The childhood of Nadezhda Granovskaya
Nadezhda Meikher-Granovskaya (Meikher is the singer’s real name, Granovskaya is her stage name) was born in western Ukraine, in the village of Zbruchivka on April 10, 1982.
The future celebrity was born right in her home, on the sofa - Nadya’s pregnant mother did not have time to be taken to the maternity hospital. The baby was brought up in unfavorable conditions: when she was 4 years old, the singer’s mother divorced her drinking husband and moved from her native village of Nadya with her daughter to relatives in Volochisk, which is located 60 kilometers from the city of Khmelnitsky. But already at the age of 6 she developed an interest in classical music and dancing. All television programs were dotted with small checkmarks that little Nadya Meikher used to mark ballet broadcasts.
Nadezhda Granovskaya has been in love with music and dancing since childhood
In Volochisk, Nadya Meikher went to the local school. The schoolgirl brought home only “B’s” and “A’s”. Young people began to pay attention to Nadya already in elementary school. These were both boys the same age and older guys. Everyone showed their sympathy in different ways. Most often, the singer recalls, they pulled her hair (Nadya had a long braid), made fun of her and laughed. However, peers were punished for insulting remarks. Sometimes things came to a fight. An angry Nadezhda could have driven the boy under the desk and kicked him. And in middle school, Nadya constantly beat her peers in arm wrestling.
School photo of Nadezhda Granovskaya (far left)
At the age of 11, Nadezhda became interested in dancing and joined an amateur group. Before this, the girl was fond of athletics. Afterwards she wanted to go to a ballroom dancing club, but she didn’t have enough pairs there, so she had to learn folk dances. Nadezhda Meikher - VIA Gra Interview with the first cast in 2001 By the way, as a child Nadezhda was crazy about Vladimir Lenin. Photographs of Ilyich were posted all over the girl’s room. Sometimes Nadya staged her “October demonstration.” However, a little later the singer switched to Michael Jackson and tried to repeat his “moon track”. The little girl danced so hard to the aggressive songs of the king of pop that everyone’s mouths dropped open. Later, Nadezhda realized that dancing was her calling, and began to dream of becoming a ballerina. To fulfill her desire, she danced 6 hours a day.
However, the young talent also thought about other professions. At one time she dreamed of becoming... a salesperson, like her mother, and sometimes even replaced her parent at work. Later, Nadezhda wanted to become a dressmaker, like her grandmother. However, her ardor was cooled by an unsuccessful experience - the girl stitched her fingers so that the needle went right through. While Nadya dreamed of becoming a ballerina, her mother and grandmother saw her as a lawyer or translator. At one time, the girl went to English language courses, but the girl went there with absolutely no interest. As a result, the girl’s parents were barely able to persuade her to enter the pedagogical school at the faculty of music education and choreography.
Dancing was the passion of young Nadezhda Granovskaya
And so, after the 9th grade of school, Nadezhda Meikher went to pedagogical school. And she still remembers her graduation: the girl walked several kilometers towards the first dawn of her adult life. “We have a place outside the city in Volochisk, in the Khmelnytsky region, where the rising sun is clearly visible, where all graduates make a pilgrimage. We went there too. We walked for a very long time, along the way we lay down on the grass to rest, even fell asleep, but we got there. I was then wearing black patent leather platform sandals and a white prom dress, which my mother and I bought specially. In the evening I wrapped my hair in curlers and then pulled it into a curly ponytail,” Nadezhda recalled.
A little later, Nadya was invited to work at. There the girl choreographed dances and worked as a choreographer and music designer.
Nadezhda Granovskaya in VIA Gre. Start
In 2000, Valery Meladze came to Khmelnitsky on tour.
The popular artist performed at the same Central Committee where Nadezhda worked. There she met a celebrity. From Valery, the girl learned that his brother, Konstantin Meladze (Nadya didn’t even know about his existence) was recruiting artists for a new group. Nadya immediately arranged a photo shoot for herself and sent the pictures to Kyiv. Businessman and owner of the music channel “BIZ-TV” Konstantin Meladze, together with producer Dmitry Kostyuk, invited the girl to the casting, however, before that they advised the future artist to lose a little weight. The intense struggle with extra pounds lasted several months. Only after this Nadezhda came to audition, successfully passed the casting and was accepted into the VIA Gra team. The producer advised her to take a pseudonym and chose the surname “Granovskaya”. The first composition of the group also included Alena Vinnitskaya. By the way, before VIA Gra, Nadya had never studied vocals.
The first cast of “VIA Gra”: Nadezhda Granovskaya and Alena Vinnitskaya
Nadezhda moved to Kyiv, where she had long wanted to go. At first it was not easy for her in the new city. There were no friends, and Alena had her own company. For six months, in her free time from work, the girl simply walked around the Ukrainian capital and constantly improved her choreographic skills in the gyms. The first video of “VIA Gra” – “Attempt No. 5” After the first video “Attempt No. 5” the group became incredibly popular, not only in Ukraine, but also in Russia. The debut composition soared to the top of the charts, and the video won the Golden Gramophone and Golden Kettlebell awards. During 2000, VIA Gra formed its repertoire of seven songs, with which the girls began touring around their native Ukraine. By the way, about 4 thousand fans came to the first concert in Dnepropetrovsk.
In those years, Nadezhda Granovskaya was known as “the little black one from VIA Gra”
Two years after she began performing on stage, Nadezhda Granovskaya left the group. She exchanged her work in a popular group for the happiness of motherhood - the girl became pregnant.
