Biography of Andrei Razin
Andrei Razin is a real Ostap Bender of our time, a brilliant manager and adventurer who went down in modern Russian history as “the nephew of Mikhail Gorbachev.” Skillfully taking advantage of his invented kinship with the last Secretary General of the USSR, the orphan from the orphanage managed to create the legendary “Tender May” - the most successful group of the late 80s, and became the first official millionaire in post-Soviet history.
In the photo: Andrey Razin
Childhood and family
Andrei Razin was born on September 15, 1963 in Stavropol in the family of a military man and an actress. Father, Alexander Vatslavovich Razin, a Belarusian, graduated from the Stavropol Higher Artillery School, after which he was appointed battery commander. Mother, Valentina Ivanovna Krivorotova, after drama school, worked at the Winter Theater in Sochi.
Andrei Razin in childhood
There the parents met - a handsome young officer came on vacation, and when he saw a charming actress on stage, he could no longer take his eyes off her. He began to court the girl, showered her with flowers and gifts, and soon proposed to his beloved. In 1963, the officer transported his pregnant wife to Stavropol, where their first-born Andryusha was born.
The boy was not even a year old when a terrible tragedy happened - his parents collided with a KrAZ in their used Moskvich and died on the spot. That day Andrei stayed at home with his grandmother, who, upon learning about what had happened, became completely blind. The boy had no other close relatives, and after the death of his parents, he was first sent to the Kislovodsk orphanage, and then transferred to the Svetlograd orphanage.
Andrei Razin spent his childhood in an orphanage
At least that's what the producer's official biography says; Some sources claim that Razin’s mother abandoned him in the maternity hospital of the forced labor colony. You can also find information online that the producer’s real name is Vadim Krivorotov, but this, according to Razin, is a journalistic mistake that arose due to another pupil of the Stavropol orphanage, who was born three days earlier. To prove his words, the producer showed a birth certificate, in which the surname Razin actually appears.
At the age of ten, Andrei met Valentina Mikhailovna Gosteva, who brought the things of her deceased son to the orphanage. Razin was the first to meet her at the gate - the boy immediately fell into the soul of the lonely woman, and she called herself his distant relative. Valentina Mikhailovna persuaded the management of the orphanage to let Andrei go to her for the holidays, and since then the boy spent every summer with his “grandmother” in the village of Privolnoye, Stavropol Territory.
The producer calls Valentina Gosteva his grandmother
There it turned out that Valentina Mikhailovna was well acquainted with the family of Mikhail Gorbachev, who at that time led the Stavropol Territory. Razin quickly became friends with Gorbachev’s mother, Maria Panteleevna and other relatives, and soon Privolnoye became his second home.
Andrei Razin (pictured in the center) was closely acquainted with Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife
It is worth noting that from early childhood Andrey was able to find a common language with a variety of people and was distinguished by unique organizational skills. As a twelve-year-old teenager, he organized a team of schoolchildren in an orphanage, which helped harvest the harvest at the neighboring Pobeda collective farm. In the end, everyone was happy - the unauthorized raids of orphanages on collective farm gardens stopped, and the pupils had the opportunity to earn a little extra money and enjoy plenty of berries and fruits. Razin got his first big money, with which he even went to a Black Sea resort at the age of thirteen.
Biography
One of the most talented producers and managers of the 90s, Andrei Razin, does not require any special introduction. Even if the audience has suddenly forgotten this name, then it’s worth putting it together with the title “Tender May” and the memory will immediately helpfully tell you who it’s about.
Andrei Aleksandrovich Razin was born in September 1963 in Stavropol. Father Alexander Vatslavovich came to the city from Belarusian Grodno. The young man met his future wife Valentina Ivanovna Krivorotova within the walls of a local university. The romance that broke out soon culminated in marriage, which resulted in the birth of a son, Andrei. The young family did not have time to enjoy the happiness of their life together: the couple died in a car accident that happened in 1964. The one-year-old son was left an orphan and ended up in the Svetlograd orphanage.
Producer Andrey Razin
Razin spent his childhood and youth here in Svetlograd, Stavropol Territory. Andrey graduated from a local school and received a specialty as a mason.
Soon the Komsomol sent the young man to the Far North. Andrei returned to Stavropol in 1982 and immediately entered the local cultural and educational school, where he studied for a year. In 1983, Andrei received a summons to the army, where he served for 2 years in a tank unit. He returned to Stavropol for a short time. The road called Razin again. This time to Ryazan. There, for the first time, an innate talent for entrepreneurship emerged, and Andrei Razin’s brilliant creative biography began.
The beginning of your career
In 1979, Andrei graduated from the Stavropol State Technical University No. 24 and, having received the profession of a builder-mason, went to the North, to the city of Nizhnevartovsk. The young man enrolled in evening school, joined the Komsomol, and actively participated in public events and amateur performances.
