Biography
Nadezhda Alekseevna Chepraga was able to gain popularity in Russia and Moldova with her creativity. Her glory was expressed in her titles of Honored and People's Artist.
The Moldavian village and Nadezhda’s musical family determined her biography.
Even ordinary collective farmers were able to instill in the girl a lifelong love of music. Father, Alexey Pavlovich - Hero of Labor, played the violin masterfully. Mother, Zinaida Dionisovna, often sang melodic Moldovan folk songs. The village loved the children's ensemble of the family's children, of whom there were four. Nadya is the oldest of them. A pattern was the victory of a fourth-grader in a competition at the local level. After this, the girl was taken into the Dumbrava team. While still at school, the girl understood what television was: she took part in the popular programs “Alarm Clock” and “Blue Light”. The first composer who met on the path of the young talent was Evgeniy Doga. In the future he will create real musical masterpieces for the singer. Her parents intended their daughter to become a teacher, but the girl turned out to be true to her choice. Nadezhda submitted documents to the vocal and conducting-choral departments of the music school.
Nadezhda was accepted into both faculties. The student began to receive awards for her victorious participation in foreign song competitions. Her voice was heard in Germany and France. Doga and Chepraga created the singer's first disc during this period.
Childhood
Nadya was born in the village of Raspopeni, Moldavian SSR, on September 1, 1956. Her father, Alexey Pavlovich, and mother, Zinaida Dionisovna, were Moldovans by nationality and worked on the collective farm all their lives. They had no professional relationship with art, but they loved to sing and did it excellently. My father played the violin very well, and my mother had a wonderful soprano voice and soulfully sang Moldovan folk songs.
Nadezhda had two brothers, Ivan and Nikolai, and a sister, Nina. Together, the children organized a real family folklore ensemble and often performed for their fellow villagers at local holidays. From childhood, they had to work in beet and tobacco fields and care for vineyards. But in Moldovan villages, everyone, young and old, could work well and have fun.
In Nadezhda’s homeland, it was believed that among the Moldovans there were no people who could not sing. Good vocals were perceived by fellow villagers as a state of mind, and not as a serious profession. That’s why Chepraga’s parents wanted their daughter to be a French teacher in the future.
Nadezhda with parents
But fate prepared a creative path for her. In fourth grade, the girl won a local amateur singing competition. Her stunning voice attracted attention, and Nadya was offered a solo role in the Dumbrava ensemble, named after a rural river. Two years later, she took part in the filming of the film “At the Grape Harvest.”
Music, songs
Nadezhda decided that she needed to continue her studies.
She leaves for Chisinau and enters the conservatory. The classes have become more professional. The girl’s teacher was Tamara Cheban. The singer’s first year was marked by her victory at “Song of the Year”. The composition “I Dreamed of the Sound of Rain” was very popular among astronauts. The biography for the aspiring star was very successful. [media=www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsToc9B4okU]
The singer was invited to participate in the program of the Olympic Games in Moscow. Nadezhda Alekseevna toured many countries. She was in Cuba, Laos, Thailand, America, Singapore. The singer received the title of Honored Artist of the Moldavian Republic in the year of the Moscow Olympics; eight years later she became People's Artist.
Music
Therefore, when little Nadya won a local singing competition in the 4th grade and the girl was invited to join the rural musical group “Dumbrava”, none of her relatives were surprised.
While studying at school, she repeatedly appeared on television, first starring in the film “At the Grape Harvest”, and then participated in the programs of Central Television in Moscow: “Alarm Clock”, “The Screen Gathers Friends”, “Blue Light”.
Nadezhda Chepraga in her youth
During these years, she met the composer Evgeniy Doga, who would later give her many interesting songs: “Sunny Day”, “See You”, “I Dreamed of the Sound of Rain”, “Rada’s Song”, “Guitar Strings”.
Despite their daughter’s craving for music, her parents dream of her continuing her education at a pedagogical institute. But the girl chooses the path of a singer. At the age of 17, Nadezhda entered two departments of the music school at once: vocal and conducting-choral.
During her studies, the young singer participated in foreign competitions and festivals in France and Germany. She brings awards and glory from there. At the same time, Nadezhda Chepraga recorded her first disc of Doga’s music.
Nadezhda Chepraga - “I Dreamed of the Sound of Rain”
After receiving secondary specialized education, the talented singer does not stop there and continues her studies in Chisinau, at the Moldavian Conservatory. The performer's teacher is the legend of Moldova, singer Tamara Cheban. She instilled in Nadezhda true professionalism and the need to strive for excellence.
