Yuri Kukin - biography, creativity, personal life

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Yuri Alekseevich Kukin, whose biography is discussed in this article, is a once famous songwriter, a popular Soviet performer of bard songs. Few people know that Kukin did not like this musical direction at all. Read about the preferences of the songwriter, his hobbies and personal life below.

Childhood and youth

The biography of Yuri Kukin takes the countdown from July 17, 1932. The future bard was born in a small village in the Leningrad region.

Yura grew up as a cheerful and mischievous boy. Like all the guys, he disappeared on the street for a long time, was fond of sports. This hobby subsequently influenced the choice of the guy's profession.

In the biography of Yuri Kukin, music did not immediately take such a significant place.

From the age of 14, Yura became interested in drumming, but it was nothing more than a hobby. Soon this hobby began to bring money. Since 1946, Yuri Kikin, together with his comrades, began to play in restaurants, earning three rubles per evening. At the same time, he wrote his first song called "Caravan" based on an American composition.

After school, the guy entered the LGIFK named after P. F. Lesgaft, who graduated in 1954 with a red diploma. In parallel, the young man continued to perform in restaurants and remake American songs.

Figure skating

After graduating from the institute, the biography of Yuri Kukin was associated with coaching for almost 20 years.

In the Soviet Union, figure skating was gaining popularity, but masters capable of training future champions were hard to find.

Our hero became one of them. Until 1973, Yuri Alekseevich coached children in sports schools throughout the Leningrad region.

It is the work of a coach that Kukin calls his profession. He participated in the creation of the first mass sports schools for figure skating. He stood at the origins of this sport in the country, prepared champions.

It is worth noting that the coach's salary was very high. Kukin received several thousand rubles, which allowed him not only to ensure a comfortable existence, but also to support his jazz band.

From jazz to bard song

Yes, it was with jazz that the creative activity of Yuri Kukin, whose biography we are considering, began. A youthful passion grew into something more. The musician spent all his money on the purchase of equipment and fees for his colleagues. Yuri Alekseevich began to compose songs in his youth. At first, he reworked foreign hits. Then he began to take bard songs and perform them in a jazz way. The musician admitted that he composed songs without any influence. He wrote the way he felt. Furthermore,according to the author, his "creations" cannot be sung correctly. These are songs written for themselves. They have nothing to do with a consumer product.

In the summer of 1963, a friend of our hero, the poet G. Gorbovsky, invited the coach and musician to a geological expedition. Kukin gladly accepted this invitation and went to rest. This was his first expedition. Mountain air, pleasant company and cozy evenings by the fire contributed to the fact that Yuri Alekseevich wrote many songs that were very fond of tourists. So, from a jazz musician in the eyes of the public, Kukin turned into the author and performer of a bard song.

The musician's popularity grew, it soon became difficult for him to be torn between coaching and musical tours.

In 1968, Yuri Kukin decided to leave the sport and plunge headlong into the world of creativity. He got a job at Lenconcert, where he regularly performed on stage, accompanied by musical groups "Merry Voices", and from "Romance".

In 1971, the musician was invited to the Leningrad Regional Philharmonic Society, and in 1988 to the theater-studio "Benefis" in the city of Leningrad.

In the creative biography of Yuri Kukin there is a fact that he was very proud of: at the peak of his popularity, he performed 19 times on the same stage with Pugacheva.

Yuri Kukin's popularity was not limited to the Soviet audience. He went on tour several times to America, Germany, Poland, Israel and other countries.

Kukin about bards and bard festivals

In one of hisIn recent interviews, Yuri Alekseevich admitted that he does not like a bard song at all and does not consider himself a bard - this is a label that society has awarded him. All his life he gave preference to jazz, from which the musician's creative path began.

The musician spoke ambiguously about contemporary bard performers and festivals.

A real bard, by Kukin's definition, is a person who can neither sing nor play, but has a huge soul. Today's musicians, he believed, are more pop performers than bards.

Speaking of festivals, he could single out only "Katun", as he was its president four times. Our hero despised the popular Grushinsky festival. He explained this by the fact that this event is more of a gathering of amateur tourists than music lovers.

However, Kukin was often invited to such events as a guest, performer and jury member.

He even had the honor of being president of the debut bard song festival in Jerusalem.

Private life

Not much is known about the musician's personal life. He never advertised information about his loved ones. Kukin was closely acquainted with Vysotsky. He even bought records of our hero.

Kukin was married twice. The first chosen one was called Nina. The couple had two children. In the biography of Yuri Kukin, family and children occupy a very significant place, but he tried to hide this side of life from the press. It is known that the children did not follow in the footstepsfather. The son of a musician defended his Ph. D. thesis in electronics, the daughter studied to be a journalist.

The name of Yuri Kukin's second wife is not mentioned in the musician's biography. It is known that she is 22 years younger than her husband. Kukin dedicated the song "Ask my wife" to his second wife.

Death and legacy

Yuri Alekseevich's heart stopped beating on July 7, 2011. It was a tragedy for his fans, friends and family. The biography of Yuri Kukin was interrupted at the age of 79. Buried athlete and musician in St. Petersburg.

During his life, the great bard wrote more than a hundred songs. During his life, two records, audio cassettes and CDs with the musician's songs were released, which were sold out not only in the CIS, but also in America.