Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov, alias - BG(b. 1953) - Russian poet and musician, singer, composer, writer, producer, radio host, journalist and permanent leader of the Aquarium rock group. He is considered one of the founders of Russian rock.
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Boris Grebenshchikov, which we will discuss in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of Grebenshchikov.
Biography of Boris Grebenshchikov
Boris Grebenshchikov (BG) was born on November 27, 1953 in Leningrad. He grew up and was brought up in an educated family.
The artist's father, Boris Alexandrovich, was an engineer and later director of the Baltic Shipping Company plant. Mother, Lyudmila Kharitonovna, worked as a legal adviser at the Leningrad House of Models.
Childhood and youth
Grebenshchikov studied at a physics and mathematics school. From early childhood, he was very fond of music.
After leaving school, Boris became a student at Leningrad University, choosing the department of applied mathematics.
In his student years, the guy set out to create his own group. As a result, in 1972, together with Anatoly Gunitsky, he founded the "Aquarium" collective, which will gain immense popularity in the future.
Students spent their free time at rehearsals in the assembly hall of the university. An interesting fact is that initially the guys wrote songs in English, trying to imitate Western artists.
Later, Grebenshchikov and Gunitsky decided to compose songs only in their native language. However, from time to time English-language compositions appeared in their repertoire.
Music
The debut album of "Aquarium" - "The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium", was released in 1974. After that, Mikhail Feinstein and Andrey Romanov joined the group for a while.
Over time, the guys are forbidden to rehearse within the walls of the university, and Grebenshchikov is even threatened with expulsion from the university.
Later Boris Grebenshchikov invited the cellist Vsevolod Haeckel to the Aquarium. During that period of biography BG wrote his first hits, which brought the group popularity.
The musicians had to conduct underground activities, since their work did not evoke the approval of the Soviet censors.
In 1976, the group recorded the disc "On the other side of the mirror glass". Two years later, Grebenshchikov, together with Mike Naumenko, published the acoustic album "All are brothers-sisters".
Having become popular rock performers in their underground, the musicians began recording songs in the famous studio of Andrei Tropilo. It was here that material was created for the discs "Blue Album", "Triangle", "Acoustics", "Taboo", "Silver Day" and "Children of December".
In 1986 "Aquarium" presented the album "Ten Arrows", released in honor of the deceased member of the group Alexander Kussul. The disc featured such hits as "The Golden City", "Platan" and "Tram".
Although at that time in his biography, Boris Grebenshchikov was a fairly successful artist, he had many problems with power.
The fact is that back in 1980, after performing at the Tbilisi rock festival, BG was expelled from the Komsomol, deprived of his position as a junior research fellow and was banned from appearing on stage.
Despite all this, Grebenshchikov does not despair, continuing to engage in musical activities.
Since at that time, every Soviet citizen had to have an official job, Boris decided to get a job as a janitor. Thus, he was not considered a parasite.
Not being able to perform on stage, Boris Grebenshchikov arranges the so-called "home concerts" - concerts held at home.
Apartment quarters were common in the Soviet Union until the end of the 80s, since some musicians could not officially give public performances, due to a conflict with the cultural policy of the USSR.
Soon Boris met the musician and avant-garde artist Sergei Kurekhin. Thanks to his help, the leader of the "Aquarium" appeared on the TV program "Funny guys".
In 1981, Grebenshchikov was admitted to the Leningrad Rock Club. A year later, he met Viktor Tsoi, acting as the producer of the first album of the "Kino" group - "45".
A few years later Boris went to America, where he recorded 2 discs - “Radio Silence” and “Radio London”. In the United States, he managed to communicate with such rock stars as Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Lou Reed.
In the period 1990-1993, Aquarium ceased to exist, but later resumed its activities.
After the collapse of the USSR, many musicians left the underground, having the opportunity to safely tour throughout the country. As a result, Grebenshchikov began performing with concerts, gathering full stadiums of his fans.
During this period of his biography, Boris Grebenshchikov became interested in Buddhism. However, he never considered himself to be one of the religions.
In the late 90s, the artist received many prestigious awards. In 2003, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th degree, for his significant contribution to the development of musical art.
From 2005 to this day, Grebenshchikov has been broadcasting Aerostat on Radio Russia. He is actively touring different cities and countries, and in 2007 he even gave a solo concert at the UN.
Boris Borisovich's songs are distinguished by a great musical and textual variety. The group uses many unusual instruments that are not popular in Russia.
Cinema and theater
Over the years of his biography, Boris Grebenshchikov starred in several films, including "... Ivanov", "Above Dark Water", "Two Captains 2" and others.
In addition, the artist has repeatedly appeared on the theater stage, participating in various performances.
Music of "Aquarium" sounds in dozens of films and cartoons. His songs can be heard in such famous films as "Assa", "Courier", "Azazel", etc.
In 2014, a musical based on the songs of Boris Borisovich - "Music of the Silver Spokes" was staged.
Personal life
For the first time, Grebenshchikov married in 1976. His wife was Natalya Kozlovskaya, who gave birth to his daughter Alice. Later, the girl will become an actress.
In 1980, the musician married Lyudmila Shurygina. In this marriage, the couple had a boy, Gleb. The couple lived together for 9 years, after which they decided to leave.
For the third time, Boris Grebenshchikov married Irina Titova, the ex-wife of the bass guitarist of "Aquarium" Alexander Titov.
During his biography, the artist wrote about a dozen books. In addition, he translated several Buddhist and Hindu sacred texts from English.
Boris Grebenshchikov today
Today Grebenshchikov continues to be active on tour.
In 2017, Aquarium presented a new album, EP Doors of Grass. The following year, the singer released a solo disc "Time N".
In the same year, Boris Grebenshchikov became the artistic director of the annual St. Petersburg festival “Parts of the World”.
Not so long ago, an exhibition of Grebenshchikov's paintings was presented within the walls of the Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg. In addition, the exhibition showed rare photos of the artist and his friends.
Photo by Boris Grebenshchikov
