10 years of life for 2 families and 5 children: The twists and turns of fate of the "last romantic" of the stage Valery Meladze

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For a quarter of a century, he has been called the “last romantic” of the Russian stage for his lyrical manner of performing musical compositions. It would seem that the idol of millions of women in his personal life should have everything just as beautiful, touching and romantic. But, alas, in order to find happiness again and feel the blood boiling in my veins, famous singer Valery Meladze, I had to start a new family, and then completely leave three children and a woman who devoted more than twenty years of her life to him.

Valery Meladze is a Russian singer and actor, TV presenter and producer, Honored Artist of Russia and People's Artist of the Chechen Republic. At the beginning of the 90s, he literally burst into Russian show business with his first song and forever won the hearts of domestic listeners. Valery Shotovich is one of the most popular performers, who is a multiple owner of various awards and prestigious music awards in Russia. It should also be noted that the singer reached the heights of the musical Olympus thanks to his older brother Konstantin Meladze - the author of texts, music and arrangements of almost all the songs performed by Valery.

Turning the pages of a biography

Valerian (this is the name indicated in the singer's birth certificate) was born in June 1965 in the Georgian port city of Batumi. His brother Konstantin, also a famous musician, is two years older than him, and his sister Liana is three years younger. Their parents, Shota Konstantinovich and Nelly Akakievna Meladze, were hereditary engineers by profession, but they tried to instill in their children a love of music from an early age. They both had good musical abilities - they sang well, and my mother even played the piano a little. Shota Konstantinovich raised his sons in severity, instilling in them true masculine qualities. The Meladze brothers still warmly remember the days they spent with their father, when he took them to the city, and upon returning home taught them to play chess.

At school, Valery studied well, although without much desire. Successful in all subjects, he gave preference to physical education and labor lessons. After classes, he attended the wrestling sports section and went to a music school to study the piano. In addition, the tomboy still had time to play pranks, which is why he got into the children's room of the police several times. - the singer recalls himself as a child.

After graduating from school, Valery, having not yet decided on the choice of profession, worked for a whole year as a telephone operator. But, and after that never deciding who he wants to be, Meladze Jr. followed the example of his older brother Kostya and went to Ukraine to enter the Shipbuilding Institute in the city of Nikolaev. Becoming a first-year student and getting a place in a hostel, Valery felt incredible freedom, which turned his head. He was little interested in studying, and much more our hero was fond of parties and girls. But, the situation changed dramatically after a serious conversation with his brother, who, as an elder, said:. Of course, Valery, brought up in the traditional respect for every Georgian for his elders, simply could not disobey Kostya.

By the way, the Meladze brothers were always friendly, despite their different interests and dissimilar characters. Valery, considering his elder brother his best friend, once admitted that he always tried to be like him. From a young age, he admires Constantine, his calm character, tact and big kind heart. Valery also admitted that he and Konstantin complement each other:

First steps to music

In their student years, at some point, the brothers began to listen to the same music and became even closer on this basis. Soon Valery became a member of the institute group "April", as an equipment tuner. In the same group, Konstantin played keyboards. According to Meladze Jr., he did not even think about any musical career at that time, he was seriously fascinated by technology. Nevertheless, the talent for music made itself felt. The singer's vocal data was noticed quite unexpectedly, thanks to the occasion.

And it was like this. One day, the band's musicians got hold of a reverb, a concert device that creates sound effects similar to echoes. And when Valery, due to the nature of his duties, began to tune him, singing the words of a song to test the device, all those present were amazed by the unusual timbre of his voice. The group leader immediately invited him to become a backing vocalist. So Valery stayed in the ensemble on the backing vocals until the end of his studies at the institute. And having become a certified mechanical engineer of ship power plants, Valery, who still does not connect his life with music in any way, decided to continue his studies in graduate school. Later he began to write a dissertation, which he defended in 1994, when they started talking about him as a talented performer. But, the path to popularity on the stage was not so easy….

