Russian chanson is impossible to imagine without this talented artist. Alexander Kalyanov realized himself as a singer and sound engineer. He passed away on October 2, 2020. The sad news was announced by a friend and colleague on the stage, Alla Borisovna Pugacheva.
“Alexander Kalyanov passed away. A close friend and assistant, part of my creative life. Listen to his compositions and remember him. The kingdom of heaven to him ... ”, - wrote Alla Borisovna.
Childhood and youth Alexander Kalyanov
Alexander Kalyanov was born on August 26, 1947 in the town of Unecha, Bryansk region. The parents of the future artist were not associated with creativity. All my life, mom and dad worked at school number 2. By the way, Sasha pleased his parents with good grades, and even graduated from school with a silver medal.
Alexander's father, Ivan Efimovich, over the years of work rose to the post of director of school No. 2. The activity of Kalyanov Sr. was awarded the highest award - Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation.
From his youth, Alexander was interested in two activities - music and technology. He couldn't decide what he wanted to do. But he received his higher education at the radio engineering institute of the small town of Taganrog. After graduating from the institute, Kalyanov worked for 7 years at a factory that assembled radio equipment.
Alexander benefited from the work. From various objects, he created devices for musical performers. The guy had a brilliant inventive talent. It is interesting that domestic musicians used Kalyanov's devices, and they were always satisfied with the inventions of the master.
Kalyanov has repeatedly said that he considers the Elektronika mixing console (a device for connecting a phonogram while singing live) to be the most useful invention. He made this equipment when he wanted to become a sound engineer.
"Electronics" was easy to use. The device made it possible to reach the sounds of the performer to the desired height, if the singer was not in his voice or suddenly fell ill. "Electronics" was inexpensive, and coped with the given functions by 100%.
Columns became another invention of Alexander Kalyanov. Unlike foreign technology, the apparatus of the Russian sound engineer had a small weight and compact dimensions.
Alexander Kalyanov creative way
In the late 1970s, Alexander Kalyanov was spoken of as a young but very promising sound engineer. Soon he was invited to cooperate with the group "Six Young", popular in Soviet times.
The team existed on the basis of the Elista Philharmonic. It took the group several years to become the so-called "alma mater" for such stars as Nikolai Rastorguev, Sergey Sarychev, Alexander Rosenbaum, Valery Kipelov, Tatiana Markova. The team toured all over the country and needed such a talented specialist as Kalyanov.
On tour in Kazan, the Six Young group was noticed by Vladimir Vysotsky. The bard offered the musicians cooperation. A fruitful union led to the fact that Vysotsky and the Six Young group announced a tour of the USSR. Each concert was accompanied by a storm of emotions. Artists have gained the status of superstars. Now they could not travel around the cities without protection. During this period of time, there were strong friendly relations between the popular bard and the future singer of Russian chanson.
A few years later, when Vladimir Vysotsky celebrated his anniversary, Alexander Kalyanov became a special guest. For the event, which took place at the Olimpiysky sports complex, Kalyanov created cover versions of Vysotsky's hits at the studio. This disc was subsequently released as a separate album, and the concert was broadcast on local Russian television.
At the beginning of his creative career, Alexander Kalyanov collaborated with the following groups: "Leisya, song", "Red poppies", "Carnival", "Phoenix". In the early 1980s, Alla Borisovna Pugacheva drew attention to the talented sound engineer. She invited Alexander to join her creative team "Recital". It was created in 1980 on the basis of the former instrumental group "Rhythm". The members of the team are famous singer-songwriters and producers.
Thanks to the support of Alla Borisovna Pugacheva, Alexander Kalyanov created his own recording studio "Ton-studio". He took dozens of Russian stars under his "wing" and was their sound producer.
Solo career of Alexander Kalyanov
On the recommendations of Alla Borisovna, Kalyanov began to realize himself as a solo singer. The tracks that were included in the debut album "Fresh smell of lindens" were musical compositions by Igor Nikolaev: "Angel", "Be healthy, friend", "Naked goddess". Nikolaev composed songs to Kalyanov's vocal data, because he believed that he had a unique timbre of voice.
The debut album was warmly received by fans and music critics. Since that time, Kalyanov has called Pugacheva and Igor Nikolaev his adoptive parents. The artists literally "opened the doors" to the big stage for him.
With the Recital team, Kalyanov recorded several more records. And in 1992, he finally decided to position himself as a solo singer. Until the early 1990s, Alexander's discography was replenished with such albums as:
- "Old Cafe";
- "Taganka";
- Museum of Love.
The debut of Alexander Kalyanov on television was the presentation of the composition "Old Cafe" in 1988 in the program "Christmas Meetings" by Pugacheva. The performance of the artist was so successful that he woke up as a popular favorite of the public.
Many stage colleagues did not believe that Kalyanov could build a career as a singer. The opinion of outsiders did not prevent Alexander's compositions from becoming real hits. The song "Old Cafe" is not only included in the list of the artist's popular compositions, but is also a "restaurant" track. After all, how to explain the fact that singers and visitors to restaurants in the CIS countries are trying to cover it.
A video clip was released for the aforementioned track, in which Alla Pugacheva, Igor Nikolaev, Vladimir Presnyakov Sr. starred. This clip was filmed on an amateur video camera by Marta Mogilevskaya, music editor of the Morning Post program.
Another visiting card of the singer was the composition "Taganka". Its author is Pavel Zhagun. At the time of writing the composition, he worked as a trumpeter in the Recital team. After leaving the Pugacheva team, he changed his occupation and became the director of the Moral Code group.
Musical career of Alexander Kalyanov
The artist recorded all albums at his own recording studio. He never wrote his own songs. Alexander worked closely with such composers as Igor Nikolaev, Roman Gorobets, Vladimir Presnyakov Sr., Igor Krutoy.
Alexander Kalyanov worked not only as a singer, but also as a sound engineer. At the Ton-Studio recording studio, he recorded albums for 50 performers and almost the same number of groups.
The creative biography of the artist in the dashing 1990s began to increase exponentially. It's all because of the interest in such a musical genre as chanson. Alexander Kalyanov is actively touring and recording new compositions. Among the popular tracks of this period were the songs: "Prodigal Son", "Wife, Wife ...", "Over the Cordon", "Night Patrol", "Lyubka-odnolyubka", "Me and Vasya".
Kalyanov toured not only across the territory of the USSR. Alexander's performances delighted the Russian emigration of the United States of America, Israel and Germany.
Alexander managed to prove himself in the cinema. He played one of the main roles in the film "The Newest Adventures of Pinocchio." Kalyanov brilliantly conveyed the image of Pope Carlo.
In 2016, the anniversary program of Alexander Kalyanov was released. We are talking about the program "Old Cafe", which included the most popular songs of the singer.
Personal life of Alexander Kalyanov
Alexander Kalyanov is a lucky man. He lived with his wife Alexandra for more than 30 years in marriage. When a child appeared in the family, the parents named him Alexander.
Kalyanov's son followed in the footsteps of his talented father. For a long time he worked as a sound engineer at the Tone-Studio studio. Sasha is the only son of a celebrity.
The artist preferred not to talk about his personal life. Recently, he practically did not go on stage. Alexander spent a lot of time with his family, in a country house.
Death of Alexander Kalyanov
The famous singer and sound engineer Alexander Kalyanov died on October 2, 2020. The cause of death was an oncological disease, with which the artist struggled for several years.
