Willie Tokarev (full name Vilen Ivanovich Tokarev; 1934-2019) - Russian Soviet, American and Russian songwriter in the genre of Russian chanson. He played the balalaika and double bass.
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Willie Tokarev, which we will talk about in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of Tokarev.
Willie Tokarev's biography
Vilen Ivanovich Tokarev was born on November 11, 1934 on the farm Chernyshev (Adygea region). He grew up and was brought up in a family of hereditary Kuban Cossacks and was named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - VILen.
During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) Tokarev Sr. fought at the front. The man was devoted to the ideas of communism and later headed one of the workshops for the manufacture of rocket technology.
As a child, Willie sang folk songs and even performed in front of fellow countrymen with other children. Then he began to write his first poems, some of which were published in the school newspaper.
After the end of the war, the Tokarev family settled in the Dagestan city of Kaspiysk, where he studied music with local teachers. When Willie was 14 years old, he made a sea voyage for the first time in his biography, visiting many European, African and Asian countries. An interesting fact is that on the ship the young man worked as a fireman.
Music
Having reached the age of majority, Willie Tokarev went to the army. He served in the signal troops, after which he left for Leningrad. Here he received his musical education at the school in the double bass class.
During his student years, Tokarev worked in the orchestra of Anatoly Kroll, and later in the symphonic jazz ensemble of Jean Tatlyan. At the same time, he continued to write songs that would later be performed on the big stage.
Over time, Willie began to collaborate with Boris Rychkov's ensemble, in which he plays the double bass. Later he managed to get to know Alexander Bronevitsky and his famous wife Edita Piekha. This led to the fact that the musician began to work in their ensemble "Druzhba".
Jazz performers during the Soviet era were harassed, so Tokarev decided to leave the Northern capital for a short time. As a result, he settled in Murmansk, where he began performing solo on stage. For several years, he was able to gain great popularity in the city.
An interesting fact is that one of Willie's compositions - "Murmansk", for many years became the unofficial anthem of the peninsula. However, as the years passed, he realized that he should move forward. As a result, at the age of 40, he decides to immigrate to America.
According to the artist, at the time of moving to the United States, he had only $ 5. Once in a new country, he was forced to face many everyday and material difficulties. In this regard, he changed many professions, working as a taxi driver, builder and postal courier.
During this period of his biography, Willie Tokarev led a very simple life, spending all his savings on recording songs. About 5 years after his arrival in America, he managed to record his first album "And life is always beautiful."
It is curious that Willie needed $ 25,000 for the release of the disc. A couple of years later his second disc, In the Noisy Booth, was released. His work aroused interest among the Russian-speaking population of New York and Miami. As a result, the singer began performing on the stages of prestigious Russian restaurants.
In subsequent years, Tokarev continued to record new albums, becoming one step in popularity with Lyubov Uspenskaya and Mikhail Shufutinsky. His first major performance in the USSR took place in the late 80s, thanks to the support of Alla Pugacheva.
At home, Willie gave over 70 concerts, which were sold out. A year later, he again came to Russia, where he repeated a number of concerts. The whole country was talking about Tokarev, as a result of which in 1990 a documentary film "So I became a rich sir and came to ESESER" was made about him.
At that time, Tokarev's most famous songs were "Rybatskaya" and "Skyscrapers", which are still played on radio stations today. In 2005, he decided to finally move to Moscow. In the capital, he bought himself an apartment and opened a recording studio.
In addition to his musical activities, Willie Tokarev starred in films several times, usually playing himself. Later he was a member of the judging panel of the musical show "Three Chords".
About a year before his death, Tokarev became a guest of Boris Korchevnikov's program "The Fate of a Man", where he shared interesting facts from his biography with the audience. During his life, he published about 50 numbered albums and shot several video clips.
Personal life
For the first time, the musician got married during his student years, as a result of which his first-born Anton was born. In the future, Anton will perform songs in the chanson genre, and in the late 80s he will become a member of the famous group "Laskoviy May".
In 1990, while touring the USSR, Willie met Svetlana Radushinskaya, who soon became his wife. An interesting fact is that the girl was 37 years younger than her chosen one. But this union, in which the boy Alex was born, did not last long.
For the third time, Tokarev went down the aisle with the film critic Yulia Bedinskaya, who was already 43 years younger than her husband. From Julia, the artist had a daughter, Evelina and a son, Milen.
Death
Willie Tokarev died on 4 August 2019 at the age of 84. According to some sources, cancer could have been the cause of his death. As of today, the relatives keep secret the true cause of his death.
Tokarev Photos
