The famous singer and composer Igor Nikolaev is already happy in his third marriage. The whole world watched his romances with Natasha Koroleva, and then with Yulia Proskuryakova. But everyone forgot about the first wife. As during the formation of a famous musician, she remains in the shadows and practically does not give interviews.
Love from school
Even in his youth, while studying in high school, Igor Nikolaev met his love - Elena Kudryashova. They sat at the same desk and spent a lot of time together. But after graduating from school, Igor went to Moscow to enter the conservatory. He was looking forward to the next vacation to return to Sakhalin to his native Kholmsk and see his beloved.
When it became known that the girl was expecting a child, the newlyweds got married and returned to the capital together from the next vacation in Nikolaev. Their daughter was born in Moscow. Igor did not stop being creative and building his career, stubbornly pursuing his goal and dream of becoming a musician and a “star”. But after classes I hurried home to see my favorite girls.
They were 18 years old then. Elena tried her best to arrange her life and be a good wife and mother. Igor paid attention to his daughter and wife, walked with the baby on the street, and took his fatherly responsibilities seriously. But everyday life “ate” more than one happy couple. This happened with the Nikolaev couple.
Igor Nikolaev's ex-wife - Elena Kudryashova
Igor Nikolaev’s ex-wife, Elena Kudryashova, appeared in his life while still at school. Little Igorek accompanied Lenochka to school, carried her briefcase and swore his love.
When Igor and Lena turned eighteen, they got married and their daughter was born. This completely ruined the marriage, as domestic and financial problems arose. Igor was constantly touring, and Lena was tired of messing around with the baby and solving all the family issues.
The marriage quickly deteriorated and finally broke up in 1991. By the way, it is unlikely that it will be possible to find a photo of Elena Nikolaeva, the first wife of Igor Nikolaev, on the Internet, since she is a non-public person.
Didn't forgive the betrayal
Elena Kudryashova provided her husband with a reliable support while he pursued his career. Having become famous, he decided to search for talented young performers. One day he was asked to pay attention to a girl from Kyiv, Natasha Poryvai. She was invited to Moscow, but at first glance Nikolaev did not see the future “star” in the pretty, plump girl.
However, he leaves her in Moscow and begins to study with an aspiring artist. Spending a lot of time together, Igor and Natasha got to know each other better and became close people. Love broke out between them. Nikolaev, as a creative person, was always partial to beautiful girls. And this often became the cause of his wife’s scandals.
Perhaps the novel would have remained a novel, because Igor had a wife and a growing daughter. But his wife found out about the betrayal, and Natasha did not want to put up with the role of a mistress and issued an ultimatum: either he marries her, or let him march to his wife.
Youthful, passionate, reliable. All marriages of Igor Nikolaev
Their couple was discussed by everyone in the early nineties: the love of sixteen-year-old Natasha Koroleva and 29-year-old Igor Nikolaev delighted and frightened at the same time. “I got it completely with Natasha when she was 16 and I was 29. “Underage!” Nightmare! He kissed her on TV. Everyone saw it! Oh, what a horror!” the musician later said. Back then they didn't care what people said. They were in love, the feeling inspired him to new and new hits, and it seemed that it would always be like this. In fact, the marriage with Natasha Koroleva turned out to be the second for Igor Nikolaev, but not the last.
First love
He and Lena Kudryashova sat at the same desk at school.
From the small town of Kholmsk on Sakhalin, Igor took everything it could give in terms of his passion for music: he learned to play the violin, entered a music school, began performing and earning his first money. Lena was always there - their school feeling turned out to be extremely serious.
While studying in their senior year, they spent the winter holidays so actively that at the age of 18 they both became parents - their daughter Yulia was born. Nikolaev took his father’s responsibilities seriously: after working in taverns and clubs, he hurried home, sometimes managing to take a walk with his daughter in the yard.
Working as a musician on Sakhalin allowed him to earn good money, but his ambitions drove him to Moscow. After graduating from the first year of music school, Igor decided to leave. The wife and daughter, of course, remained in Kholmsk - the first love could be considered over.
Igor Nikolaev’s first wife now lives in the USA, his daughter Yulia is married to an American. Her communication with her father was never interrupted; she always found a common language with her stepmothers. The first - Natasha - was only five years older than her.
Dolphin and Mermaid
Igor Nikolaev conquered Moscow quickly and forever.
Alla Pugacheva herself noticed the talented musician and invited her to play keyboards in her ensemble “Recital”. Very soon Nikolaev became the permanent author of arrangements for Diva’s songs, and then their composer. “Iceberg”, “Tell Me, Birds” and “The Ferryman” became real hits of the eighties, and Nikolaev turned into a highly respected composer.
In 1986, he began his own solo career, while still writing music for other artists. The status of a musician is now such that he can choose the performers for his songs. In 1990, Igor Nikolaev held a casting that became fateful, to which 16-year-old Kiev native Natasha Poryvai came, accompanied by her mother. As a singer she did not make any impression on him. But Nikolaev could not resist Natasha’s childish charm and her mother’s culinary talent (she considered it her duty to feed the maestro well). The very first song he wrote for Natasha - “Yellow Tulips” - makes her a star.
The singer takes the pseudonym “Queen” and really ascends to the throne of the Russian stage hand in hand with her patron. There is no question of any calculation - Natasha is young, head over heels in love and happy that he feels the same. “We had love, as only they can write in a book, in such a good novel...” she said. Their hits come out one after another: the joint “Dolphin and Rusalka”, the solo “Fan” and “Raspberry Wine”. Concerts by Koroleva and Nikolaev attract huge concert halls in Russia and abroad. But when the applause subsides, the singer is tormented by the main question - when will he ask her to marry?
