Arkady Severny: biography, nationality, photo, cause of death

In the public life of the artist must be some kind of understatement. Episodes hidden from view. Personal memories, not intended for fans. And vice versa - invented for the public stories, emphasizing individuality and possessing the properties of perfect plausibility. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish fiction from truth. This fully applies to the fate of the performer, whose name has become a legend already during his lifetime. This artist is Arkady Severny.

The contradiction of his personality manifests itself even after a long time. Legends and fictions are inseparably side by side with truthful facts of life. And it's hard to divide - where is the truth, and where is the legend accompanying the underground musician. Absolutely one thing: Arkady Zvezdin, who later became famous under the pseudonym Arkady Severny, was born in the city of Ivanovo on March 12, 1939.

Parents: at the beginning of the journey

The usual life for Soviet people in the late 1930s is father, mother, two older brothers, Lyova and Valik, Lyuda's sister. After the war, Misha's younger brother was born. Information about the parents - this is where some contradictions begin. Some argue that Dmitry Ivanovich Zvezdin worked on the Ivanovo Railway. According to other information, his name was Dmitry Iosifovich. All sources agree in one: the senior Zvezdin held a leading position.

Information about the singer's mother also varies. It is alleged that her name is Elena Makarovna. She was a housewife. Say that the head of the family occupied responsible posts earned enough to allow the wife to devote herself to the upbringing of four children. Others show that they called her Galina Davidovna. By profession - a doctor-radiologist. There is a certain predestination in this. After all, afterwards Arkady Severny, whose biography, nationality and habits will never be known to his admirers during his lifetime, his songs will be published in thousands of illegal copies on "ribs". The so-called flexible plates on X-ray images, which the first Soviet underground recording studios were able to adapt for cutting the sound track.

The way of life in the family changed after the war began. The father, who was commissioned from the army even after the Civil War, nevertheless achieved sending to the front. Apparently, he was a man of courage and uncompromising. I could have avoided the front by illness, but I did not use my privileges. And this quality - determination - was adopted by his growing son. Dmitry Ivanovich returned home in 1946. Just at the time when Arkady went to first grade 39 elementary school.

Parents could not assume that from the skinny first-grader will grow famous for the whole country singer of Russian urban romance - Arkady Severny, whose discography will be studied many decades after his death.

School: the first guitar chords

Perhaps today, not many people already know that the primary school in the Soviet Union was separate. The boys studied separately from the girls. Here in this man's team and passed the first 4 years of training. And then there was a general school, which Arkady graduated in 1956. During his studies he did not stand out, and his peers remembered him a little shy and embarrassed noisy company guy.

There is another remarkable detail, told by his cousin, Boris Soloviev, who was a year older. According to his testimonies, Arkady's clothes were poor, and the shoes were so worn out that Boris had to carry him through puddles. Apparently the "leading" salary of Dmitry Ivanovich was not enough for the whole family.

However, it was in school years that the boy mastered the guitar. At the age of 7 he learned to play pretty well for his age. In this there is nothing surprising - it was with whom to take an example. The head of the family loved music and often played music in the home circle. The guitar became a true friend and companion of a young man. All those who were acquainted with him during his youthful years remember that, beginning to sing, Arkady was transformed. The repertoire was unpretentious. One of the songs heard on the radio - yard, thieves, front. At a later age, camp and prison arrangements appeared. It was not surprising - a lot of people passed through the barracks and shipments behind the barbed wire, and "zonovsky" folklore confidently registered in the gates and vacant lots, which became the scene of the first courtyard concerts of Arkady Zvezdin. But there was one more person who spurred his interest in forbidden songs.

Sister

At that time, handwritten collections of songs flourished. There were military compositions collected by boys who grew up on the stories of fathers and elder brothers about the war, and romantic poems carefully copied into the notebook in a smooth girlish handwriting. The elder sister of Lyudmila gave Arkady quite another songbook. She, who served time on a household article, brought with her a collection of unpretentious camp songs. They became the basis of the yard repertoire of the beginning musician. He did not know in those years that this folklore would make him famous throughout the country. And with the ecstasy of a real artist, with guitar accompaniment, selflessly performed songs born in prisons and camps.

There is a story that, instead of lessons, Arkady sang songs in nearby pubs, where he was taken by teachers headed by the school principal. This was hardly the case. Because the times were strict, and for such "pranks" could easily be kicked out of the school. But the certificate of secondary education Zvezdin received in due time, in 1956. In 1958 (according to other sources in 1957) he became a student of the Forest Technical Academy in Leningrad, better known as "Sawmill". Quite a strange choice for a guy whom the forest business has never attracted.

