Legendary voice of the Soviet Union - Muslim Magomayev: biography, career, facts...

Muslim Magomayev is a legendary icon of Soviet pop and opera theatre, an outstanding composer, a talented actor and simply an idol of millions of listeners... During his lifetime this man gathered many thousands of halls, and his records were sold out in millions of copies....

It is not for nothing that streets and parks, as well as... a star, were solemnly christened after this man! We are going to look into his amazing story today....

Childhood years

The musician was born in 1942 in Baku, the sunny capital of Azerbaijan! The boy's father died tragically at the front, not living to see the great Victory for about two weeks... During his lifetime he was a theatre artist, which largely explains his marriage with Aishet Magomayeva: two bright creative personalities instantly fell in love with each other! His mother performed under the pseudonym Kinzhalova, and his grandfather - Abdul-Muslim, a musician - was famous throughout Azerbaijan as a talented composer! So, the musical career of our hero was destined from the very beginning of his life path....

When the war ended, Ayshet travelled with little Muslim to Vyshny Volochok. There he entered a music school and managed to make friends, with whom he created a puppet theatre! But a year later Ayshet sent her son to Baku. The woman was sure that it was there that he would be able to get the best education.

In Baku, he was brought up in the family of his uncle Jamal. It is worth noting that the boy's mother was right: here, in his native city, he immersed himself in music... He was greatly influenced by the opera maestros of the Italian stage, such as Enrico Caruso, Mattia Battistini, Titta Ruffo....

It so happened that the family of the famous Azerbaijani singer Byulbul lived next door to Uncle Jamal! So... every morning I listened to the opera star singing with pleasure.....

Music education

Soon he was sent to a music school at the Baku Conservatory. And if the boy got only A's in piano, solfeggio and choral singing, the more exact sciences were clearly "lame"... Although it was music that turned out to be his lucky ticket to the Olympus of fame! But about this momentous formation a little later....

Eventually his talent was noticed by Vladimir Anshelevich, a professor at the conservatory. It was he who taught the boy to filialise his voice, which helped him a lot in the future!

The musician continued to improve his vocals at the Baku Music School, and in the late 1950s received a diploma in music education.

The beginning of the journey...

The first performance of the future star took place in the House of Culture of Baku Sailors. However, fame fell on our hero only after his performance in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses in 1962. From then on, the history of his solo performances began...

Soon the talented guy was chosen as a soloist of the Azerbaijan Theatre! At the same time, the singer did not abandon the stage.

In 1964, the musician trained at the prestigious Milanese theatre "La Scala", and a little later he toured the city of love Paris, staging lavish concerts at the "Olympia"... By the way: the theatre manager was enchanted by the talent of the Soviet artist, and even offered him a one-year contract! But... the prospect of becoming an international star was not shared by the USSR Ministry of Culture. In their opinion, Muslim should have performed exclusively at home.

Trouble with the law...

Towards the end of the 1960s, a criminal case was brought against the musician... In general, there were no good reasons for this. The fact is that after a performance in Rostov, the singer received 606 rubles instead of the required 202 rubles for two hours on stage. Because of this incident, he was banned from touring outside his native Azerbaijan for some time... Fortunately, everything was soon sorted out, and by the early 1970s Magomaev was at the top of Olympus....

An international success!

In addition to the stage, Magometovich has managed to make a name for himself in cinema! He starred in a number of films, including Muslim Magomayev Sings. The musician also wrote music for films and theatre plays, and later published his own book!

In the same period, the artist received his first "Golden Record" in Cannes! At the age of 31, Magometovich was recognised as People's Artist of the Soviet Union and Azerbaijan SSR.

Details of personal life ...

The musician became a husband at the age of 18. At that time he was madly in love with a beautiful woman of Azerbaijani origin named Ofelia....

But when he declared his intentions to take the girl as his wife, his family, to put it mildly, was not happy... Moreover, knowing the ardour of her grandson, his grandmother even hid his passport from him! But... with the help of tricks he managed to win back his document! As a result, Muslim and Ofelia signed, though - secretly from their relatives and friends. Later, when Magomaev's family found out about it, his uncle only grumbled... He was sure that such an early marriage would lead to nothing good. And he was right... Despite the fact that Muslim and Ophelia had a daughter, the couple divorced in 1963....

The musician's personal life was full of passions... For some time the singer lived in a civil marriage with Lyudmila Kareva, a music editor. Subsequently, they had a child born out of wedlock. The artist was also credited with a romance with actresses Natalia Kustinskaya and Natalia Fateeva! He did not ignore the singers Natavan Sheikhova and Svetlana Rezanova... As Magomayev himself admitted:

"I couldn't belong to just one woman..."

However, the only truly beloved woman was the beautiful Tamara Sinyavskaya... The musician fell in love with her from their first meeting, which, by the way, took place in 1972 in Baku, during the festival of folk art....

For Muslim's sake Tamara left her husband, and very soon they got engaged... Later the singer said:

"Only with this woman did I feel truly alive and happy!"

Muslim and Tamara were the most famous pop couple of the USSR! They often performed on the same stage, organised creative evenings... Together they lived soul to soul for more than 30 years! And they would have lived even longer, if in 2008 the phenomenal baritone of the XX century had not died....

The last years of his life

Health problems became apparent back in 2003. At that time, the musician painfully experienced the death of his close friend Heydar Aliyev... The death of his friend became a personal tragedy for him. Because of his love for cigarettes, which he carried with him through his life, his lung problems were aggravated... As a result, doctors diagnosed him with heart ischaemia.

As if sensing that there was not long left to live, in 2007 the musician wrote the heartfelt "Farewell, Baku"...

In his latest interview, the artiste said:

"Every voice, like every talent, has its time. And we have no right to overstep it..."

The great artist died in October 2008. Having learnt about the death of their idol, thousands of people came to the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in an endless stream. All of them wanted to say goodbye to their favourite artist, a bright phenomenon of the folk stage and simply a fantastically talented person...

In 2009, an incredible monument was erected on the musician's grave: made in full height, from expensive snow-white marble brought from the Urals...