Biography of Veni D'rkin and briefly about what happened to him

Sometimes talent leaves very early. Look at the legends who were part of the so-called Club 27. Each of them was incredibly talented, but did not live to be 30 years old. Unfortunately, the musician also passed away at a young age. Venya D'rkin. He was only 29 years old.

When he passed away, his career was at its peak - he was working on new songs, performing a lot, and had time to become famous in the former Soviet Union. He could combine songwriting (sometimes even bardic) with rock. It was literally on the edge, but it sounded laconic. All in all, during his life the musician recorded about 300 songsmany of which are still popular today. So we decided to remember Venya and how his sad fate took shape.

The Early Years of Veni D'rkin

Venya was born in Sverdlovsk, a city in the Lugansk region. And his real name was Alexander Litvinov. Moreover, the boy was born into an educated family, his father was a school principal, and his mother was a math teacher. Probably because of this, from the age of seven he was engaged in creative work - first he wrote poems, and then he began to play the guitar. Parent-teachers knew what to occupy their son with.

Sasha grew up a simple quiet boy, finished school. Around the time he became a student, the Soviet Union collapsed. Poverty began in the Donbass, and Alexander had to work wherever he could. He was both a driver and a cattleman, and even tried to teach physics to children at school. But he saw almost no money for it.

It was around that time that he began to write and play guitar actively, and even won an honorary contest. in 1994 in Russia, in the city of Stary Oskol. There, before the performance, he came up with his pseudonym - Venya D'rkin (which is very consonant with Dyrkin, it was done as a joke). He was warmly received, given the title of laureate and invited to the contest several years in a row. Each time D'rkin was the guest of honor at "Oskolsky Lyra".

In 1996 the singer went to Moscow to visit musicians he knew. He managed to meet a lot of people at Oskol Lyra. They helped him record his first album. That's how D'rkin made his first name known. By 1997. He was already performing in Moscow, he was a household name, and there were a lot of people ready to promote his career. But all of a sudden the guy disappeared. There were no more appearances, no more appearances in public. Nothing.

What happened to Venya D'rkin

The musician was diagnosed with blood cancer. Because of this he had to significantly reduce the number of performances. The musician toured only to get money for life and treatment. Then he underwent a course of chemotherapy, did not lose heart and proved to everyone he knew that he was going to be all right.

Closer to 1999 D'rkin negotiated a big contract with the label. But nothing worked out because of the default, we had to go back to the old system of periodic tours. In the meantime, Alexander's condition was getting worse and worse. After the 14th chemotherapy the condition was too bad.

One of the singer's acquaintances started calling all his contacts, saying that Sasha was seriously ill. They even started collecting money to help the sick poet. But when he was admitted to a clinic in Moscow, it was discovered that he had another cancer, already inoperable. The musician was kept in the clinic for a while, but then he was discharged. A week later he was gone...

The Best Songs of Veni D'rkin

Venya D'rkin didn't record much. There was no money for it, and the music was not in such high demand. The musician mostly performed in clubs and on tour. He played in Donbass, Russia. Very much loved him in Voronezh and Stary Oskol. During his life the singer was rather underground and played in small clubs. But when he passed away, a fund dedicated to his creativity appeared. It released all of Venny D'rkin's songs. And the old fans spread them around as much as they could.

It turned out that the singer became more famous when he was gone. Those who listened to his music after the '90s believe that he was the progenitor of the antifolk and alternative chanson genres. And that's probably true.

The album "Kryshkin Home" is very popular. Especially the songs "Cats", "Hopelessness" and "Besimaya". There are about 20 songs in total on the album and they are all worth listening to. We'll attach the whole album so you can listen for yourself:
Other popular recordings include "Everything Will Be All Right" and "Nibelung:

Lastly

As we've already said, Venya was much loved in Stary Oskol. And he was often on Oskol TV - sometimes in the news, sometimes as a guest in the programs. For those who are interested to know more about the musician and what he was doing in the mid-90s there is an interview from 1996 that was broadcasted on the 9th channel of Oskolsky TV. We'll leave it for those who are interested:

And then I want to leave the full version of the video from the flatshop in Stary Oskol, where Venya played. Many of the surviving audio recordings were taken from there. Fortunately, the sound was recorded very well there. Or maybe it's the musician's own merit: