Yuri Shatunov - 46: Is it true that the star of "Tender May" will no longer sing "White Roses"?

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

On September 6, the famous singer, former soloist of the Laskoviy May group, Yuri Shatunov, celebrates his 46th birthday. In the mid-1980s. he was the idol of millions of Soviet listeners, and today he continues to tour, performing old hits and new songs, although his popularity cannot be compared with the excitement that White Roses caused 30 years ago. Recently it became known that the singer underwent surgery, and a few days ago there was information that Shatunov would never again perform the hits of "Tender May". What really happened to the singer?

In the mid-1980s. all schoolgirls knew his biography - the story of how an orphan boy who grew up in an orphanage without a musical education became the No. 1 star on the perestroika stage, was replicated in all the media. However, in fact, Yura Shatunov was not an orphan and ended up in an orphanage only at the age of 12. He was born in the city of Kumertau and for the first 4 years he lived with his grandparents - his mother was only 18, his father drank a lot and was not involved in his upbringing. After the divorce of his parents, Yura lived with his mother, but when he was 11 years old, she died. So he ended up in an orphanage, and a year later - in a boarding school in Orenburg. This decided his future fate.

In the boarding school, Shatunov did not live long. The head of the music circle, Sergei Kuznetsov, decided to create a group of orphans, and Yuri became a member of it. At first, this did not cause him enthusiasm - sports fascinated him much more than music. But after the group began performing at discos and musical evenings at the local Palace of Culture, the musicians had their first fans, and the soloist decided to stay in the band.

Sergey Kuznetsov was the author of the songs that became the hallmark of the group. Then no one could have imagined that "White Roses", "Gray Night", "Melting Snow" and other compositions would soon become hits on an all-Union scale. In 1988, Kuznetsov recorded his first album, which was distributed in kiosks and train stations. The cassette came to the manager of the Mirage group, Andrei Razin, and this project seemed promising to him. Intuition did not disappoint him.

"Tender May" released several albums, gave 5-8 concerts a day, gathering 40-60 thousand spectators in halls and stadiums. The main part of the group physically did not have time to tour every day in different cities of the country, and in the provinces his "clones" were "blown away" for him. During the existence of the collective, up to 10 soloists have performed in it.

In 1991, Yuri Shatunov decided to leave the group. He spoke about the reasons like this: "". The singer went to Germany, where he was educated as a sound engineer. At first, his solo career was limited only to work in the studio, where he recorded new songs that were included in his first solo album "You Know". And later, every 4-5 years, he released new albums, which could not be compared in popularity with the hits of "Tender May".

For a long time, Shatunov did not give concerts, and they began to forget about him. To regain his former popularity, he appeared on stage again, but at all concerts he was asked to perform old hits. In addition, the singer spent most of his time in Germany. There he met a girl who became his wife and bore him two children.

This year, Shatunov released the album "Favorite Songs", consisting of 14 songs from "Tender May" in a new arrangement. This summer, the singer performed with a tour of Russian cities. However, the concerts were interrupted due to illness. A cold, suffered on his legs, gave complications, and Shatunov had to undergo an operation. Because of this, many rumors were born that the singer would no longer tour. And recently there was information that he will never again be able to perform the hits of "Tender May", loved by all.

For many years, the producer of the group, Andrei Razin and Yuri Shatunov, had conflicts over the rights to the songs of "Tender May". The singer himself commented on this situation like this: "".

Arkady Kudryashov became the producer of Yuri Shatunov as a solo singer. Andrei Razin had disagreements with him. A month ago, Razin said that he had transferred the rights to 27 songs of "Tender May" to a new copyright holder, and that without his consent, Shatunov would no longer be able to perform "White Roses" and other hits of the collective: "". Razin threatened Kudryashov with criminal prosecution for fraud if he did not pay for the copyright. At the same time, Razin emphasized: ""

The singer himself denied the information that he would no longer perform old hits. He stated that "White Roses" is his business card, and he has all the documents confirming his rights to perform the song. Recently, Shatunov admitted that after the operation he had already undergone rehabilitation on vacation in Sochi and would soon be ready to return to concert activities. The singer plans to continue his tour in October. Probably, only then will the intrigue be revealed, whether "White Roses" will sound at the new concerts.

A musical phenomenon of boarding school boys still makes people talk about themselves and causes a huge amount of controversy.