The dramatic fate of Sergei Zakharov: How love and envy brought the artist to prison

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

In the 1970s. Sergey Zakharov was the idol of millions: his records came out in huge circulations, he won prizes at international song competitions, it was impossible to get tickets for his concerts. He consolidated his success in the cinema, playing the main role in the musical comedy "Heavenly Swallows". And in 1977, an absurd and tragic incident took place, which led to imprisonment and 10 years of oblivion …

Sergey Zakharov was fond of music since childhood: at the age of 5 he heard the aria of Mister X from Imre Kalman's operetta "Princess of the Circus" performed by Georg Ots and was so amazed that he also decided to study vocals. Subsequently, this famous aria became his trademark. However, he did not come to the stage right away: after school he entered the radio technical college, then served in the army, where he became a soloist of the song and dance ensemble. And at the age of 17 he was promised a great sporting future - Zakharov played football and received an invitation to the youth team of Ukraine. However, due to the injury he had, he had to forget about football.

In 1971 Zakharov entered Gnesinka on the first try. For the first time, the audience heard his beautiful velvet baritone at the Arbat restaurant. There Utesov himself drew attention to him and told the young singer: “You go solo! Into my orchestra! And on tour, on tour! Zakharov immediately left the institute and went on tour. And after that he was hired at the Leningrad Music Hall, and he continued his education at the V. Rimsky-Korsakov.

Then everything happened as in a fairy tale. After the first appearance on television, viewers bombarded the editorial office with letters asking to show the young talented singer more often. It was impossible to get tickets for his concerts, the halls were overcrowded, women were crazy about him. The tall, handsome man on the stage looked great. In 1974 Zakharov became the winner of the Golden Orpheus International Song Competition in Bulgaria, and after that he became a laureate of the Sopot-74 vocal competition in Poland.

Zakharov had millions of fans, but all his life his heart belonged to one and only woman. He met his fate at school age, at the age of 14, and since then he has not parted with her all his life. True, the girl had to literally "beat off" - because of her, he got involved in fights more than once.

In 1976 Sergei Zakharov played his first and only film role, but it became truly stellar for him. The main role in "Heavenly Swallows" cemented his fame not only as a great singer, but also as a talented actor. The newcomer was not lost among the venerable artists, although at first he felt rather constrained in this stellar company - Lyudmila Gurchenko, Andrei Mironov, Alexander Shirvindt helped him overcome his embarrassment. True, the audience could only hear the singer's voice in the songs - because of the Ukrainian dialect, he could not voice his character, and this was done by Oleg Basilashvili. However, the fate of the film was tragic - it lay on the shelf for 12 years.

In the spring of 1977 Sergei Zakharov gave another concert. Half an hour before the start of the speech, he went to the administrator and asked for several passes for his friends. He refused him in a rude manner, and a fight ensued. The fact that the singer was very hot-tempered was known to many. He later said that it was a planned provocation that succeeded.

For some reason, the investigation about a simple fight lasted six months. All this time Zakharov was in the "Kresty". At a closed court hearing, the singer was sentenced to one year in prison, with the strange wording "for interrupting the official's activity." After the verdict was passed, the famous singer served a sentence in prison, worked at a construction site in the Leningrad Region, and even acquired a new profession: a mason-concrete worker of the 3rd category.

Various things were said about the reasons for such a harsh punishment. For example, it was assumed that this provocation was organized by a major official who was jealous of the artist for the singer Lyudmila Senchina. However, this version sounds strange, given that Zakharov had no relationship with her, although they often toured together. Perhaps, on his example, they conducted a demonstrative process of combating "star fever".

At that time, a real persecution unfolded in the press: devastating articles were published under the headings "The baritone was raging", "The star" of the stage. " He was called "a presumptuous mediocre actor with 8 classes of education." This story was overgrown with ridiculous rumors - they even said that Zakharov beat up an old cloakroom attendant. As a result, everyone who had previously admired him turned away from him, friends disappeared, and fans soon forgot about him. The only friend who visited him in prison and continued to communicate after that was Ilya Reznik.

After his release, Sergei Zakharov could not return to the stage and disappeared from the screens for a long time. A taboo was imposed on his name, the entire circulation of records with his songs was withdrawn from sale, by a familiar miracle, part of his recordings on the radio was saved - the rest were demagnetized. Later he was allowed to perform only in small provincial towns, but the audience came rather out of curiosity - to look at the singer, "who served time." Concerts were often canceled, and Zakharov, in despair, became addicted to alcohol. The wife, who always remained there, helped to overcome this addiction.

Only 10 years later, Zakharov was able to return to the stage. In 1986, his first solo concert took place in the capital after a long break. They again began to invite him to television, resumed tours in the USSR and abroad. However, the former popularity was no longer there. He was constantly compared with a new pop star - Philip Kirkorov, with whom they really were very similar. The artist has lost most of his audience forever.

The singer celebrated his 60th birthday with a big concert tour in Russia and the USA. Today, 68-year-old Sergei Zakharov lives in the suburbs of St. Petersburg and continues to give concerts. He is still invited to the cinema, but he refuses: "".

Lyudmila Senchina denied her involvement in the story of the arrest of Sergei Zakharov, although there were also many sharp turns in her life: What the singer with a "crystal" voice hid from fans.