Childhood and youth
The boy was born in Moscow in the family of the architect Igor Vitalievich Lagutenko and his wife Elena Borisovna, who was a fashion designer. When Ilya was only six months old, his father was prescribed a generally simple operation to remove appendicitis. But something went wrong, and the man died after an unsuccessful procedure.
Mother and child went to their hometown of Vladivostok, where Ilya Lagutenko spent his conscious childhood and youth. Elena Borisovna remarried a sea captain who was raising the guy, replacing his father. In the new family the boy had a sister, Maria.
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Ilya Lagutenko in his youth
Lagutenko studied at a school with in-depth study of the Chinese language and made tangible progress in mastering this complex subject. Already at that time the boy was interested in music. Ilya founded the first group in elementary school, calling the group “Boni Pi”. In addition, the boy performed in a children's choir, with which he toured concerts in many cities of the Soviet Union.
After school, Ilya entered the Far Eastern State University, where he specialized in Oriental studies.
The young man founded the now famous group in 1983, but initially the ensemble was called “Moomin Troll” in honor of the characters in a children's fairy tale by the Finnish writer Tove Jansson. But since the group could not achieve anything serious for a long time, one day Ilya exclaimed in his hearts: “We are not Mumi, we are real mummies.” This is how the name “Mumiy Troll”, which later became world famous, was born.
Biography[edit | edit code]
Born on October 16, 1968 in Moscow.
In 1969, after the death of their father, architect Igor Vitalievich Lagutenko, who died after an unsuccessful operation to remove the appendix[6], the family moved to Vladivostok - the hometown of their mother, fashion designer Elena Borisovna, Kibitkina’s second husband[7].
Education[edit | edit code]
He successfully studied at secondary school No. 9 with in-depth study of the Chinese language. He sang in a children's choir, in which he toured extensively around the country. The main idols of his youth were such groups as Queen, Genesis and Pink Floyd[8].
Graduated from the Far Eastern State University, Faculty of Oriental Studies, majoring in Regional Studies (Oriental and African Studies). He defended his thesis on the topic “Development of the border economy between Russia and China”[9].
Career[edit | edit code]
1980s[edit | edit code]
Ilya Lagutenko, late 1980s
| excerpt from the song “New Moon of April” | |
| Reproduction help | |
Ilya Lagutenko founded his first group “Boney P” in 1981. The group played “psychedelic punk” and included Lagutenko’s classmates and friends: Kirill Babiy (keyboards), Pavel Babiy (drums), Igor “Kulya” Kulkov (guitar), Andrey Barabash (bass).
In 1982, Ilya Lagutenko met Leonid Burlakov, who came up with a new name for the group - “Shock”. Leonid brings the first texts in Russian (“You are the Cross” and “Chains”), and the group completely switches to Russian-language creativity. Burlakov himself sits down at the cardboard drums, brings his classmate Vladimir Lutsenko (bass) and friend Albert Krasnov (guitarist). The group recorded a 40-minute album, some of the songs from which ended up on the group's first magnetic album.
October 16, 1983 is the official date of birth of the Mumiy Troll group; then the group was called Mumi Troll.
Studio work on the debut album of the Moomin Troll group began at the end of 1983. The debut album was called “New Moon of April”, the song of the same name from which became a big hit at fashionable discos in Vladivostok. The same song played a cruel joke on the group. The next meeting of the CPSU Central Committee took place in April, and the chorus of the song sounds as follows: “The new moon of April illuminated the sky, but we no longer believe it, it brings us nothing.”
Under Soviet censorship, this made it possible to recognize the Moomin Troll group at a meeting of Far Eastern University students as the most socially dangerous (along with Black Sabbath).
From 1987 to 1990 - served in the ranks of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet Air Force with the rank of sergeant major of the second class.
1990s[edit | edit code]
From 1991 to 1996, he trained and worked in China and London as a translator and commercial advisor.
Ilya Lagutenko, 1996. On the recording of the album "Caviar"
The Mumiy Troll group resumed its activities in the late 1990s.
On April 24, 1997, the album “Morskaya” was released.
2000s[edit | edit code]
Ilya Lagutenko tries himself in cinema - as a musician (The Book Thieves, Dunno and Barrabass) and as an actor (Night Watch). He sets the tone in appearance; his style has been repeatedly noted by glossy magazines Glamor and. Mumiy Troll was the first in Russia to support the PSI organization to fight AIDS. Ilya Lagutenko is the representative of Russia in the International Tiger Coalition[2].
In his spare time, Ilya writes books. In 2009, the musician worked on the “Book of Wanderings” of four volumes, dedicated to the travels of Mumiy Troll.
Ilya is creating a new project called KETA with the famous electronics engineer Andrey Antonets[10].
In 2009, Ilya co-wrote the music for the track “Intentions” and, as a vocalist, took part in the recording of the second album, Automatons[en]
, American electronic artist/sound producer of Universal Music Group[en], Svoy. The album was released in the United States and Japan, where it charted on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart.
In 2010, the album won several categories at the Independent Music Awards in the United States.
2010s[edit | edit code]
In 2011, he released a joint project of musicians (supergroup “Ermine”) - the album “Air of Freedom”.
