Letov Igor - musician, singer-songwriter. Biography, creativity. Group "Civil Defense"

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

Letov Igor Fedorovich is a well-known Russian poet, sound producer, great musician, and this is only a small part of his achievements. Throughout his life, he managed to attract the attention of a huge number of people. His ideas and powerful talent have always surprised and fascinated fans.

Legendary musician

September 10, 1964 in the city of Omsk was born Russian performer of rock music, poet and leader of the beloved group "Civil Defense" - Igor Fedorovich Letov. In the course of his creative life, he took a stage name for himself, so modern rock lovers know him under the name Yegor Letov.

The musician's creative success was not prevented by constant problems with his studies. The expulsion from the Omsk vocational school led him to some difficulties and forced him to do hard work in order to have money. But he could not give up, so the next step in Igor's life was the beginning of a creative career and the appearance of Yegor Letov.

And even in our time, when a passer-by is asked to name the greatest Russian poet andmusician, he will no doubt answer that this is Yegor Letov. A group called "Civil Defense", the founder and leader of which he was, gave listeners positive emotions at concerts, each time showing something new and unusual.

Teams

Over the years of creative activity (1982-2008) the musician worked in various genres, including punk, garage rock, psychedelic rock and many others. In addition, Yegor was a member of teams that raised a huge audience. The modern young generation enjoys listening to the creations of Soviet bands: "Civil Defense", "Egor and the Opizdenevshie", "Adolf Hitler", "Anarchy" and others.

Such a style as pop mechanics was also included in the list of directions of his musical groups. Therefore, listening to the songs of the above groups, you can find such music.

The Harsh 1980s

Musical activity started in the early 1980s. In his hometown, Yegor Letov, together with his constant colleague, created a rock band, taking the name from the popular magazine - "Posev" (1982). And two years later, the "Civil Defense" (group) appeared. She became more famous and brought good money to her participants. Abbreviations were often used for designation - "Grob" (the author also called his own home studio) and "GO".

Letov's work was successful, but it was not so easy to achieve this. At the very dawnactivities, he faced problems related to politics and the desire to be independent, because of which he had to record songs in not very comfortable apartment conditions. But soon this practice became well-established, and each of the "GO" albums was recorded in a home studio ("Grob-studio").

After a while, the group has already achieved success outside of Siberia. In the winter of 1985, various political repressions fell upon the "Civil Defense", after which the creator of the group was sent for compulsory treatment in a mental hospital. During the time spent there, in order not to go crazy for real, Letov began to create, and after being discharged, for 2 years, the group's popular albums were recorded.

By the end of the 80s, the musicians from the "GrOb-studio" gained popularity among listeners throughout the Soviet Union. Most of their fans were young rockers, although a slightly older generation also liked to get into their creations.

Difficulties and success in the 90s

After a good success, "Civil Defense" (group) stopped its concert activity. The announcement of the band's dissolution was followed by news about the creation of a new psychedelic project called "Egor and the Opizdenevshie". At the same time, the now popular albums "Jump-Skok" (in 1990) and "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (in 1992) were recorded.

A year later, the musician decided to reassemble the "GO" team in order to revive the concert and studio activities. At allsoon a national-communist rock movement appears, led by Igor Fedorovich Letov. At the same time, he manages to engage in both the rock movement and active touring.

By the end of the 1990s, the leader of the group supported the National Bolshevik Party, in which he had an important party card for him at number 4. And already in 1999 he went on a huge tour in order to support Viktor Anpilov, a candidate in the elections to the State Duma.

Everyone knows that it was the 90s that were not easy for ordinary people. But this did not become an obstacle to the release of new successful albums:

1. "Solstice".
2. "The unbearable lightness of being".

Project "Egor and the Opizdenevshie"

As mentioned above, in the spring of 1990 "GO" disbanded Yegor Letov. The group broke up not at all because there were contradictions between its members, or because of failure, as happens in modern bands. In fact, Yegor did not want to do pop music anymore, so he left his last concert in Tallinn and returned home. After some time, active creative work began, as a result of which new material was presented to the fans, called "Egor and the Opizdenevshie".

During the creation of the first album, the musician traveled around the Urals, collecting and processing more and more information for new creations. But even there it did not go smoothly. On one of the trips, Egor, along with positive emotions, received a biteencephalitis tick. For about a month, he literally stood between life and death, balancing on the very edge. During all this time, he had to endure the lack of sleep and a constant temperature of 40 degrees. But in the end, the disease nevertheless left him, and the usual mode of active creative activity was launched again.

