For most foreigners, Alla Pugacheva is a phenomenon; simply the biggest Soviet enigma of them all. An aged, stout woman in baggy clothes and tasteless wigs, singing catchy tunes with what used to be her voice, she comes across as a laughable icon to the average expat. But then again, two hundred and eighty million Soviet citizens can't have been wrong, can they?
Alla actually started out in 1965, finding fame of sorts at the age of sixteen with the song 'Robot'. The way to the top took ten long years. Committees responsible for amateur performance immediately labelled her as 'vulgar and anti-Soviet', and only support from the giants of Soviet show business could help her. Real stardom came later in 1975 with stunning success at the Golden Orpheus song contest in Bulgaria, where the 26-year-old Alla took the grand prix. After that, the hits just wouldn't stop, and all the while she enjoyed a mixed reaction from the critics, hate from the authorities and love from the people.
One obvious reason why Pugacheva was much adored was that she wasn't the typical star with a perfect body and a Hollywood smile. She was one of the people, and, song by song, concert by concert, she wasn't afraid of expressing what was on her mind. At the end of the seventies she was still singing about 'Starry Summers' and Dreams, but by the beginning of the eighties some darker notes started appearing in her lyrics. "People, people, why don't you let me be?" she would sing, "I am tired of being good, I am tired of being bad!".
She had become the ultimate star. Her concerts were packed; her records could compete with ABBA's sales in the Soviet Union. In fact in 1983 two of the Fabulous Four Swedes, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, visited Pugacheva in Moscow, with a very generous offer - a role in their musical with Tim Rice called 'Chess'. Alla, however, had to refuse. She would have had to play the wife of a Soviet chess player who escapes to the West with an American girl. Besides, for the project Pugacheva would have had to leave USSR for at least a year. "One could only imagine what the reaction of the RGB would have been," noted Alla many years later. Still, the Swedish boys helped Alla to produce her first (and the
only) English-language album 'Watch Out!'. Pugacheva turned out to be one of the last of the People's Artists of the Soviet Union, a title she belatedly received at the end of 1991, somewhat ironically, after the Belovezhska treaty had already abolished the USSR. The new epoch brought lots of things to Alla, including the chance to earn real money. Tours abroad without restrictions also followed, and her flirtation with plaastic surgery also began - although her first operation back in 1992 almost killed her. Most controversially of all, after 1991 she began to make changes in her private life. In 1993, Alla divorced her longtime partner, Yevgeny Boldin. A year later, aged 45, she married 26-year-old Bulgarian singer Filip Kirkorov. The inevitable scandal was enormously hyped up by the press, but Pugacheva was never on this planet to please -she has always been here to stun. She stunned everyone later at the end of 1995, when she announced she was abandoning the stage for 'an indefinite term'. In 1996 she stu
nned everyone by releasing the 13 CD collection containing all her works of the 'Soviet' period (1965-1993). Finally, in 1997 she stunned the whole of Europe by agreeing to take part in Eurovision song contest. The song 'Prima Donna', however, only managed to come in fifteenth place. But again, Pugacheva was not there to win - which was impossible to do with a Russian song - she was there to stun.
Now on her sixth comeback (or thereabouts) Pugacheva doesn't mind singing dubious material, appearing on stage in whatever image she feels like and even cancelling interviews and concerts at the drop of a hat. What would seem to be a total disgrace for a foreign person, is taken with understanding and even reverence by former Soviet citizens.
Why? Quite simply, Pugacheva is an icon. People love Pugacheva for catching what was on their minds and in their souls; for the fact that she allows everyone to see themselves in her. And that's why the icon of Pugacheva will never fade away, whatever happens to the original.
For most foreigners, Alla Pugacheva is a phenomenon; simply the biggest Soviet enigma of them all. An aged, stout woman in baggy clothes and tasteless wigs, singing catchy tunes with what used to be her voice, she comes across as a laughable icon to the average expat. But then again, two hundred and eighty million Soviet citizens can't have been wrong, can they?
She had become the ultimate star. Her concerts were packed; her records could compete with ABBA's sales in the Soviet Union. In fact in 1983 two of the Fabulous Four Swedes, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, visited Pugacheva in Moscow, with a very generous offer - a role in their musical with Tim Rice called 'Chess'. Alla, however, had to refuse. She would have had to play the wife of a Soviet chess player who escapes to the West with an American girl. Besides, for the project Pugacheva would have had to leave USSR for at least a year. "One could only imagine what the reaction of the RGB would have been," noted Alla many years later. Still, the Swedish boys helped Alla to produce her first (and the
only) English-language album 'Watch Out!'. Pugacheva turned out to be one of the last of the People's Artists of the Soviet Union, a title she belatedly received at the end of 1991, somewhat ironically, after the Belovezhska treaty had already abolished the USSR. The new epoch brought lots of things to Alla, including the chance to earn real money. Tours abroad without restrictions also followed, and her flirtation with plaastic surgery also began - although her first operation back in 1992 almost killed her. Most controversially of all, after 1991 she began to make changes in her private life. In 1993, Alla divorced her longtime partner, Yevgeny Boldin. A year later, aged 45, she married 26-year-old Bulgarian singer Filip Kirkorov. The inevitable scandal was enormously hyped up by the press, but Pugacheva was never on this planet to please -she has always been here to stun. She stunned everyone later at the end of 1995, when she announced she was abandoning the stage for 'an indefinite term'. In 1996 she stu
nned everyone by releasing the 13 CD collection containing all her works of the 'Soviet' period (1965-1993). Finally, in 1997 she stunned the whole of Europe by agreeing to take part in Eurovision song contest. The song 'Prima Donna', however, only managed to come in fifteenth place. But again, Pugacheva was not there to win - which was impossible to do with a Russian song - she was there to stun.