In her first year, the girl performed the musical composition “I Dreamed of the Sound of Rain” at the “Song of the Year” competition, the lines and melody from which sank into the soul of every Soviet listener. The performer becomes famous throughout the Soviet Union, and the musical masterpiece was secretly declared the anthem of astronautics.
Valentina Tolkunova, Nadezhda Chepraga, Roza Rymbaeva, Elvira Uzunyan, Sofia Rotaru
Nadezhda Chepraga participated in the program of the Moscow Olympic Games. On behalf of the USSR, she traveled all over the world: Cuba, Laos, Thailand, USA, Singapore. In 1980, Nadezhda Alekseevna was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Moldavian USSR, and after another 8 years - People's Artist. And this is not without reason.
Nadezhda Chepraga is a singer who is loved by all the people of Moldova, especially people engaged in simple peasant labor. They empathize with their pet, rejoicing at her success. The most popular hits both at home and in Russia were: “Three Lines”, “Ride Me, Curly”, “You are a Stranger”, “Breeze”, “Slave of Love”, “Don’t Forget”.
“And I like him” - Nadezhda Chepraga
In her youth, Nadezhda Chepraga starred in more than 10 television films, which were aired on Central Television and on the national channel of the Moldavian Republic. These were both documentaries and feature films. Among them: “Dniester Melodies”, “Fairy Tale as a Fairy Tale”, “Sketches for a Portrait”, “Two Hands, a Heart and a Crown”, “Two Banks of Nadezhda Chepraga”, “Kulagin and Partners” and others.
The artist recorded her best songs at the Melodiya recording studio, which released three collections of the singer – “Nadezhda Chepraga Sings,” “Only You,” “That’s What She Is...”. With the advent of new technologies, the singer released 11 more albums. She recorded the last of them a year before the death of her beloved husband.
Sofia Rotaru and Nadezhda Chepraga in their youth
From an early age, Nadezhda Chepraga was considered a rival of Sofia Rotaru. Two black-browed beauties waged an unspoken competition for audience sympathy both in Moldova and in the USSR. It has always been difficult for the public to single out any one singer.
Both were not inferior to each other either in voice or in appearance: their figure, height and weight were almost the same (about 160/70). Although many sources write that Sofia’s height is 170 cm, others claim that the singer is no higher than 161-163 cm.
Sofia Rotaru and Nadezhda Chepraga today
However, in modern photos that singers take today, you can see a significant difference in appearance. Rotaru looks younger after plastic surgery, and Nadezhda Chepraga, who is not a fan of such operations, preserves her natural beauty using traditional methods and is not afraid of age.
A television
The singer has ten films under her belt, some of which are documentaries and some feature films. The girl actively collaborated with the Melodiya studio, through which many Soviet pop stars passed through. The singer has three complete collections and eleven albums. It was difficult for Nadezhda to assert herself, since there was always another star image nearby - the work of Sofia Rotaru.
The two beauties packed huge halls, which they continue to do to this day. But one of the singers has an advantage: Nadezhda Alekseevna maintains her beauty using natural methods, while her rival has become younger through numerous plastic surgeries.
Biography[ | ]
Nadezhda Chepraga was born on September 1, 1956 in the village of Raspopeni, Rezinsky district, Moldavian SSR. Father - Alexey Pavlovich Chepraga (recipient of the Order of Lenin [ specify
]), mother - Zinaida Dionisovna Chepraga.
After performing at a song festival in fourth grade, she becomes a soloist in the amateur group “Dumbrava,” named after the river that flows through her home village. In the sixth grade, she starred in a short film from the Telefilm Chisinau studio “At the Grape Harvest” as a soloist of the ensemble[1].
In the ninth grade, Nadezhda Chepraga made her debut in one of the popular children's programs “Alarm Clock” with the song “Merry Wedding” to her own words and music by Evgeniy Doga. Soon Nadezhda takes part in the Central Television program “The Screen Gathers Friends.” After that, she was invited to the orchestra of Central Television and All-Union Radio under the direction of Yu. V. Silantiev, with whom she recorded her first song “Merry Wedding” for the May Day “Blue Light”.
In 1972, People's Artist of the USSR I.M. Tumanov invited Nadezhda Chepraga on tour to France, where she participated in the folk song festival and received a Gold Medal there. With the song “A Guy from Paris” she makes her debut at the Olympia Hall. In 1973, 17-year-old Nadezhda Chepraga performs at the X World Festival of Youth and Students in Berlin. For the song “Doina” she received the title of laureate and a Gold medal in a folk music competition. In the same year, the first EP “Guitar Strings” was released with the song by Evgeniy Doga to the words of V. Lazarev “Spring is the same age as love” performed by Nadezhda Chepraga.
