The famous pop singer Edita Piekha was born on July 31, 1937 in the city of Noyelles-sous-Lance (France). The girl's parents were Polish immigrants.
The mother ran the household, the father of little Edita worked at the mine, he died in 1941 from silicosis, provoked by the constant inhalation of dust. The older brother also became a miner, as a result of which he died of tuberculosis. Soon the girl's mother remarried. Jan Golomba became her chosen one.
Early youth and first steps in the work of the singer
In 1946, the family migrated to Poland, where Piekha graduated from high school, as well as from a pedagogical lyceum. At the same time, she became seriously interested in choral singing. In 1955, Edita won a competition held in Gdansk. Thanks to this victory, she received the right to study in the USSR. Here, the future celebrity entered the Faculty of Philosophy at Leningrad State University.
While studying psychology, the girl also sang in the choir. Soon, the composer and conductor Alexander Bronevitsky, who then held the position of head of the student ensemble, drew attention to her. In 1956, Edita, together with a musical group, sang the song "Red Bus" in Polish.
The student ensemble often gave concerts. However, the busy schedule interfered with her studies, so she had to continue her studies in absentia. Very soon, Piekha became a soloist of the newly formed VIA Druzhba. It was the same 1956. Edita came up with the name for the band on the eve of the festive performance at the Philharmonic, which took place on March 8.
A little later, a documentary film "Masters of the Leningrad Stage" was released. The young artist starred in this film, where she performed the famous hit “Red Bus” by V. Shpilman and the song “Guitar of Love”.
After some time, she recorded the first records with her songs. A year later, the Druzhba team won the VI World Youth Festival with the program Songs of the Peoples of the World.
Solo career of Edita
In 1959, VIA "Druzhba" broke up. The reason for this was the propaganda of jazz by the members of the ensemble. In addition, the artists were dudes, and Edita herself distorted the Russian language.
However, soon the team resumed work, only with a new line-up. This was facilitated by Alexander Bronevitsky, who organized a review of the musicians at the Ministry of Culture.
In the summer of 1976, Piekha left the ensemble and created her own musical group. The popular musician Grigory Kleimits became its leader. Throughout her career, the singer has recorded more than 20 discs. Most of the songs from these albums were recorded at the Melodiya studio and were part of the golden fund of the stage of the USSR and the Russian Federation.
Some compositions performed solo by Edita were recorded in the GDR, France. The singer has toured all over the world, visiting more than 40 different countries with concerts. Twice she sang in Paris, and on the island of freedom (Cuba) she was awarded the title of "Madam Song". At the same time, Edita was the first artist to tour Bolivia, Afghanistan, and Honduras. In addition, in 1968, Piekha received 3 gold medals at the IX World Youth Festival for the composition "Huge Sky".
The singer's albums were released in millions of copies. Thanks to this, the Melodiya studio received the main prize of the Cannes International Fair - the Jade Record. In addition, Piekha herself has been a jury member at various music festivals many times.
Edita was the first to perform a foreign composition in Russian. It was the song "Only You" by Baek Ram. She was also the first to freely communicate with the audience from the stage, while holding a microphone in her hand.
It was Piekha who was the first to celebrate the anniversary of creativity and birthday right on the stage. In 1997, the popular artist celebrated her 60th birthday on Palace Square, and ten years later, the 50th anniversary of pop life.
Now the creative activity of the singer is not very active. At the same time, in July 2019, she celebrated another birthday. According to tradition, Edita celebrated it on stage.
Personal life of Edita Piekha
Edith was married three times. At the same time, according to the artist, she failed to meet her only man.
Being the wife of A. Bronevitsky, Piekha gave birth to a daughter, Ilona. However, the marriage with Alexander quickly fell apart. According to the singer, the husband paid more attention to music than to the family. The grandson of Edita Stas also devoted his life to art.
He became a pop performer, winner of many awards, and a businessman. Stas married Natalya Gorchakova, who bore him a son, Peter, but the family broke up in 2010. Eric's granddaughter is an interior designer. In 2013, she gave birth to a daughter, Vasilisa, making Edita a great-grandmother.
The second husband of Piekha was the KGB captain G. Shestakov. She lived with him for 7 years. After that, the artist married V. Polyakov. He worked in the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. The singer herself considers both of these marriages a mistake.
Edita Piekha is fluent in four languages: her native Polish, as well as Russian, French, and German. At the same time, the artist's repertoire includes songs in other languages. In her youth, she loved to play badminton, ride a bike, just walk. Piekha's favorite artists are: E. Piaf, L. Utyosov, K. Shulzhenko.
