"Hands Up" is a Russian pop group that began its creative activity in the early 90s. The beginning of 1990 was a time of renewal for the country in all areas. Not without updating and in music.
More and more new musical groups began to appear on the Russian stage. The soloists of "Hands Up" also made a significant contribution to the development of music.
History of creation and composition of the group
In 1993, a fatal acquaintance took place between Sergei Zhukov and Alexei Potekhin. Young people worked on radio "Europe plus". The work brought them great pleasure, but the guys dreamed of something more. Their acquaintance grew into something more. Sergey and Alexey realized that their goals were the same, so they created a group called "Hands Up".
The roles in the musical group were divided by themselves. Sergey Zhukov became the face of the group, the main soloist and vocalist. A pretty face and a beautiful voice made girls' hearts tremble with happiness. The lyrical musical compositions of the musicians also succumbed to the heat.
Sergei Zhukov has been fond of music since childhood. While studying at a comprehensive school, he graduated from a musical educational institution in the piano class. After receiving a diploma of secondary education, a young man enters the Academy of Arts in the city of Samara.
The second participant Alexei Potekhin initially does not dream of music. By the way, Alexey's specialty confirms this fact. Potekhin graduated from a river technical school, becoming a shipbuilding technician, and then studied at a technical university. After graduating, Alexey begins to be interested in music. Later, Potekhin will start working as a DJ at a local club.
It is interesting that Sergey and Alexey come from ordinary families. Children were brought up in intelligent families. Parents shared the interests of young people, and even attended the first concerts of Zhukov and Potekhin. Working on radio "Europe plus" Zhukov and Potekhin acquire "useful" acquaintances. This helps the guys to navigate in which direction to swim next.
Quite a bit of time will pass and the band's tracks will be played at all discos in the CIS countries. It seems that in our time parties and club hangouts cannot do without their tracks. In the 90s, Zhukov and Potekhin became real idols of Russian pop music.
The beginning of the musical career of the group Hands up
Alexey and Sergey recorded their first works in Tolyatti. Young people recorded tracks in English. Sergei Zhukov at that time liked the work of the Dutch musician Ray Slingard, who worked in the genre of electronic dance music. Zhukov imitated his idol in every possible way, which is especially felt in the debut musical compositions.
The history of the formation of the group was accompanied by interesting facts. The soloists of the musical group did not have a financial base. They had nothing to record their works on, so young people recorded their first works on pirated copies of popular authors.
The musical compositions of the guys did not have a semantic load. But Zhukov made a bet on this. The songs "Hands Up" were remembered literally from the first listening. The soloists of the musical group received the first portion of fame. "Hands up" are beginning to invite to concerts and themed music festivals.
"Hands up" in the city of Togliatti organize parties within the walls of clubs and cafes. They literally bathe in popularity. But this glory is not enough for them.
In 1994, the duo decides to leave Tolyatti and move to Moscow. Not surprisingly, the group was founded in 1994.
Moscow receives Sergey and Alexei more than warmly. The team takes part in the rap festival, taking first place. This event made it possible to gain popularity in the capital of Russia.
Photos of the guys began to appear in glossy magazines, which brought them their first large-scale popularity.
The first difficulty that Sergey and Alexey faced was the lack of money.
Hands up begin to earn money at various events. At that time, they could be seen in nightclubs, restaurants and cafes.
Zhukov and Potekhin are lucky when they meet producer Andrei Malikov. He takes the guys under his wing, and begins to actively push the young team to the big stage. It was Malikov who suggested that the guys take the creative pseudonym "Hands Up".
During performances, Zhukov often lit the audience with the words "hands up", so there could be no other options for the "nickname" of the group.
A month after the guys met Malikov, the debut album "Breathe evenly" is released. The tracks "Baby" and "Student" were all in languages. Later, the guys filmed a couple of video clips, and went on tour in support of the first album.
Album "Make It Louder!"
In 1998, one of the most popular albums, Hands Up, was released. Album "Make It Louder!" collected such hits as “My Baby”, “Ai, yay, yay, girl”, “Only dreaming about you”, “He kisses you”. The musical compositions of the group were known by the whole country.
In 1999, another album of performers "Without brakes" was released. It was a top ten hit. This record has sold over 12 million copies.
And, it would seem, the long-awaited popularity and financial independence fell upon the guys. But it was not there. Later, Zhukov admitted that Malikov took almost all the money from the sales of the album “Without brakes” into his pocket.
"Hands up" is no longer willing to cooperate with the producer. Now the guys are recording albums under their own label "B-Funky Production".
After some time, Zhukov pleases fans with a fresh album "Hello, it's me." The main hits of the disc were the tracks "Alyoshka", "Forgive me", "So you need it."
The guys tried to please their fans with new albums every year. Therefore, in the spring of 2000, the guys released the disc “Little Girls” with top hits with the hit “Take Me Quickly”, “The End of Pop, Everyone Dances”, which included the hit “Girlfriends Are Standing”.
In 2006, the guys shocked their fans with the information that the Hands Up musical group was ceasing to exist. The soloists commented on this news as follows: "We are tired of each other, creativity and heavy workload."
Later, Zhukov and Potekhin embarked on a solo career. But they could no longer collect halls and stadiums. One by one, the guys did not manage to surpass the group.
Hands up now
It is known that today Sergey and Alexei do not communicate with each other. Each of them has a solo career. The musical compositions of singers are not very popular, although they are of interest to music lovers.
In 2018, Sergey Zhukov released the video clips Take the Keys and Crying in the Dark. In 2019, “Hands Up”, as part of Zhukov alone, released the album “She Kisses Me”.
It is known that Sergei Zhukov actively continues to tour around the world. Alexey and Sergey keep blogs on social networks, where they upload the latest information.
Group "Hands up" in 2021
In March 2021, the band presented the song "For the sake of the dance floor" to fans of their work. Participated in the recording of the track Gayazov Brothers . The musicians urged fans not to be "depressed". The artists themselves called the composition a real “gun”.
The "Hands Up" team and Klava Koka presented a joint single to fans of their work. The novelty was called "Knockout". In a few days, the composition was watched by more than one million users of YouTube video hosting.