Andrei Razin in his youth
One day, Viktor Chernomyrdin came to the “Farewell to the Russian Winter” competition and drew attention to the performance of Razin, who played Emelya the Fool. The politician advised the plant management to promote the talented young man along the party line, and with his light hand our hero was soon appointed secretary of the Komsomol organization of the construction and installation department. As chairman of the hostel council, he was one of the first to receive a room in the new panel house, and, receiving a “northern” salary of 600 rubles (while most of his classmates were content with 80), he was quite satisfied with life.
After serving two years in the armed forces, in 1985 Razin returned from a tank unit in Novocherkassk to his native Privolnoye. At this time, Gorbachev was appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU of the Soviet Union, and Andrei decided to take advantage of this situation. And so it happened - an enterprising young man, who was part of the family of the new leader of the country, was soon appointed deputy chairman of the collective farm.
Andrei Razin in the army
Razin became a respected person in Privolny, he received numerous government delegations that often visited them in the region, and acquired the necessary connections. During one of these meetings, Andrei met Vladimir Nikolaevich Sevruk, the head of the propaganda department of the CPSU Central Committee, who was subordinate to central television, radio and the Ministry of Culture as a whole. In a conversation with him, Andrei, at the suggestion of Maria Panteleevna Gorbacheva, introduced himself for the first time as the nephew of the Secretary General, and Vladimir Nikolaevich promised him all possible assistance in Moscow.
Without thinking twice, Razin bought a plane ticket and set off to conquer the capital. Before that, he had little experience working on the stage (Andrei was the administrator of Anne Veski during her tour of Siberia), so the young man decided to make his way in this area. Sevruk introduced him to the deputy chairman of the USSR State Television and Radio, Vladimir Ivanovich Popov, who helped Razin get on television. A number of sources claim that before going to Moscow, the deputy chairman of the collective farm took a large sum from the budget to buy a tractor and never returned. True, later in an interview, Razin claimed that he got a free tractor for the collective farm, and with the money he “bought cassettes and recorded orphans,” so he does not consider his act bad.
Andrei Razin was the deputy chairman of a collective farm in the Stavropol region
With the song “You and I”, Razin took part in the filming of “Morning Mail” (1986), which took place on the cruise ship “Georgia”. His performance was accompanied by artists of the dance trio “Expression” (the first line-up with Boris Moiseev), Yuri Nikolaev, Alexander Serov, Irina Ponarovskaya, Chris Kelmi, Alexey Glyzin and other Soviet pop stars were also involved in the program.
Show Business
In Ryazan, an enterprising young man easily got a job at the regional philharmonic society, where he took the place of deputy director. Andrey was able to demonstrate the ability to find the right connections, negotiate with the right officials and instantly generate creative ideas. Soon the opportunity presented itself to move to a new career step: Andrei Razin went to Siberia, where he found a place in the Chita Committee for Television and Radio. In the absence of specialized education, Razin managed to become the first assistant director.
The cultural life of Siberia was rich. Soviet pop stars often came to Chita on tour, with one of whom, Anna Veski, the young man was immediately able to find a common language. When the popular singer’s tour ended, Razin left Chita with the singer, receiving the position of administrator. In this capacity, the young man traveled to dozens of big cities of the Soviet Union, acquired useful connections and experience necessary in show business.
Andrei Razin in his youth
There is no reliable information about why Razin left the singer. But for a short time, the young man returned to his native Stavropol region, where he got a job as deputy chairman of a collective farm in the famous village of Privolnoye. This place is famous for the birthplace of the then General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Rumor has it that the choice of Andrei Razin was not accidental.
One day, the deputy chairman of a collective farm, taking money to buy a tractor, left for Moscow. They never saw him or the money again on the collective farm. As it turned out, the money for the new tractor was invested in Razin’s future career. Andrei found a place in a recording studio, where he began searching for young talents. To those around him, Andrei Alexandrovich introduced himself as the nephew of the Secretary General. Razin’s first successful project was the group “Mirage”, with which Andrei tried his hand as a “warm-up” singer.
Producer activity and “Tender May”
After traveling around the country for some time touring in group concerts, Razin decided to switch to administration. Together with composer and arranger Yuri Chernavsky, he organized the popular music studio “Record” under the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, which gave birth to the groups “Mirage”, “Tender May”, as well as Igor Matvienko, Vyacheslav Malezhik, Oleg Gazmanov, Igor Talkov, Natalya Vetlitskaya and others popular performers. Therefore, Razin often says that he is the founder of modern domestic show business.
With Alexey Glyzin
Razin proposed to design the studio as experimental in order to give artists the opportunity to earn many times more than in philharmonic societies from the State Concert. To do this, it was necessary to assemble a group of non-professional artists, and a team of talented orphans would be the most ideal option. This is how the group “Tender May” appeared, which became a symbol of an entire generation.