The beginning of a musical career

In parallel with his postgraduate studies, Valery continued to perform backing vocals in a student group, where Konstantin was no longer only a keyboard player, but also the author of many songs. In 1989, the brothers decided to start an independent creative career, and showed their recordings to Kim Breitburg, a famous musician at that time, leader and founder of the Dialogue rock group. Kim Alexandrovich, seeing great potential in the talented brothers, invited him to his team. And in the period from 1989 to 1991, Valery was already the vocalist of "Dialogue". However, having released two music albums, the Meladze brothers leave the group. As Valery will later say in an interview, the reason for leaving the legendary rock group was a radical change in role. The brothers did not really see themselves in the musical direction of "art-rock", focused exclusively on the Western public.

Solo career

The first independent performance of Valery Meladze was the performance of the song "Don't disturb my soul, violin", which took place in the recording of the program "Starry Evening at Luzhniki" in 1992. And a year later, the young artist was invited by the Prima Donna to her TV show "Christmas Meetings". The song "Limbo" performed at the evening immediately became an all-Russian hit.

As a result of searches and experiments with synth-pop and pop-rock, Valery Meladze's solo album - "Sera", released in 1995, was released. At that time, he was rightfully considered one of the best Russian pop albums, which included sixteen compositions. Of course, Konstantin Meladze was the author of the words and music.

Romantic, deep and atypically sincere, the collection was like a breath of clean air in the musical world of the 90s. By the way, the music of those years, to a greater extent, consisted of chanson and newfangled pop songs, not only devoid of meaning, but glorifying the "dark" sides of life. The Meladze brothers, in contrast to all this, showed that there is always a place in life for sincere love, friendship and normal human relations., - says Valery Shotovich.

The brothers described their style as "new romance", and the listeners subconsciously reached out to their work. The breakthrough made by the Meladze brothers into the world of showbiz was colossal - their songs no longer needed advertising, and Valery was named the best vocalist in the country. For all the years of common creativity, the brothers musicians have created more than a dozen studio albums and fifty clips, but they performed only one musical composition as a duet. This is the song - "My brother", about which the singer always speaks with warmth in his voice, calling it one of his best songs.

It should also be noted that the singer's popularity has not decreased over the years. True, his voice has ceased to be as piercing as it was in his youth. But, on the other hand, now he has acquired a velvety volume and hoarseness, which gives Valery Shotovich's compositions a new sound.

Personal life, first marriage

Valery's true love happened while studying at the shipbuilding institute. It was there that he met Irina Malukhina, a student of the same university, but of a different faculty. Valery had to spend a lot of time and effort to bring Irina to the registry office. But, be that as it may, in March 1989 the couple registered a marriage, and three months later in Batumi, their parents arranged a wedding celebration for 250 people. Returning to Nikolaev, the newlyweds received from the state a small room in the family hostel. And soon the firstborn appeared in their family, who was destined to live only ten days. The baby was born very weak, and it was not possible to save the boy. Having gone through the tragedy hard, Irina was able to get pregnant only a year later. In 1991, a daughter, Inga, was born.

In the first years, the young family lived very poorly, and only thanks to their parents and brother Kostya, they somehow remained afloat. After the visits of his brother, who was already making good money by creating arrangements, in different places there was money, quietly left to him. Konstantin was very afraid of offending his brother, so he did not advertise his help. But by 1994, everything had changed. Along with the popularity of Valery, wealth came to the house. The family decided to move to Moscow. Because only there it was possible for the young talent to break through.

In 1999, Irina gave her second daughter Sophia, already famous by that time, to her husband, and three years later the singer became a father for the third time, in December 2002 Arina Meladze was born. It seemed that this is it - family happiness and well-being. But, at some point, Irina felt that her husband had lost interest in her, began to be absent from home for a long time, explaining her absences by the workload.

A lot of time passed, and Valery himself said that he had a serious relationship with another woman and that he had a child from her. To Irina's question "who is she", Meladze did not answer. But, that was not a big deal to guess herself. Comparing some facts that previously seemed insignificant, Irina came to the conclusion that this is none other than the "red-haired" soloist from the group "VIA Gra". Doubts were dispelled by a friend who also thought of Albina Dzhanabaeva. Irina later recalled that when she found out that she had given birth to a baby, she congratulated Albina, not even suspecting that this child was from her husband.

