The richest musicians of the USSR

At USSR It was not fashionable to live large - at least officially. The authorities did not seek to motivate artists with fabulous fees, and as soon as someone achieved a really impressive income, they were immediately sought after. "take a closer look" - Maybe he's involved in some corruption scheme and we should check his contributions. If he is trying to cheat the state, then we will show him... We will ban him from performing, for example. While some tried to "break away" to the West, others managed to make a fortune behind the Iron Curtain. But they all managed to build successful careers with varying degrees of success (pardon the tautology).

Some pretended to be "poor" while others did not. Some continued to perform until the split of the Soviet Union, while others "cut off the oxygen.". Anyway, these people were famous as the richest entertainers in the country! Who are we talking about? We propose to find out together...

"The First Legal Millionaire" by Yuri Antonov

Pro Antonov's untold wealth are legendary! He is credited with about 15,000 roubles a month "net" - fabulous money by the standards of the 70s and 80s in the USSR! At that time, the salaries of ordinary citizens were about a few hundred... just rubles. So, for the Soviet Union, Yuri Mikhailovich was a real man millionaire - and legally. No wonder, given the maestro's immense popularity: at the zenith of his career Antonov gave two concerts a day - in 1981 he performed 28 times in 15 daysBeing in Leningrad, in front of tens of thousands of spectators... The load is frantic, so it is safe to say that the artist's fees are fully justified and deserved. Such labour and talent are simply obliged to bring its owner fruit...

There's a long-standing legend that Antonov kept his money in canvas bags under the bed.! In fact, Yuri Mikhailovich simply did not know what to spend such sums on. As he told me himself:

"Well, you buy a car, a flat, eat delicious food in a restaurant once or twice... And then what? What do you spend that kind of money on? I don't like the sea, I don't like expensive trinkets either...".

Music was not the only source of such a fabulous income: when the artist married for the second time - to a Yugoslavian woman. Miroslave Bobanovic - he had access to foreign equipment, which he supplied to his Soviet colleagues. Is it worth saying that Antonov made a lot of money from this business?

"The Nugget" by Valery Obodzinsky.

Pro Valery Obodzinsky have not forgotten to this day - and how can one forget such a beautiful tenor? "Diamond Voice." - critics called him. Every concert of Obodzinsky was held with a great full house, and his lyrical compositions found an ardent response in both women's and men's hearts... Valery's songs became loud hits, but his fame was mostly secured for him "bad.". Thanks to unflattering criticism, as well as a modern reading of his difficult biography, today he is often remembered as a hard-drinking man, a madman who was addicted and completely lost control of himself... But was this really the case?

Undoubtedly, Obodzinsky was not an easy person. But most of the negative stories about him are the merit of the Soviet authorities, for whom at some point he was unwanted. At the height of his fame Obodzinsky gave several concerts a day and in a week he could raise the entire monthly income of the Philharmonic! They say that he was earning 10 times more than the secretary of the regional party committeeand that his fees were truly staggering... Soon he began to be credited with corrupt schemes with the Philharmonic (which was partly not unreasonable sounding), and soon he was accused of being too "non-Soviet" - his image was rather westernised.

In the end, Obodzinski was denied access to television - "cut off the oxygen", to put it simply. Whether he had the untold riches that are legendary or whether the artist had "burned through" all that money, he eventually settled down as a watchman in a factory. Subsequently, in the 90s, he came out of the shadows, which delighted his loyal fans. It seems to us that - given the level of his popularity in the USSR and the frantic number of concerts he gave - Obodzinsky was indeed on the list of the most popular musicians in the USSR the richest singers in the country. Rumour has it that his monthly income was no less than Antonov's (and maybe more).

"Primadonna, and that says it all" - Alla Pugacheva

Despite the fact that she herself Alla Borisovna Pugacheva was often fond of "pampering" in her interviews, it is hard to believe that an all-union star of such a scale could perform "for cheap". As far as everyone knows, Alla Pugacheva has always had high standards regarding comfort - is it worth remembering the curious incident with the hotel. "Pribaltiyskaya"? As a rule, such standards are peculiar to people who can demand them (based on their own wallet).

It is known that the official prima donna rate for one concert was equal to 40-50 rubles. However, those close to her claimed that this was only official - according to documents. In reality, Pugacheva earned at least as much as 100 roubles for a concert, and sometimes this amount doubled or even tripled! There were cases when Alla Borisovna received 400 roubles for the performance - 2 Soviet salaries!

The most interesting thing is that when the first "mobile phones" appeared in Russia (in the 90s), the singer refused to buy a modern gadget, justifying it by the fact that "it's gonna be expensive.". What do you think - did Soviet artists get good money for their labour? Share your opinion in the comments.