 Alla Pugacheva is the embodiment of success in the true Russian style. That is, success against all odds. And in that sense, Alla Pugacheva is the true Russian national legend in the full meaning of the word.
In an interview, which was given by the singer Vyacheslav Maleznik who used to work with Pugacheva in "The Happy Fellows" in 1974, Maleznik called Alla "a black hole" accumulating the energetic resources of those who surround her. In this there is a simple truth - Alla Pugacheva, like a shark, always in motion, and there are a few people who are so adaptive to all things new, and interesting. Alla has a tremendous intuition and one is not likely to meet anyone with more attractive qualities - this is why she became the first, the best, and still possesses these qualities today.
Her biography is basically - years of studying (the Ippolitov-Ivanov school of Music, the Lunacharsky School of Theatrical Arts), years of searching (her first recordings on the radio, made when she was only 16, her first trips with the promotions crew of the radio station "Youth" in Siberia and Far East, working with the bands "New Electron", "Moscovites", "Happy Fellows", and Oleg Lundstrem's ensemble) Her first spark of success came upon receiving of the third place prize at the All Union competition of pop artists in 1974 with songs like "Posidim Pookaem" and "Ermolova from Clear Ponds".
How was Alla Borisovna Pugacheva in those days? Even those who knew her then could not truly tell. The Alla Pugacheva of those days was overshadowed by the Woman, who sang. The singer, whom many did not believe (or so it seemed to her then), but who, notwithstanding, was victorious over all and became a star. The first Star (and not the heroine of Socialist work) with all the resulting God-like qualities of that status in then the Soviet Union. She achieved everything with hard work and struggle with all her flaws and numerous complexes, with her, maybe even physical, shortcomings, which gradually ceased to be so to her millions of fans.
On a silver platter she was handed, for once in her life, her only chance - to participate in the competition "The Golden Orpheus" in place of Georgy Movsesyan, who was dropped due to his amoral conduct. It was the victory at Varnes in 1975 with the song "Arlekino" that gave us the great singer and actress, which we so love. The victory at Sopot on the International Contest with the song "Kings Can Do Everything" in 1978 once again proved her status quo.
In the twenty years that followed that event Alla Pugacheva has reached everything one could wish for in Russia and the former Soviet Union. She is the last Peoples Honor Singer of the Soviet Union, the laureate of many domestic and foreign awards, as well as Russia's number one newsmaker, and the participant of many prestigious musical festivals all over the world (which she has toured many times). Her album sales amou nt to about 200 million copies, and the movies in which she played, though not considered the best in cinematography, have had enormous success in the box office. Her concert programs, such as "The Monologues of a Singer" (1981) and "I Came and I'm Talking"(1984) are to this day yet to be outdone. Her "Christmas Reunions" (1988-1992) have, for five years in a row, gathered 15 thousand viewers. Her name has been given to an ocean liner in Finland, a brand of French perfume, a magazine (whose editor in chief is Alla herslef) and a line of shoes (also designed by Allla) as well as many little girls all over Russia.
However, who can dare say that Alla (born in 1949) "has said her last word"? Only someone who is blind, deaf and stupid, all at the same time. This, let the God-like voice ring, the voice who can so tonalize even the simplest of melodies, that even a heart made of ice, as it melts, would fill with its love towards all things beautiful that very flacon whose name is Life.
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