After Valery's deception was revealed, Irina for the sake of her daughters did not make any scenes or scandals. She was just silent for a while, Valery was also silent, continuing to live in two camps. But soon everything was resolved, by itself. One day he simply left the one with whom he had lived for more than two decades, who gave him three daughters and went with him through all the hardships of life., - Irina admitted later. But, over time, she was able to cope with her state of despair and resentment, while maintaining friendly relations with her ex-spouse.

Later, giving an interview, Valery Meladze himself more than once said words of gratitude to his wife, who supported him at the beginning of his career and was with him, as they say, both in sorrow and in joy..

Life for two families

As it turned out, Valery Meladze lived in two families for ten years. In 2004, Albina gave birth to Valeria's son Konstantin. And since 2009, the media increasingly began to appear notes that the famous artist was often seen with his young backing vocalist, who later became the star of the VIA Gra collective Albina Dzhanabaeva. Valery did not comment on these rumors in any way and in every possible way avoided answering reporters' tricky questions. However, you cannot hide an awl in a sack, and once he had to confess to his wife his sin.

And when the new beloved of the “last romantic” was preparing to become a mother again, there was nowhere to pull further … In 2014, Meladze officially divorced his wife, in the same year his second son Luka was born, and in the same year Meladze was able to marry Albina without hindrance. Dzhanabaeva. And soon, with his new family, Meladze moved to a luxurious country mansion in the Moscow region. The singer left the house on Rublevka to the former family.

Second marriage. Valery Meladze and Albina Dzhanabaeva

This is now Meladze and Dzhanabaeva, a well-known married couple raising two sons. And once they did not advertise their relationship, but kept it in the strictest confidence, not daring to show their feelings in public. Valery was still married at that time and in no way wanted problems for his family. And even the birth of Albina's son did not make him change anything in his life.

Initially, Dzhanabaeva was a backing vocalist in the Meladze team for a long time. And everything would have been nothing if not for the spark of mutual sympathy that once slipped between them. And although novels were not welcomed in the group, colleagues began to notice that Valeria and Albina were connected not only by a working relationship. True, the girl more than once tried to break up with Meladze, but again and again she walked in a circle. Now many years have passed since there is no need to hide your feelings, and you can live openly rejoicing in your happiness. However, Albina Dzhanabaeva still does not get the stigma - "homeless woman", which her fans have assigned to her.

Sons of Valery Meladze

Unlike daughters, whom Valery Shotovich simply could not help but cherish and indulge, his sons, although in severity, gives them the opportunity to express themselves and show a masculine character. Father, knowing that the elder Kostya is not attracted to music at all, does not even try to put pressure on him. - the father says with pride about the addictions of the eldest son.

The youngest in the family is completely different in character from his older brother. Luka is much more active and demanding, he takes offense if he is not paid attention and already shows character. After his birth, Albina practically stopped going on stage, changing her concert outfits to ordinary clothes. Apparently, in this way, trying to devote her time to the youngest son as much as possible, she compensates for what she did not give to the eldest. By the way, now it is sometimes difficult to recognize the once gorgeous soloist of VIA Gra in her. And more recently, she told reporters that she and her husband are planning to give birth to another child.

Daughters of Valery Meladze

For the daughters, the parents' divorce was a real shock, and only a few years after the birth of Luka, their second brother, the girls decided to renew their relationship with their father. The initiator was Sophia, father's daughter, who more than others inherited truly Georgian wisdom and kindness. And also their mother Irina tried to inspire the girls that even after leaving the family, Valery has always been and will be a father to them.

Now they are already quite adults … In 2015, the eldest Inga married Nuri Verghese, a young Moroccan journalist whom she met while studying in England. Rumor has it that not so long ago, the girl broke up with her husband and returned to Moscow, where she seriously took up a business career. Sofia Meladze, after graduating from school, flatly refused to study abroad and became a student at one of the most prestigious universities in Russia - MGIMO. The youngest daughter of the artist, Arina, is engaged in ballet, and in the future she plans to connect her life with art.

By the way, Valery's parents reacted with understanding to his divorce from Irina, they maintain rather warm relations with both daughters-in-law, who gave them grandchildren.

In recent years, one can often hear that artists leave their families, trying to create new ones, probably happier ones. To continue this topic, read our publication: