Childhood and youth
On the 17th day of May 1989, the day after the 32nd birthday of the legendary countryman Yuri Shevchuk, there was a new addition to the Ufa family of builders Nafisa and Mukharlyam Yulyakshin. A second child was born - son Radik.
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Alvin Gray in childhood with his parents and older sister
According to the recollections of his older sister Regina, who shed light on the biography of his famous brother, he was not very keen on studying. But the passion for melodic art is a passion from an early age.
“All my peers answered that they wanted to become firefighters or doctors. And I said that I want to become president. But then I realized that it was not mine. I didn't listen to the teachers. All my thoughts were occupied with music,” Radik himself confirmed the girl’s words.
As a teenager, he mastered the button accordion and the national instrument, the kurai, and tried to compose his first songs in the 7th and 8th grades.
“They write a lot about me on the Internet, saying that my parents helped me. I come from a working-class family, my mother is an ordinary tiler, and I haven’t had a dad since I was 11 years old. And since childhood, I had to try very hard to help my close family. I have a producer, Alexander Slyusarenko, he is like a father to me,” the artist once shared with reporters.
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Alvin Gray and his mother
Thanks to Nafisa Zainullovna’s interview, the public learned that as a child the boy was tearful, and this, according to the woman, was a predetermination of her son’s future profession. At New Year's parties, he liked to dress up in a Zorro costume, and his food preference was “Daughter-in-Law” salad. According to the recipe, the dish resembles the traditional “Herring under a fur coat”, where instead of fish there is chicken fillet, and the top layer of beets replaces the boiled egg white and grated cheese.
Yulyakshin received his secondary education at Lyceum No. 48, located in an area of the city called Chernikovka. At the same time, he studied at the 5th music school. As for the university, the guy graduated from the correspondence department of the Mikhail Sholokhov Pedagogical University and acquired the specialty of psychologist.
Music
Before becoming a famous artist in his native republic, Radik began by playing the kurai - he gave concerts, even went with them to Finland. After his arrival, the teacher recommended that the inspired student, who was trying his hand as DJ Next, take up singing.
Alvin Gray - "Uftanma"
The ward decided to listen to the senior mentor, the mother found the money and took her son to a recording studio. Soon, Yulyakshin’s debut performance as a vocalist took place - on the Salavat Yulaev Square, located between “Tele.
In 2006, the first collection “The Most Shulay” was published. The second album did not take long to arrive and was released the very next year. Then, together with the project “Yany Yunalesh”, which he created, which included four performers, the guy went on a tour of the cities of Bashkortostan.
Alwyn Gray - "Black-Eyed"
In 2008, he won the high title of “Singer of the Year” according to the “Yashlek Show”, which he confirmed in the future. After graduating from university, Yulyakshin moved to Moscow, found Alena Vysotskaya and immediately offered to record a joint single. The girl was taken aback by the young man’s insistence and agreed. The result was a hit with the provocative title “This is Love.”
In his native Ufa, at a festival dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Bashneft, he already shared the stage with Sofia Rotaru. By the way, at that concert he first introduced himself as Alvin Gray. Radik came up with the pseudonym for himself, combining into one the surname of his favorite hero from Green’s “Scarlet Sails” and a childhood memory when he was teased as a chipmunk.
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Alvin Gray and Guzel Urazova
Also behind him is participation in the “I am an Artist” competition, where the guy reached the finals. The neighboring region also could not resist the musician’s vocal abilities, awarding him the title “Person of the Year of Culture of Tatarstan” in 2016. His achievements include the inclusion of his name in Bashkir language textbooks and a packed Ufa Arena.
By 2019, Yulyakshin’s repertoire includes compositions in three languages. For example, “Black-Eyed”, “Sorry, Baby”, “My Rose” - in Russian, “Uftanma”, “Beautiful and Good” (with Guzel Urazova), “Duslar” - in Tatar, “Keyauga”, “Khagynam” - in Bashkir.
Alvin Gray's career development
In the period from 2007 to 2011, Alvin Gray toured Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Orenburg, and the Chelyabinsk region with concerts, gaining fame outside his small homeland.
Alvin Gray always wanted to sing
Then he received an offer of cooperation from producer Yuri Shatunov, whom he met during a tour in Ufa. He was offered to become a keyboard player and songwriter in the team of the ex-soloist of “Tender May”. However, the young man reasonably reasoned that in his solo career he would have more opportunities for development and self-improvement. And although his relatives advised him not to reject the offer of the mastodon of the Russian stage, the Ufa resident decided to do it his own way - to move to Moscow and make his way there.
First of all, Yulyakshin recorded the common track “This is Love” with Alena Vysotskaya. The presentation of the song took place in December 2011 on the stage of the elite metropolitan club Metropol.
Radik Yulyakshin took the stage name Alvin Gray
In May of the following year, he performed with Sofia Rotaru in his native Ufa at a stadium with a capacity of one hundred thousand, appearing before the audience for the first time under the stage name Alvin Gray. The chosen name is a reference to both the film “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (the singer is sure that he looks like a chipmunk) and the book “Scarlet Sails”.
One after another, his videos began to be released both in Russian (“Family”, “Tears”, “Spoiled”), and in Tatar and native Bashkir (“Ashkyna Homer”, “Ai-li Zhanashym”, “Hagyndym Hine”). In 2012, he received an award from the Tugan Tel TV channel in the “Hit of the Year” category.
In 2013, he presented his new disc “Let’s start from scratch” at the Moscow Base club. At the same time, he won the all-Russian Internet competition “Samtalant”, received a 2nd degree Diploma from the video recording studio “Brilliant Media” as part of the project “I am an Artist” and nominations for the “Audience Award” and “Breakthrough Hit”.
In 2014, Alvin Gray won the project of the famous singer and composer Leps “A Glass of Vodka on the Table.” The essence of the competition was simple: you had to cover Leps’ hit in your own version and record it on video. Among the clips of 517 participants in the music competition, Alvin Gray's version received the most votes. The master of Russian pop music personally presented him with a winner’s diploma on the Crocus City Hall stage during his charity concert in July.
In 2020, the singer’s work earned high praise in Kazan - he received an award from the largest company on the Tatar market “Bars Media”, the Grand Prix “Bulgar Radio” (in the category “Hit of the Year”) and an award from the Republican Music TV Channel).
In February 2020, Alvin took part in the anniversary concert of the Bulgarian Radios award in the Kremlin Palace. The young performer earned the honorable right to present a Tatar song in the Kremlin based on the results of audience voting as part of the “Musical Diste” (“Musical Ten”) project, launched on the TNV channel in 2015.
During the same period, the singer, who is a co-producer of the ELVIN GRAY production center, gave 14 concerts in the capital of Tatarstan, including 5 performances at the Pyramid cultural and entertainment complex. He closed the International Tatar Pop Festival “Tatar Zhyry” and won its prize in the “Duet of the Year” category for the composition “Yanyna Agylam”, performed with singer Guzelia.
In 2020, the public’s favorite shared the title of “Person of the Year” according to Business Online with Alexander Sladkovsky, conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan.
In May of the same year, the singer asked fans to be careful: someone on his behalf launched a fundraiser on social networks, supposedly for the singer’s fight against cancer. Alvin Gray advised the scammers to return the money already sent to them, because “Allah sees everything.”
Personal life
It is known that the performer had a romantic relationship with Alina Galimova, the star of the projects “Bachelor” and “Dom-2”. At that time, Radik was not yet known. The young people’s love was not fleeting; Alvin and Alina dated for more than three years. Unfortunately, this relationship later ended. In one of the interviews, the girl admitted that one of the reasons for the discord was Gray’s increased popularity, as well as his constant workload and performances.
For his bright, catchy stage costumes, decorated with rhinestones and sparkles, experiments with hairstyles and good-looking appearance, the performer was nicknamed “the Bashkir Justin Bieber.” And along with his fame, the same accusations that haunted the Grammy winner “stuck” to him. Namely, belonging to sexual minorities. But in both cases, guesses remained guesses.
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Alvin Gray and Gulnaz Asaeva
To put an end to unpleasant rumors or somehow cope with surging feelings, Alvin Gray asked Gulnaz Asaeva to marry right in front of the amazed public. Previously, he armed himself with an impressive bouquet of red roses and a teddy bear. A romantic “incident” occurred at the pop singer’s concert in 2017. However, the girl hastened to assure fans: the wedding was not planned.
“A marriage proposal on stage? I think it was a joke after all, but I can’t speak for Radik himself, I’ll have to ask him. I want to make it clear, I am not dating Radik,” the beauty said about her personal life.
Now the Bashkir lyricist is still not married. However, nothing will stop real fans. For example, the most devoted of them maintain separate accounts on Instagram, where they regularly pamper their subscribers with photographs and videos of their idol.
Alvin Gray now
2019, even before it began, turned out to be quite eventful for Radik Yulyakshin.
At the beginning of the first spring month, the documentary film “Alvin Gray: The Path to a Dream” directed by Ranil Gilmutdinov appeared on the Internet. In the middle, a video was released for the song “Went to the Left,” performed together with Elbrus Dzhanmirzoev (“Tramp”).
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Babek Mamedrzaev and Alvin Gray in 2020
At the same time, it became known that on his 30th birthday, Alvin Gray would give a festive concert at the “Lights of Ufa”, and then go to Kazan for 3 days.
From the biography of Alvin Gray
Elvin Gray (more precisely, by his real name Yulyakshin Radik Mukharlyamovich) is a famous Bashkir performer of popular songs and music. Now the artist is known not only among young people in Bashkortostan, but also in other countries, including Russia. The young and successful guy became a finalist in the all-Russian competition called “I am an artist” in 2013.
Among the singer’s achievements, one can highlight the fact that he became the triumphant “Glass of Vodka on the Table” in 2014 (a project organized by Grigory Leps). In 2020, the guy received the Grand Prix of the Bulgarian Radios music award in 2020. And more recently, in 2020, Alvin Gray won the significant title “Person of the Year” according to the Tatar electronic publication “Business Online”.