Andrey Razin and Yura Shatunov
Razin first heard songs performed by Yura Shatunov from a fellow passenger on a train during a working trip to Shostka. Having learned that the guy was being brought up in the Orenburg orphanage, Andrei came there and met Sergei Kuznetsov, a songwriter and leader of an amateur group of boarding school students. True, Yura Shatunov was on the run at that time, but Razin very soon found him and transported him to Moscow along with Kuznetsov and other talented guys.
“Tender May”: Razin, Shatunov, Kuznetsov
The newly formed group was called “Tender May”, and for its promotion they used a scheme that had already been worked out before at Mirage. Cassettes with recordings were distributed through conductors of long-distance trains, and three months later the band became known in all corners of the Soviet Union.
Andrei Razin in his youth
Also, on Razin’s initiative, in addition to the main cast of “Tender May,” several “duplicate” casts of “Tender May” were created, which traveled around the country and sang to the soundtrack. According to Kuznetsov’s recollections, the understudies performed not only in the provinces; he personally witnessed how they sang to a soundtrack in Moscow's Gorky Park. Andrei Razin about his first earned millions and much more At the age of 24, Razin earned his first million, and from 1987 to 1991 his income reached an astronomical figure of 32 million, which, given that in those years the dollar was equal to 60 kopecks, amounted to approximately 50 million dollars. To avoid questions from regulatory authorities, Razin voluntarily contributed 13 percent of this amount to the state treasury, thereby legalizing his earnings and becoming the country's first official millionaire. Over the 5 years of the group’s existence, according to Andrei Alexandrovich, tickets to the “Tender May” concert were purchased 47 million times. And this is approximately every fifth citizen of the USSR. In addition to concerts, book publishing also brought him considerable income - at the peak of the group’s popularity, he published multi-million copies of the books “Winter in the Land of Tender May” and “Party Man”, thanks to which he became a member of the Union of Writers of Belarus.
Autobiographical books by Andrei Razin
In 1989, due to internal disagreements, Sergei Kuznetsov left the team and organized his own group, “Moms”. Razin managed to retain the rights to all the musical material he wrote, however, due to the lack of new hits, the popularity of “Tender May” began to gradually fade away. In 1991, Yuri Shatunov also left the team, deciding to start a solo career. Despite the fact that even without him the group still sold out stadiums and gave forty concerts a month, Razin made a strong-willed decision to close the project. Andrei Razin - Old Forest In 2009, the fashion for the 80s returned again, the artistic biopic “Tender May” with Vyacheslav Manucharov in the title role was released. It was decided to revive the group, and “Tender May”, consisting of Andrei Razin, Sergei Serkov, Andrei Kucherov and Sergei Lenyuk, took the stage again. The group is still successfully touring the world as part of the “Disco of the 80s” concerts in parallel with Yuri Shatunov, who also uses “Tender May” songs in his performances.
Fourth wife Natalya Grozovskaya
Natalya Grozovskaya was born on May 22, 1969 in Voronezh. Her father is from Poland. Natalya grew up in a full-fledged and very friendly family. Since childhood, she was fond of dancing and singing, attended a local music school and played in the school theater. Grozovskaya graduated from the Voronezh Music College and worked in the Philharmonic. At the age of 16, she created her own group, with which she successfully toured the Voronezh region.
An important event in her life was her acquaintance with the musician Yuri Chernavsky, who opened the Record Studio under the USSR Ministry of Culture. She recorded the song “Shaman” in the studio. The composition was a great success. At the same studio I met Andrei Razin. He invited Natalya to go on tour as part of the group “Tender May” and she happily agreed. Natalya recalls that the very first concert was especially exciting. Razin warned that he would send her back if the public did not like the performance of the new soloist. But she performed well and after that she toured the whole country with the group.
Grozovskaya recorded several solo songs and more than once became the heroine of music programs on Russian television. Despite a fairly successful career in show business, Natalya still went abroad. She lived in Las Vegas for a long time. There she continued to record songs and performed in various venues. In 2013, the artist returned to her homeland and this return became fateful for her.
Natalya met again with Andrei Razin and gradually business and friendly relations grew into something more. On one of the television shows in which they both took part, the famous producer of Tender May announced his desire to marry for the fourth time.
Natalya showed everyone present a gorgeous ring given to her lover. Razin promised to invite the entire film crew to the wedding, but later they changed their minds and decided to register the relationship without unnecessary fuss, without a luxurious celebration.
Civil service
In the late 90s, the producer ran for deputies of the Stavropol Duma and received a mandate, and lost the elections to the State Duma of the 3rd convocation that took place that same year, taking second place among 16 candidates. Wild money. Andrey Razin The producer was re-elected to the regional Duma twice more, until in 2011, before the next elections, he was denied registration due to violations. The following year, Razin became a deputy of the village council of the village of Gorkovsky, Stavropol Territory.