And it is not known what he did after graduation. It was not customary at the time to sit back. Most likely, they got bored of their parents at court concerts, and they sent Arkady away from his native Ivanovo. And the choice of an educational institution is easy to explain. Dmitry Ivanovich Zvezdin for some time served as director of the Forest Technical School in the Gorky region. It is possible that he used old acquaintances. In the same year of 1958, Father Arkady died. And his son started a new life stage. Leningrad for a long time became for him a native city.

"Sawmill": study and not only

The student period in the life of Arkady Zvezdin can be characterized very briefly - his studies did not interest him at all. He attended classes, passed exams and passed exams, but the sphere of interests of the young man was far from the professional activity of the future forest engineer.

Free, and even anti-Soviet moods of a part of the students at the turn of the 60s could not pass by a visiting provincial. He gets acquainted with students from other universities. The guitar opens the way for him to any company. Arkady reads books with interest, for which they could give prison terms for a very unpleasant article. But fate kept it for other purposes. And politics was not too interested in the young man. Although many of his student acquaintances still went to the stage for their freethinking.

Another thing is music. Leningrad streets were saturated with a variety of rhythms. Everywhere reigned the sounds of jazz and incendiary rock'n'roll. Of course, Ivanovo knew about such music. But to know and listen is still not the same thing. In full sailors and foreigners the city had the opportunity to get acquainted with the real music that came "from there", directly from abroad. Arkady gets acquainted with people engaged in collecting and reselling records. It was at this time and there is a meeting that affected his entire future biography.

Rudolf Fuchs

Despite his youth, he was a kind of celebrity. A student at the Shipbuilding Institute, Fuchs became famous as a lucky collector, speculator and stylist. His field of interest was diverse: from new foreign records to old, pre-revolutionary Russian books. It was interest in the works of IS Barkov, the poet of the pre-Pushkin era, who led Arkady Zvezdin into Fuchs's apartment.

Guests who were at Rudolph at this time, did not allow him to give the new acquaintance a lot of time. Handing the book to Arkady and leaving him alone in the room, Fuchs returned to the company of the other guests. The casual visitor did not interest him. Of course, on this their fleeting acquaintance should have ended, but the case was intervened. More precisely, the guitar that was in the room, and Arkady could not refrain from taking it in his hands.

Strings were not immediately penetrated through the thick partitions of the old Leningrad apartment. The first impression is that someone is playing a tape recorder. But the words of the song were unfamiliar, and the sounds of the guitar were heard very close. Through the loosely-covered door, Rudolph Fuchs saw his random guest - he listened nervously to the strings and sang. He sang not for the public or for Fuchs. He sang for himself. Enterprising and experienced Rudolph immediately realized - from this singing you can make money. The improvised concert lasted several hours. A slightly cracked, silvery voice of Arkady did not leave indifferent among the first listeners - guests of Rudolph Fuchs and his neighbors. Since that day, the paths of Arkady and Rudolf have been closely intertwined for a long time.

The first entry (1963)

No sooner said than done. Without delay, Rudolf Fuchs prepared everything necessary to record the first tape album. A small team of like-minded people, an accordion, a guitar, ten bottles of vodka and cabbage. There was also a pianist and saxophonist - the only professional musician among those gathered.

Drank, bitten, and the session of underground recording began. In fact, it was a simple home-made music. Yes, and the repertoire of Arcadia was not great - just a few dozen songs that fit on a pair of tape reels. But the process of recording and gathering "under cabbage" lasted all day. The output turned out to be slightly more than two hours of the track. The name of the concert was given by the first words on the record, which Arkady said through the noise of the self-made reverberator: "Oh, I love the life of thieves, and I'm afraid to steal!"

About that, to release the recorded songs "to the people" under the real name of the performer, even thought did not arise. We needed a pseudonym. Someone suggested - Arkady Severny. The biography of the legend began. Even Arkady himself did not take seriously what was happening - it was more like a game. But the record was made, and the process, as they say, went.

A professional "editor" on the Leningrad radio made a "commodity" soundtrack. Through friends Rudolf Fuchs begins to distribute it - first in Leningrad, and then in other cities. At the same time, the recording is replicated in an old, proven way - on X-ray film. And everywhere the new name is given - Arkady Severny. And it was remembered by fans of the underground "Russian chanson".

Arkady and Rudolph (1963-1971)

It was 1965. Arkady Zvezdin (Severny) finally graduated from the "Sawmill" and began to work. Then there was the service in the army. A graduate of the university Zvezdin got to serve in a helicopter regiment near Leningrad. Then came the marriage and the birth of her daughter (1971). Life was on a rolled track. But there was a problem - there was always a shortage of money. In search of additional earnings had to revive old acquaintances.

