "Noch nezhna" 1997
• "Popolam" 1997
• "Jal" 1997
• "Riga - Moscow" 2000
• "Snowstorm" 2000
• "Tau" 2001
• "Bila lubov" 2003
• Love land 2004
• "Ti grustish" -Valeriya and Stas Pjekha 2004
• "Malenkiy Samolet" 2005
• "My Tenderness" 2006
• "Rasstavanie" - Valeriya and Stas Pjekha 2006
• Mega-concert in Olympic Stadium 2007
• "Break it all" (directed by Kamel Ouali) [2007]
• "Wild" (directed by Alan Badoyev) [2008]
• "The party's over" (directed by Harvey B. Brown) [2008]
• "Back to love" (directed by Justin Kerrigan) [2009]
• "Kapelkoyu" ("Капелькою") (directed by Alexander Igudin) [2010]
• Валерия и Николай Басков - Сохранив любовь [2011]

Main сoncerts

• 1995 - First concert at Concert Hall "Gorbunova"
• 7-8.12.1996 - "Familia" at Concert Hall "Oktyabrsky"
• 18-19.09.2001 - "Glaza Tsveta Neba" at Concert Hall "Russia"
• 2003 - "Love Land" at Kremlin Palace
• 18.11.2006 - "My Tenderness" at Concert Hall "Olimpic"
• 8.01.2009 - Outward Bound Trust presents One Night Only: An Evening Celebrating The Bee Gees with Robin Gibb and his friends.
• 18.01.2009 - Midem 2009 in Cannes, concert at "Palais des Festivals"
• 24.03.2009 - 9.04.2009 Simly Red an Valeriya on Tour in UK
• 24.03.2009 - Glassgow "Braehead Arena"
• 26.03.2009 - Cardiff "Cardiff Arena"
• 27.03.2009 - "Sheffield Arena"
• 28.03.2009 - Birmingham "LG Arena"
• 30.03.2009 - Bournemouth
• 31.03.2009 - "Brighton Centre"
• 2.04.2009 - London "The O2"
• 3.04.2009 - London "The O2"
• 5.04.2009 - Manchester "Evenning News Arena"
• 6.04.2009 - Glasgow "Clyde Auditorium"
• 7.04.2009 - Newcastle "Metro Radio Arena"
• 9.04.2009 - Nottingham "Trent FM Arena"
• 30.04.2009 - Kremlin Palace

Books

• 2006 - Autobiography “Life, Tears and Love” ISBN 5-91181-135-9
• 2010 - ”Yoga with Valeriya” ISBN 978-5-699-49341-8

Awards

• 1992 — Winner of the Morning Star Russian TV contest
• 1992 — Winner of the international contest “Bratislavskaya Lira”
• 1992 — Audience Choice Award at the “Yurmala-92” festival
• 1993 — "Person of the Year" by the official publication of the Russian Union of Journalists
• 1994 — Laureat of the TV contest "The Song of The Year"
• 1995 — Laureat of the TV contest "The Song of The Year"
• 2000 — "A Hundred-pood Hit single from Hit-FM" ("Стопудовый хит от Хит-FM".)
• 2000 — Laureat of the TV contest "The Song of The Year"
• 2000 — "Golden Gramophone" national prize
• 2001 — "Radio favorite of the year" nomination of the "Alexander Popov Professional National Prize" in radio broadcasting
• 2001 — "Record- 2001" - Riga-Moscow
• 2001 — Laureat of the TV contest "The Song of The Year"
• 2003 — "The most popular and most beautiful Russian singer" of 2003 named by weekly magazine "7 Days"
• 2003 — Valeriya was decorated with the Order "For the Revival of Russia"
• 2003 — "Golden Gramophone" national prize
• 2003 — Laureat of the TV contest "The Song of The Year"
• 2003 — Laureat of the contest "Delovye Ludy 2003"
• 2004 — "Best Female Act" "Muz-TV Awards 2004"
• 2004 — "Best Female Act" "MTV Russian Music Awards 2004"
• 2004 — "Record - 2004"
• 2004 — "Golden Gramophone" national prize
• 2004 — Laureat of the music festival "Novye pesny o glavnov"
• 2005 — The best duet - MTV Russia Award (Valeriya and Stas Pieha - Ti grustish)
• 2005 — Awarded the Mariinskiy Order for Professional Achievements
• 2005 — President of the Russian Federation gives Valeriya a title “The Honoured Artist of Russia”
• 2005 — "Golden Gramophone" national prize
• 2006 — "Golden Gramophone" national prize
• 2007 — "Record - 2007"
• 2007 — Laureat of the TV contest "The Song of The Year"
• 2007 — Golden Gramophone national prize
• 2008 — "Golden Gramophone" national prize
• 2008 — National Priz "Ovatsiya"
• 2008 — Laureat of "ZD Awards" ("Best Artist", "Best Video")
• 2010 — "Best Artist" "ZD Awards"

External links

• Official website
• Official English website
• Valeriya on MySpace
• Valeriya discography at Discogs
• Russian singer Valeriya on YouTube
• Lyrics with English Translations
• Valeriya at the Forbes
• Concert of Valeriya in Olympic Stadium, Moscow