For many years Razin was a deputy of his native land
More than once he stated that “Tender May” is adored and trusted in his small homeland: 68% vote for Vladimir Putin, and 78% vote for him, and he said that if in his youth he had decided to stay on the collective farm, and not move to Moscow and go into business, he would certainly become chairman.
In 2013, Andrei Razin joined United Russia, and two years later received the position of adviser to the scandalous State Duma deputy Andrei Isaev, who had previously caused a brawl on the plane.
Period of political activity
With the disappearance of “Tender May” in the biography of Andrei Razin, the time has come for change. He decided to enter politics.
In 1993, Razin headed the Institute of Arts in his native Stavropol. He was also chairman of the local Cultural Foundation. For many years he was a deputy of the Duma of the Stavropol Territory.
In 1996, the aspiring politician appeared as a confidant of Gennady Zyuganov in the presidential elections. The following year, Razin acted as a candidate for deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. In July 2008, Andrey was appointed to the post of General Director of the International Olympic Festival Sochi 2014.
In 2013, Razin became a member of the United Russia party. In 2015, he was appointed to the position of adviser to the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation A.K. Isaev. Since 2020, he has held the post of adviser to the mayor of Yalta.
Conflict between Razin and Shatunov
In the summer of 2020, a serious scandal broke out between the producer and the main soloist of “LM”. Razin stated that Shatunov no longer has the legal right to perform the group’s hits, since the copyrights to 27 songs, officially assigned to him by a court decision back in 2006, were sold to a certain company. Andrei Alexandrovich himself has allegedly already signed an agreement with this company, which gives him the opportunity to use the hits of “Tender May” at his concerts.
Razin became the godfather of Shatunov's son
“Honest Music” also demanded monetary compensation from Shatunov for the use of these songs, and when the singer was indignant, it began to hinder his creative activity in every possible way. Yuri did not remain in debt and, in turn, accused Razin of using a phonogram of his voice.
The topic was picked up by many media personalities who considered it necessary to speak out in defense of Shatunov (Andrei Malakhov, Lera Kudryavtseva, Lev Leshchenko, etc.) The conflict does not seem to subside - Razin threatens the offenders with court and regularly publishes caustic comments addressed to his opponents on Instagram.
Personal life of Andrei Razin
Thanks to his adventurous character and powerful charisma, Razin has always enjoyed great success with women. His first common-law wife was Irina Bespalova, whom he met in Nizhnevartovsk. He shared a two-room apartment in a hostel with her, and did not sign only because then the spouses would have had to move into one room.
In his youth, Andrei Razin was successful with women
In 1985, their son Ilya was born, who now lives in St. Petersburg and works as a stylist. Andrei was forced to part with Irina when he moved from Siberia back to Stavropol. The girl flatly refused to leave for a remote village, apparently not fully understanding what prospects awaited her failed husband.
Ilya, eldest son of Andrei Razin
In 1988, Razin married Natalya Lebedeva, whose mother held a high position in the General Prosecutor's Office of the Soviet Union. This marriage did not last long - in the early 90s, Natalya was diagnosed with cancer, she was cured, moved to Hungary, where she lives to this day.
Andrey Razin and Natalya Lebedeva
After her departure, Razin lived for some time with the lead singer of “Tender May” Natalya Grozovskaya, until she got a job as a secretary-translator for the Miss Universe competition team and left for the United States.
With Natalia Grozovskaya
Razin's next official wife was his classmate Faina Solomatina. This marriage also did not last long - in 2000, the producer met the beautiful Maritana Anokhina on vacation, who became the mother of his second son Alexander (born January 20, 2001). The birth of a child did not guarantee a happy family life - this time Maritana left Razin for another man. Andrei again returned to his faithful Faina, who always knew how to support him in difficult times.
Andrei Razin, his ex-wife Maritana Anokhina and their son Alexander
In March 2020, a terrible tragedy occurred in Razin’s life - his sixteen-year-old son Alexander died of a heart attack right on the street. Natalya Grozovskaya came to support her grief-stricken father, who was ready to again share his sorrows and joys and start life from scratch. However, Razin chose to stay with Faina, who over the years managed to prove her love and devotion to him.
Alexander Razin died of a heart attack at age 16
Andrey Razin now
In addition to clarifying relations with Yuri Shatunov, Andrei Razin continues his production activities. So, he took the daughter of the late Evgeniy Osin Agnia under his wing. One of Razin’s most successful business projects at the moment is the Razin Hotel in Sochi.
Andrey Razin now
The producer also runs Instagram, where he often sarcastically comments on news from the world of show business. Sometimes he shares the secrets of his colleagues, for example, he covered the progress of Anastasia Zavorotnyuk’s illness, which aroused the anger of the actress’s relatives.