For Rudolph this period was also full of events. True, a somewhat different kind. His underground musical commerce still attracted the attention of the police. While he created Arkady North, whose biography was flowing in the mainstream of Soviet life, he graduated from school, he in 1965 received a prison sentence for forgery of documents. After his release, he began to work in Lenproject, but he did not refuse old habits and was in the endless search for any opportunities to earn.

In such circumstances, the revival of the meeting promised benefits to both of them. The business pressure of Fuchs and the name of the North that remained on hearing among fans gave good prospects to a new joint musical project.

Program for the State Concert Committee (1972)

The idea was not new. Fuchs decided to use the repeatedly tested topic - Odessa's humor and songs. In the role of the old Odessa, Arkady Severny was to perform. The director and screenwriter of the new program, Rudolph, developed an ebullient activity - his idea was wider than the simple vocal performance of songs with a guitar. Fuchsa needed the figurative, catchy humor of old Odessa. He wanted to do something that had not yet been released in the underground "Magizdat". He recycled old and famous Odessa anecdotes, invented new stories. In short, Fuchs plunged into the creative process with his head, and to achieve this goal, he aroused literary abilities.

The script suited the performer. Arkady Severny, whose biography was never associated with the Black Sea, possessed an innate artistry. He quickly could imagine himself in the proposed Odessa color. It is even difficult to describe in what scenario the musical project was realized. Small sketches from Jewish-Odessa life alternated with songs or, on the contrary - songs between which sounded small stylized miniatures.

The success was truly stunning. In a short time the album broke up into the Soviet Union. Not stopping at the achieved, enterprising Rudolph quickly prepares the second program. This time the flurry of Odessa's humor is dressed in the form of a concert on demand. The second record ensured success. It is not known for certain how many copies of these two albums have been made, but since that time Arkady Severny has become a real star of the underground music industry.

"Star" of banned music

It is clear that the all-Union glory that fell on Arcadia did not make his face recognizable. But the voice of the North knew from Sakhalin to Brest. Enterprising shady businessmen who, according to the irony of Soviet reality, were called collectors, continued to make money on a popular performer. Recruited musical experience and Arkady North. Biography of the heroes of his songs grew into something personal and native.

The period from 1973 to 1978 was filled with records in some hastily organized studios and illegal concerts. By 1975, "Luka Mudischev", "The First Odessa Concert", "Oh, Mommy!" Were recorded.

The banned music industry has already outgrown the level of performance of Odessa songs with a guitar. To record began to attract professional musicians. Most often such groups were found in restaurants. Under uncomplicated titles, they participated in recording songs. The artist performed under the accompaniment of the "Brothers of the Pearl" and "Black Sea Gull". "Four brothers and a shovel", "Godfathers" and "Traffic light" - all this motley kaleidoscope of fantasies at different stages musically accompanied the main star with a memorable name - Severny. Arkady Dmitrievich was accustomed to fame quickly.

Final chord

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the joyful artistic life broke the simple human fate of Arkady. In 1975 he threw his wife and daughter. From that time singer Arkady Severny almost became a homeless person. Life at friends and casual acquaintances, records, moving - all this restless and strained life has left a heavy imprint on habits of Arcadia. He began to drink. Several attempts to get rid of the addiction have not given a lasting positive result. Although after treatment in 1977, sober life lasted a whole year.

From 1977 to 1979, Arkady Severny traveled a lot. It is recorded in Kiev and Odessa. Next were Narva, Feodosia, Moscow, Tikhoretsk and Rostov-on-Don. One can only wonder at the way a person moved around the country, who by that time had already lost all documents. In fact, any police outfit could interrupt Arkady's career at the first check. But fate kept a talented musician.

In early April 1980, the singer arrives in Leningrad - all Zvezdin brothers gathered here to honor the date of the death of his father. Arkady The death of his father lasted his whole life and could not simply come. He stopped, as always, with friends. Here and there was a misfortune - a severe stroke. Arrived at the call of the ambulance was powerless. April 12, 1980 in the hospital. Mechnikov really died people's artist - Arkady Severny. The cause of death is a stroke with a vast hemorrhage to the brain. Exactly one month before this day, he turned 41 years old.

It is impossible to say with certainty what creative heritage is left after this bright performer. It is known about more than 100 tape albums. Unfortunately, the current generation hardly remembers who is Arkady Severny. Biography, photos, memoirs of friends and eyewitnesses - that's all that remains of this talented person. It seems that everything is already known and found. But new collectors do not stop searching. From time to time there are lost records, and the voice of Arkady already from electronic carriers again utters the legendary words: "Do you want songs? I have them! "

And at the cemetery of the Leningrad crematorium, where Arkady Severny is buried, to this day people bring flowers.