Soviet sharks of show business: significant underground producers of the USSR

By the way, all these people are probably well known to most.

And let’s start with Yuri Aizenshpis, who was nicknamed Karabas-Barabas in show business. He became the first person who introduced the term “producer” into everyday life. Thanks to his work, such groups as “Kino” and “Technology” got to the top of fame. Even Bilan, who became his last project, managed to work with him.

By the way, he started producing at the institute, when they didn’t even hear about this profession. In the 60s, he arranged underground rock concerts for the Sokol group, which traveled with concerts throughout the USSR.

Along the way, Aizenshpis got rich on currency fraud, for which he thundered in prison for 10 years. Having left ahead of schedule, he decided not to embark on the path of correction, being behind bars again. After a 15-year term, he nevertheless refused to cheat, therefore, having left in 1988, he began collaborating with Viktor Tsoi’s group.

It took him only 2 years to be known about him as a real shark of show business. At the same time, the producer had a golden rule: to raise artists from scratch, making them the first stars.

Despite the fact that the musicians themselves considered him tough, unprincipled and ready to follow illegal methods of promotion, no one wanted to refuse to cooperate with him, because the result, as a rule, promised success.

Aizenshpis himself did not disclose his methods, believing that the goal is more important. At the same time, he was indifferent to vocal data, since the main bet was placed on the arrangement. Perhaps he would have continued to ignite new stars in show business, if not for a heart attack at the age of 60.

Less famous, but no less talented, was Valery Yanklovich, who began his career as an actor in the Bryansk Theater of Dramatic Culture. Later, he took the place of deputy director of the Russian Drama Theater in Chisinau, where he met Vladimir Vysotsky. There he also learned to lure the audience to the theater, using capital stars for this.

It was thanks to this skill that Vysotsky performed there, collecting two full houses at once. True, after that they forgot about each other for 7 years, until Yanklovich moved to Moscow in the Taganka Theater in the 70s. By the way, the bard loved by the people also played there. As a result, a friendship began between them, from which both benefited.

Thanks to Vysotsky, Valery received an apartment in the center of Moscow and a role in “The meeting place cannot be changed.” Vladimir Semyonovich, thanks to the pressure and temper of Yanklovich, received profitable concerts. In addition, he helped a famous friend get drugs when he got hooked on a needle. At the same time, he was even nearby when Vysotsky was dying.

Well, let’s finish with another reputable producer – Andrey Razin, who, like Karabas, began his journey with fraud, but did not go to jail. While in the position of deputy chairman of the Kislovodsk collective farm for supply, he squandered the funds allocated for the purchase of a new combine.

Later, Razin showed up in Moscow, where he introduced himself as Gorbachev’s nephew. That’s just a pupil of the orphanage from relatives had only a foster grandmother, who once worked with the mother of the last head of the USSR. Wanting to earn money, he went into the field of show business, taking up the production of the Mirage group. Having quickly earned money on this, Razin decided to increase his income by starting to clone a musical group.

The Mirages immediately went across the country in the person of artists who later became famous already in the individual field. At some point, I had to part with the group, but Razin did not grieve for a long time, because “Tender May” appeared on the horizon, which then performed at local discos.

Acquaintance with “Gorbachev’s nephew” opened the door to a bright future for a group of orphans, and “Tender May” and Yuri Shatunov are remembered and loved to this day. At the peak of their career, the band gave 8 concerts a day, which is why it had to be cloned following the example of Mirage. As a result, in the 90s, several trains traveled around the country at once, impressively providing Razin.

However, 2% had to be given to the criminal authority Otari Kvantrishvili, who was in charge of security. In 1992, “Tender May” broke up, and Razin himself decided to end production forever.

And who, in your opinion, turned out to be the most talented in the production field?