Nadezhda Granovskaya gave birth at the age of 20
However, Granovskaya did not want to stay on maternity leave. A month after the birth of her son Igor, the girl returned to the stage and took part in the filming of the video “Good morning, dad.” Returning after a six-month absence, she met the new members of the team - Anna Sedokova and Tatyana Naynik. And if Tatyana soon left the group, Anna stayed at VIA Gre for another 2 years. Soon the composition of the group changed twice - first, Svetlana Loboda joined the trio, performing in the group for 4 months, then Albina Dzhanabaeva took her place.
For some time, VIA Gra was a quartet
In 2006, Nadezhda Granovskaya left the group again - at the very peak of its popularity and began working on the Ukrainian TV channel "STB" as the host of the weekly program "Incredible Love Stories", and also continued her academic vocal training. “Incredible love stories” with Nadezhda Meikher “Of course, there are reasons, and quite a lot of them have accumulated over six years. But it would be correct to say that everything has its time - just as sometimes you have to part with people, so it is here - I worked for a long time, and then something happened. First of all, in myself. I felt that the time had come to radically change my life, to cross out something... And I left. To be honest, at first I was even surprised at my condition - there was no feeling of loss, on the contrary, I was completely happy that I was starting my life with a clean slate, so to speak. And I didn’t think about television either. I accidentally learned from friends about the casting for STB and thought: why not?” Nadezhda once shared with reporters.
In the same 2006, Nadya briefly moved to England, and in her homeland she takes part in the “Dancing with the Stars” project of channel 1+1.
“Dancing with the Stars”: Nadezhda Meikher As a solo singer, Nadya made her debut with a composition from Bizet’s opera “Carmen” - “Habanera”.
From the very moment of her departure, Konstantin Meladze went out of his way to bring the girl back: he lured Nadezhda with the most professional teachers, crazy fees, the best dancers, and in 2009 she finally agreed, taking the place of Meseda Bagaudinova. Together with Albina Dzhanabaeva and Tatyana Kotova, they began recording new singles: “Anti-geisha” and “Crazy”.
In 2009, Nadezhda Granovskaya returned to VIA Gro
In the autumn of the same year, a collection of poems “Momentary Attraction” by Nadia Meikher was published. They are based on the singer’s personal experiences.
Presentation of “Momentary Attraction” by Nadezhda Meikher
In November 2011, Nadezhda Granovskaya became pregnant again and left VIA Gra, opening the path to fame for the young singer Santa Dimopoulos. In 2013, the producers of the group called her to the jury of the show “I Want V Via Gro,” created specifically to search for a radically new composition of the trio. During the program, all participants were divided into threes, and Nadezhda became the mentor of three girls who ultimately won: Anastasia Kozhevnikova, Misha Romanova and Erica Herceg. They showed themselves to be the most permanent members of VIA Gra - this lineup lasted longer than any other of the previous ones. “I want to go to Via Gro”: Nadezhda Granovskaya and her group
Height, weight, age. How old is Nadezhda Granovskaya
In 2020, one of the episodes of the popular program “Secret to a Million” was released with the participation of Nadezhda Granovskaya. She answered, openly, all questions, including the audience’s ability to find out her height, weight, and age. How old Nadezhda Granovskaya is is no secret to her fans.
In 2020, the artist celebrated her 36th birthday. The event took place in a quiet family circle. With a height of 170 cm, the singer weighs 54 kg.
Nadezhda Granovskaya, whose photos in her youth and now are of interest to her fans, does a set of exercises every day that help her keep in shape.
Personal life of Nadezhda Granovskaya
In her youth, Nadezhda Granovskaya lived with Kyiv deputy Alexander Lishchenko. There were rumors in the tabloid press that Alexander’s line of work was not very legal and that in the 90s he was known as a crime boss nicknamed Licha. It’s impossible to say for sure whether this is true or just ordinary gossip. What is known is that in 2002, 20-year-old Nadya, who had only recently begun her singing career at VIA Gre, gave birth to a boy named Igor from Lishchenko.
Nadezhda Granovskaya and her son Igor
In 2008, Nadezhda Granovskaya met a famous Russian businessman, General Director of Melon Fashion Group LLC, Mikhail Urzhumtsev. The couple did not advertise their relationship for a long time, but the paparazzi periodically photographed either Nadya near her lover’s house or Mikhail near the singer’s house.
In the photo: Nadezhda Granovskaya and Mikhail Urzhumtsev
The wedding of Granovskaya and Urzhumtsev took place in 2014. The ceremony was secret. In October 2020, the couple had a daughter, Mariyka (Maria).
“I changed my attitude towards marriage”
— You have been talking for a long time about how you can easily live without a stamp in your passport. But at some point this opinion was changed. What comes into a relationship after the stamp is put?
— I am an extremely freedom-loving and independent person. I’ll nail the nail myself, bring bags of groceries, and walk into the burning hut (laughs). I make decisions quickly... For some reason it always seemed to me that a stamp in my passport would incredibly constrain me and deprive me of my freedom. And when Misha (Nadezhda’s husband, businessman Mikhail Urzhumtsev - Ed.) proposed his hand and heart to me - and this was long before our wedding - for the first time in my life I was simultaneously happy and embarrassed. And when the moment came for the materialization of our relationship in the form of marriage, I said “yes.” If a woman understands that she is connecting her life with a reliable person, with her destiny, she can change her attitude towards marriage. But at the same time he will remain himself.
— How should a girl behave who has been in a relationship with a man for many years, but never receives a proposal? Should I hint myself or not react to it at all?
— Send him to hell (laughs). A determined man will immediately make it clear that you are his destiny.