Nadezhda Chepraga was a soloist with the pop symphony orchestra of the Republican State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, where she worked for 10 years. In 1973-1977 she studied at the Music College named after. Stefan Negi at the departments of vocal and choral conducting. From 1977 to 1982, he studied at the Gavriil Muzichescu Conservatory in Chisinau, studying vocals and choral conducting.
During these years, the singer takes part in numerous competitions, festivals, and television shows. She becomes a laureate of the “Towers of Vilnius-74” festival (Lithuanian SSR), a diploma winner of the “With a Song Through Life” competition (1976, special prize for artistry and telegenicity), laureate of the “Star of Bulgaria” television festival, winner of the “Intertalent” festival (1977, Czechoslovakia ), laureate of the World Festivals of Youth and Students in Berlin (1973), Havana (1978), Moscow (1985, for performing the song “Let’s join hands, friends” with the American singer Dean Reed) and Pyongyang (1989). In Pyongyang, Nadezhda Chepraga performed a festival waltz in Korean during the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival. In 1988, at the Soviet-Lao Friendship Festival, together with the Lao singer Nguyen Tian, she ends the festival with a national Laotian song.
Since 1977, Chepraga has constantly participated in “Song of the Year” concerts. After singing the song “I Dreamed of the Sound of Rain” in the programs “Blue Light” and “Song-77”, which became a kind of “anthem” for the cosmonauts, the entire Soviet Union learned about the singer. In 1980, Nadezhda Chepraga participated in the anniversary festival “Sopot” and in the cultural program “Olympics-80” in Moscow. In 1986, she took part in the final gala concert of the Goodwill Games. Chepraga was the guest of honor at the Melodies of the Heart folklore festival in San Francisco (1993, Audience Award for the song “Hava Nagila”), the Wreath of Songs competition (1994, Los Angeles) and the Voice of Singapore festival (1994, Silver medal for the song “Lark”).
Chepraga starred in 7 films on the USSR Central Television and 11 films on the Moldovan TV and Radio: “At the Grape Harvest”, “Dniester Melodies”, “And the Glorious Day Came”, “Six Years from Home”, “Nadezhda Chepraga”, “Meeting with N. Chepraga" (1982), "Sketches for a Portrait" (1992), "Two Hands, a Heart and a Crown" (1998, Dinair Film Studio, USA) and others. Video clips were shot for the songs “Three Lilies”, “Ride Me, Curly”, “Deceiver and Liar”, “Roma-Roman”, “You are a Stranger”, “Breeze”, “Slave of Love” and “Don’t Forget”. The funds of the Central Television, All-Union Radio and Television and Radio of Moldova contain about 200 songs performed by Nadezhda Chepraga.
Nadezhda Chepraga is a member of the International Union of Pop Artists, a member of the Moscow Business Women's Club "Vera", and the Rotary Club. He is the chairman of the jury in the competition of young pop singers “Russia in the heart and destiny.”
Since 2001, Nadezhda Chepraga has lived in Moscow.
In 2001, the NTV channel released the documentary “Two Shores of Nadezhda Chepragi” as part of the TV show “A Woman’s View” with Oksana Pushkina.
In 2011, one of the episodes of Oleg Nesterov’s author’s program “In the Wave of My Memory” (Channel “Time” - Channel One. World Wide Web) was dedicated to Nadezhda Chepraga.
On Wednesday, January 18, 2020, I was a guest on Tatyana Ustinova’s talk show “My Hero” on the TV Center channel.
Personal life
Fans made the girl’s life fabulous. First, the Sheikh of Brunei fell in love with her; as a sign of his love, he gave her a camel and showered his beloved with flowers. The next one to fall passionately in love was the son of the Romanian leader Ceausescu. The singer was close to Dean Reed, an American singer with whom she sang on the same stage. The girl got married at seventeen to a man much older than herself. A resident of St. Petersburg, Litvinov Evgeniy, an economist by training, was not ashamed that he took a wife 12 years younger.
For the sake of his beloved girl, he moved to her hometown, he made a successful career in Chisinau (he defended his doctoral dissertation and began working with the rank of professor).
The couple had a son, Ivan, who later graduated and became an engineer. He glorified the name of his parents in the field of aircraft manufacturing. Nadezhda lived with her husband for more than thirty years. Evgeniy died of heart disease. The singer stopped appearing in public; she was very worried about the death of her husband. Only once was Gennady Malakhov able to persuade her to speak and reveal the secret of his youth. And in the program “Time for Lunch,” the singer began to sing again.