Early 21st century

In 2002, an album called "Starfall" was released, which included the most famous songs of "GO". And "Egor and Opizdenevshie" presented the album "Psychedelia Tomorrow". A couple of years later, Letov unsubscribed from all political forces, where he had previously played a big role.

During the first years of the 21st century, Igor released several albums that instantly gained popularity. The team survived the resistance of the Estonian authorities, which consisted in the refusal to obtain a visa without explanation. And the most recent concert took place on February 9, 2008 - it took place in Yekaterinburg and was filmed on camera by a local TV company.

Private life

In the late 80s, Letov Igor was madly in love with Yanka Diaghileva, but at the very beginning of the 90s he lived with her friend Anna Volkova. In 1997, Yegor met his future wife and part-time bass player of "Civil Defense" Natalia Chumakova.

Death

The musician died at the age of 43 in his hometown. On February 19, 2008, fans lost their favorite artist, who remained forever in their hearts.

Igor Fedorovich Letov was buried in the city OldEastern cemetery, where next to his grave are the graves of his mother and grandmother. The farewell ceremony was attended by thousands of people from different cities of Russia and other countries.

Cause of death

The very first cause of death was cardiac arrest. But after some time, the doctors put forward another version - acute respiratory failure. Doctors say that this happened due to alcohol poisoning. The musician's wife and the "GO" group denied this fact, so cardiac arrest is considered the official cause.

Memory

After his death, exhibitions of art collages were held in several cities of the Russian Federation, which were made personally by Yegor, as well as by Oleg Sudakov and Konstantin Ryabinov.

A year later, fans began to publish the three-volume "Autographs. Draft and white manuscripts". The volumes were released for quite a long time: the first one in 2009, the second one in 2011, and the last one only in autumn 2014.

In 2010 (September 10), at the request of Yegor's wife, a monument in the form of a marble cube was erected on the grave, which depicts the Jerusalem cross (Igor wore it as a pectoral cross during his lifetime). Many people took part in the creation of the tombstone.

Every year, on birthdays and deaths, memorial concerts are held in honor of a prominent representative of Russian rock. His rock, pop mechanics and other musical directions will always be in people's memory. The great man was able to convey to the audience his feelings, which are impossible to forget.

Discography

I couldn't do without solo albums and bootlegsEgor (Igor) Letov. The biography of this musician is interesting to almost every young rocker.

Now there really are a lot of people who want to do the same activities and get success. Therefore, the discography should also be considered.

Solo albums:

• "Music of Spring" - 2 parts - 1990-93;
• "Russian field of experiment" - 1988;
• "Brothers Letov" - recorded with the participation of brother Sergei - 2002;
• "Tops and Roots" - 2 parts, both in 1989;
• "The holiday is over" - 1990.

Bootlegs:

• "Acoustics in Karaganda" - 1998;
• "Egor and Yanka" - 1989;
• "Songs to the Void" - 1986;
• "Air Workers War" - 1992.

Video and other projects

Igor Letov, or Yegor, as he is commonly called, also took part in videos that were recorded in the 90s, but are still popular today:

1. The concert in the hero-city of Leningrad is the first video that was recorded back in 1994.
2. Concert at the recreation center "Wings of the Soviets" - the second recording, made 3 years after the first. In addition to the concert itself, it also includes an additional interview from 05/16/97 in Moscow.

Throughout his career, Yegor Letov presented many projects to his own fans. It should be noted that each of them had different success. The legendary author's best projects include:

1. "West".
2. "Communism".
3. "Border Civil Defense Detachment" (an album created as part of a semi-mythical group, in which "John Double", "Kuzya UO", Ryabinov and Yegor Letov himself took part).
4. "Enemy of the people".
5. "Christs on the porch".
6. "Satanism".
7. "Cooperative Nishtyak".
8. "Vlasov's Army".
9. "Anarchy".
10. "Adolf Hitler".
11. "Cherny Lukich".
12. "Peak and Klaxon".
13. "Survival Manual".
14. "Cop Backs".
15. "Russian breakthrough".

Books

In addition to his passion for music, Igor Letov was also engaged in writing. In this, his talent also knew no bounds. During his lifetime, the publishing house released several collections of poems, which to this day change people's views on life and talk about little-known things:

• "I don't believe in anarchy";
• "Poems";
• "Russian Field of Experiments" (Yana Diaghileva and Konstantin Ryabinov took part in the creation);
• "Autographs".

Egor did not much like to make changes to the created songs or books. But after his death, the book called "Poems" was reprinted along with three volumes of "Autographs".

The musician's books were valued at the same level as the songs. Therefore, the number of fansincreased not only due to the performances of musical groups under his leadership. Unfortunately, now few people have at least one book by Letov, but at the time of their publication, success was at the highest level.