The name of Zykina Lyudmila Georgievna is closely connected with Russian folk songs. The singer has the title of People's Artist of the USSR. Her career began immediately after the end of World War II.
From the machine to the stage
Zykina is a native Muscovite. She was born on June 10, 1929 in a working-class family. The girl's childhood passed in a wooden house, which was located in the forest zone of the Kanatchikova dacha.
In early childhood, her parents sent her to a nursery, but the girl did not want to attend them. In an ultimatum form, she told her father and mother that she would run away from home if she was taken there.
The formation of the character of Lyudmila was provided by a yard company of the same neighboring children as she was.
The Zykin family kept the household. Little Luda had to feed chickens, ducks and turkeys. They also had piglets with bulls, a cow.
Mother from an early age taught her daughter various household tricks. Luda knew how to sew, cook, and do housework. As a child, Lyudmila loved to ride a bicycle, and in her youth, she loved to ride a motorcycle.
When the war began, Zykina worked as a turner at a machine-tool plant. After the end of the war, she had two dreams: to buy a Volga car and become a pilot.
For her work during the Second World War, Zykina was awarded the title of "Honored Ordzhonikidzovets". In the post-war period, she managed to work as a nurse and a seamstress in a military clinic.
In 1947, Lyudmila Georgievna decided to take part in the All-Russian Competition for Young Performers. She had to go through a competitive selection, which amounted to 1500 people per place.
She reached the final with three young men. According to the results of the competition, Zykina was enrolled in the choir. Pyatnitsky.
Creative career
Zykina's first public performance took place in the 4th grade. In the choir. Pyatnitsky, she got out of principle. The singer bet on 6 servings of ice cream that she would sing in this choir.
In 1950, Lyudmila Zykina's mother died, and this tragic event caused serious stress for the singer.
The singer lost her voice for 1 year, but already in 1957 she became a laureate of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students. In 1960, Zykina won the competition of pop artists and became a full-time artist of the Mosconcert. She was a favorite of Stalin and Khrushchev. He liked to listen to the singer and Brezhnev.
Zykina received her first musical education, having worked on the stage for almost 22 years. In 1969 she graduated from a music school, and in 1977 from Gnesinka.
At the beginning of her singing career, Zykina's competitors in the pop shop were Lydia Ruslanova and Claudia Shulzhenko, adored by the people. Lyudmila managed to stand with them in a row.
The first foreign tour of Lyudmila Zykina took place in 1960. With the program of the Moscow Music Hall, she performed in Paris.
In total, during her creative career, the singer visited 90 countries of the world with concerts. The idea to create her own ensemble was given to the singer by the American impresario Sol Yurok. Zykina realized it in 1977, creating the Rossiya ensemble. The singer led him until the moment of his death.
The debut of the ensemble took place in the American concert hall "Carnegie Hall". During this tour, Zykina gave 40 concerts in the USA in crowded halls.
During its existence, the ensemble "Russia" has released more than 30 albums. Zykina continued her concert activity until the end of her days.
She combined it with teaching. Lyudmila Zykina served as President of the Academy of Culture, supervised 2 orphanages.
Friendship with Furtseva
There were legends about the friendship of two famous women. Despite the proximity of Zykina to the top of the CPSU, she was not a member of the party. The friendship between the Minister of Culture and the singer was sincere and strong. Women loved to bathe together in a Russian bathhouse and go fishing.
Once Zykina asked permission from Furtseva to buy a Peugeot car, like Leonid Kogan's, and received a categorical ban.
The performer of Russian folk songs, according to the minister, had to drive a domestic car. I had to buy the Volga, which Zykina dreamed of in her youth.
On the eve of Furtseva's death, her friends talked. Zykina was going to go on tour in Gorky. Unexpectedly for the singer, Furtseva told her to be careful on the road. Upon learning of Furtseva's death, Zykina canceled her tour at the time of her friend's funeral.
Life outside the stage
Lyudmila Georgievna loved to drive cars and speed. On her Volga, she traveled from Moscow to the Caucasus, traveled around the Moscow region and neighboring regions.
She was a sensual woman. The singer married four times, but there were much more novels condemned by the public. The life of the singer was filled with various myths, including her personal life.
On one of the foreign tours, the singer was asked to say hello to Kosygin, assuming that he is her husband. The news that this was not the case caused sincere surprise.
The first serious relationship with Zykina ended in marriage. The chosen one was called Vladlen, he was an engineer. The marriage broke up due to the singer's touring life.
Zykina's second husband was a photographer. He was replaced by the composer Alexander Averkin, with whom Zykina maintained friendly relations after the divorce and worked in the same musical group.
The fourth husband of the singer was a professional translator, journalist Vladimir Kotelkin. The marriage broke up due to Zykina's unwillingness to have children.
In adulthood, Lyudmila Zykina passionately fell in love with accordion player Viktor Grudinin. Their romance lasted about 17 years. Zykina became the love of her life for Lieutenant General Nikolai Fillipenko.
Zykina never made secrets from her novels. Widely discussed her relationship with the soloist of the ensemble "Russia" Mikhail Kizin and psychotherapist Viktor Konstantinov. Most of the singer's lovers were much younger than her.
Love for diamonds
Lyudmila Georgievna loved to buy unique jewelry with precious stones. She made special arrangements with thrift store directors to call her when interesting pieces of jewelry arrived before putting them up for sale.
At their call, she took off and rushed to redeem the thing. Knowing about the singer's passion for jewelry, her fans tried to give them exactly.
Illness and death of Lyudmila Zykina
The singer suffered from diabetes for a long time and seriously, in 2007 she underwent a difficult operation to implant the hip joint. As a result of complications from diabetes, Zykina developed acute cardio-renal failure.
On June 25, 2009, she was taken to intensive care in a serious condition, suffered a heart attack a few days before her death, and on July 1, 2009 she died.