Nikolaev was in no hurry. His life was dominated by creativity; finding a window in his busy schedule was almost impossible. But it was not in the Queen’s character to wait endlessly. Determined to get married, she invited the registry office employee directly to their home - and still became an official wife.
Such determination did not bring happiness. Neither Natasha’s signature Ukrainian dumplings, nor a cozy family nest in the Moscow region kept Igor from falling in love with other women. Nothing serious connected him with them; Natasha remained his main love - but when she guessed everything, she did not put up with it. In 2001, after ten years of marriage, the Queen filed for divorce. Nikolaev’s song “Five Reasons” sounded autobiographical in the context of the breakup. He didn’t get used to their separation right away, and for a long time he didn’t dare to have a serious relationship - until he met an even younger and more determined girl.
Everything is serious
Lawyer Yulia Proskuryakova from Yekaterinburg waited for the musician at the service entrance after his concert.
Having received a serious education and working in her specialty, she dreamed of changing her life and singing on stage. And if the Queen at one time came to the official casting, then Proskuryakova arranged it for herself - and managed to hand Nikolaev her notes. He liked the girl’s voice, and Yulia was given the phone number of the composer’s assistant, which she did not call right away. Only after moving to Moscow and having failed in the “People’s Artist” project, Yulia decided to take advantage of her last chance.
They hid their relationship for a long time even from those closest to them. “In my circle, Yulia was not immediately accepted. And I myself doubted...” Nikolaev admitted. Finally, at the “New Wave” competition in Jurmala in the summer of 2008, the country saw a new duet. Together they sang the song “There’s Something About It” - an extremely transparent hint at their relationship. And again, the most discussed issue was the age difference: Proskuryakova is four years younger than Igor’s daughter Yulia!
But Nikolaev has something to object to those who condemn them. “Yulechka’s youth is a drawback that, unfortunately, will go away on its own. I have a song with these words: “You gave me your youth, and I gave you my starfall.” We have something to offer each other. And I believe that this is the best natural exchange in the world.” Their relationship is over ten years old, they are happily married and have a daughter, Veronica. Yulia did not get pregnant right away, so the child became a long-awaited gift for both. Igor Nikolaev’s whole life is now centered around the main women of his life - tours and concerts can wait for now.
How Elena Kudryashova lives now
The wife, who created all the conditions in everyday life for the normal development and formation of a musician, could not forgive him for his betrayal. She was the first to file for divorce, packed up her daughter and flew to the States. More than 10 years of marriage were crossed out with one stroke of the pen in the Moscow registry office.
However, despite the resentment, she did not forbid her daughter to communicate with her father, and for him to help her and devote time. Elena remained to live in America. Their daughter together with Nikolaev married an American, often sees her father and communicates with his wife.
Niki's return
“I’m not angry with doctors and I’m not offended; insult is not a constructive feeling,” says Lyudmila. - The choice was still mine. The fact is that they actually believed that they were doing a good deed by persuading me to keep the child. They have a different mentality. And this mentality will change only when a new generation of doctors comes with different views. When will a child with Down syndrome cease to be perceived as something outlandish?
But Lyudmila could not forget Nika and what happened. Having recovered a little, she decided to call the Downside Up fund - Lyudmila had already contacted them immediately after giving birth, but at that time the pressure from the doctors turned out to be decisive, and the family refused the help of the fund. And here's the second call. Lyudmila was invited to come visit with her husband. They were taken to an ordinary lesson with children. Here she saw that such children were not the monsters that the doctors in the maternity hospital had described them to her. Ordinary children. The lesson ended, and Lyudmila began to cry, fell to her knees in front of her husband and began to beg: “Let’s take her.”
At 4 months old, Nika, having survived a difficult heart operation, found herself at home with her family. “From that day there was not a minute that I regretted the decision to take her. She never disappointed me,” says Lyudmila.
At the age of 4, Nika had her adored sister Sasha , now she is a constant partner in all pranks and activities and her best friend. Both girls study with a speech therapist, who at the end of the lesson treats the student with candy as a reward. Nika takes candy for Sasha. Sasha takes candy for Nika.
At the age of 8, Nika is already recognized on the streets: the video for the song “Don’t Be Silent” tells about the fate of a family in which a child with Down syndrome was born. “Don’t be silent” turned into a hashtag on social networks, into a flash mob, into a call to pay attention and support “special families” who have been silent for so long. “This video did the impossible - a child with Down syndrome appeared where he had never been - for example, on music youth channels,” says the head of the press service of the Downside Up Foundation, Yulia Kolesnichenko .
“The saleswoman at the market asked: oh, is this the girl from the video? And other sellers rushed to treat her with anything. That’s how fame came to us,” says Lyudmila. - And I treat this fame with humor, because there is no other way. How did we get into the video? We passed the casting based on photography. At the next meeting, we already met with the director and discussed the details of the filming.”
Filming shift - 12 days. It took three such shifts, which Nika heroically survived. “They didn’t make excessive demands on us, but they didn’t make any allowances either, let alone for the syndrome, or for the fact that she was a child,” recalls Lyudmila. “It helped me realize my daughter’s independence. I even left the site so as not to disturb them with my twitches like “Keep your back straight!”, “Make a smart face!” Turned off hyperprotection. I tore off the umbilical cord. And she did it."
Nika has become more independent. Mom is calmer. At first, Lyudmila decided that she would not read any reviews about the video on the Internet: she expected a stream of nasty things. Only when friends said: “Look!” - I made up my mind. What we saw was amazing: 90 percent of the reviews were positive. “They supported us and thanked us for raising the topic! The society really surprised me. Especially our youth,” says Lyudmila.
Photo: AiF/Lyudmila Alekseeva