Singer Nadezhda Chepraga: “For the anniversary I “worked” as a telephone operator”
On September 1, singer Nadezhda Chepraga celebrated her anniversary. We congratulated the singer over the phone.
— Nadezhda, happy anniversary to you! You look great!
- Thank you! By the way, I read Komsomolskaya Pravda every day in my house!
I admit, my morning starts with gymnastics, physical exercises, then breathing exercises, then I drink tea, this is a special ritual for me. I prefer mint.
And every morning I make sure to prepare myself for the day to go very well and joyfully. I try to smile more and never get angry.
And, of course, I don’t allow myself to be lazy, but try to move and work more. Now I try to work even more than before. Only movement gives us energy and shape!
By the way, on my birthday I’m going on tour. Now I’m going to Ryazan to perform. I don’t pay much attention to my anniversary - I don’t make it a “wind”, a “storm in a teacup”, or simpler. On my birthday, I “worked” as an active telephone operator - calls are coming from all over the world. And I answer. I'm an eternal schoolgirl. I try to be disciplined and organized.
I will perform in Moscow on City Day.
— What's new in your work?
- Tours, performances. As usual, we write new songs, do remixes, and rework old ones. Any artist needs this to stay in shape.
If I’m invited to perform somewhere, I don’t refuse to lead an active lifestyle to keep in shape.
Among the composers I collaborate with Alexander Morozov, Alexander Egorov, Evgeniy Doga. I receive a lot of new songs from abroad - both from Germany and from America from former emigrants. But usually I thank you and send you back. There are good songs among them, but it's not my thing. You know, there must be a song of its own.
— In the Soviet years, you were called Pugacheva’s competitor...
— In terms of type, in my youth I was compared to Rotaru. But I don’t consider either Pugacheva or Sofia Rotaru a competitor, because I have my own place in the sun, which fate, God, gave me. And I take care of this place so that it is neat, up to standard, professional, clean, and so on.
By the way, I never envy anyone. And this is a very good quality, it helps a lot. If someone performs well, I am happy and only wonder: how well done!
Envy destroys. A friendly attitude, on the contrary, gives health.
— In the Soviet years you were shown a lot on TV...
“Then there was a different attitude towards art. But today it’s different.
Because now on TV there is a kind of nepotism, a musical mafia, in which the same people sing. I don’t pay attention to this, and I don’t suffer from it. It is better to meet the audience in reality than to flash on TV day and night. I'm going for dessert.
-Where do you live now?
— In space (laughs). Yes, I’ve been a Muscovite for a long time, because my main job is in Russia. Although I am originally from Moldova.
— Your hobby is collecting shoes. They say there are more than 200 pairs in your collection?
- Yes, I had such a weakness for shoes. But now I’ve started giving away the collection, although I have a small size – 36 – which doesn’t suit everyone. It so happened that I was collecting unusual shoes. Now I try to choose the one that is more comfortable. And before, I abused my legs a lot - platforms, and all sorts of high heels of different shapes, and so on.
— They say that you yourself called your future mother-in-law and said: “I will marry your son”?
- Yes, I warned her first! (laughs). In Leningrad, I performed at the traditional Days of Moldovan Culture. A man came out and gave me a bouquet of white roses. I liked him right away, but I didn’t show it. However, she gave me her address, and he, Leningrad economist Evgeny Litvinov, wrote letters to me. The fact that he is 12 years older than me slowed me down at first, but then it dawned on me: my man. And she called her future mother-in-law.
I got married at 17 and lived happily with my husband all my life...
Nadezhda Chepraga now
Nadezhda Alekseevna does not give solo concerts, only occasionally appearing in group concerts of popular performers. Now lives in Moscow. Her constant companions are her two favorite cats and her dog Ani.
The singer often visits her ethnic homeland, where her nephews live.
My son and he himself live in Germany. Using new technologies, the Internet and Skype replace live communication with his beloved granddaughter Valeria. Ivan plans to move to St. Petersburg in the near future, then the family will see each other more often. Like a real woman, Nadezhda Alekseevna sews, reads books, and watches her favorite films. The singer loves films of the Soviet period, in which Marina Ladynina, Lidia Smirnova and Nikolai Kryuchkov play.
Chepraga prefers to lead a healthy lifestyle, runs, swims and is still interested in gymnastics. The singer has long developed her own tradition of morning exercise. First, morning physical exercises, breathing exercises, herbal tea. The woman is interested in collecting. The singer collected all her concert shoes. There were more than three hundred such pairs. Sometimes the performer appears on popular television programs as an honorary celebrity. Until now, his creative biography has been updated with new interesting facts.