Ilya Lagutenko on the sailboat “Sedov” (2012)
On February 23, 2011, an agreement of intent for cooperation was signed between the rector of the Far Eastern Federal University Vladimir Miklushevsky and Ilya Lagutenko. The cooperation will consist primarily of the Federal University supporting the concerts of the Mumiy Troll group. In addition, Ilya Lagutenko will act as a visiting speaker with lectures that will be devoted to show business, oriental languages, travel, nature conservation and crisis management[11].
Member of the Board of Trustees of the Batani Foundation.
In 2012 he released the mini-album “Space Flight” together with AERONAUTICA[12]
At the beginning of 2013, Ilya Lagutenko was awarded the Order of Merit for Vladivostok, first degree.
Also in 2013, he founded a new international festival V-ROX (Rock of Vladivostok), designed to bring his native Vladivostok to a new international musical level.
In August 2014, the second and in 2020 the third V-ROX festival took place.
At the beginning of 2020, the 13th album “Pirate Copies” was released, which was first published in China and then launched in Russia.
Ilya Lagutenko at a concert in Moscow (2016)
In April 2020, the singer was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of Vladivostok”[3][4].
In 2020, Ilya Lagutenko became the music curator of three international music festivals: his own V-ROX festival (held in Vladivostok for the 4th time in 2020)[13], the Piena Svetki festival in Riga (Latvia)[14] and Far From Moscow Festival in Los Angeles (USA)[15].
In 2020, the singer voiced the role of the crab Tamatoa in the full-length animated film Moana[16].
Personal life
Despite his short stature (168 cm with a weight of 60 kg) and non-standard appearance, the musician has always enjoyed success with the opposite sex.
Ilya got married for the first time in his youth, when he lived in Vladivostok. His wife was Elena Troynovskaya, an ichthyologist. This marriage produced a son, Igor, named after the musician’s own father, who died early. Later, Igor became interested in playing rugby and became a coach. His interests also include music - he started producing.
The relationship between Ilya and Elena lasted until 2003. The reason for the couple’s separation was the singer’s new romance with the capital’s socialite and fashion designer Nadya Skazka. Subsequently, the musician was credited with fleeting hobbies with representatives of the fashion industry.
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Ilya Lagutenko and wife Anna Zhukova
Stability in Ilya’s personal life came after meeting his current wife. At the end of 2007, the singer met gymnast and fashion model Anna Zhukova. After a while, they got married, and then the couple had daughters Valentina-Veronica, whom her parents call Vivi for short, and little Letizia. The Lagutenko family and their children once lived in Los Angeles, but now they spend most of their time in Jurmala.
Ilya’s main hobby is writing. The first work “The Book of Wanderings. My East" can be considered the memoirs of the Mumiy Troll group. The second book, “Vladivostok-3000,” is a fantastic story about the Pacific Republic.
The latest work, “Tiger Stories,” is written in the form of a trilogy about the life and adventures of the Amur tiger. The publication was published with the support of the Russian Geographical Society. By the way, Ilya Lagutenko is a member of the International Coalition for the Protection of Tigers, in which he represents the interests of the Russian Federation.
Music
The first magnetic album in the discography of the Lagutenko group, still with the previous name “Moomin Troll”, “New Moon of April”, was released in 1985. A few years later, “Do Yu-Yu” was released.
Mumiy Troll resumed its musical activities in the late 90s. And the first album after the revival, which was called “Morskaya”, created a sensation. The disc was named the best-selling in 1997, and the songs “Leak Away”, “Girl”, “Vladivostok-2000” were heard from literally every window. A period of prosperity began in the musician’s creative biography.
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The singer re-recorded his early songs from the 80s and released them under the name “Shamora”. Then the hits “Alien Guest”, “Hello, Pops!”, “Do Me Exactly, Mom” received new life. In 2001, Mumiy Troll was honored to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest. According to the voting results, Russian musicians took 12th place.
In 2008, the eighth album “8” was released, which became famous thanks to the tracks “Oh, Paradise!”, “Fantastic”, “Youth”. A video was created for the song “Contraband,” which is considered to be a new word in the history of music video creation.
Mumiy Troll - “Smuggling”
Swedish director Bjorn Tagemos recreated the illusion of double movement: a projection was used depicting moving objects, which itself was set in motion. This technique later became the practice of video clip makers and filmmakers.
In 2020, together with members of the Mumiy Troll group, the singer recorded the English-language album Malibu Alibi. The musician also released a documentary film “SOS to the Sailor”, the material for which was collected during a trip around the world on the ship “Sedov”.
In 2020, the Mumiy Troll group and Ilya Lagutenko began recording new songs included in the album entitled “NorthwestXVostok”, which was released a year later.
Discography
Main article: Discography of the Mumiy Troll group
- New Moon of April (1985)
- Do Yu Yu (1990)
- Marine
(1997) - Caviar
(1997) - Shamora (parts 1 and 2)
(1998) - Exactly mercury aloe
(2000) - Meamura
(2002) - Book Thieves
(2004) - Mergers and acquisitions
(2005) - Amba
(2007) - (2008)
- Rare earths
(2010) - Vladivostok
(2012) - SOS to the sailor
(2013) - Pirate copies (2015)[8]
- Malibu Alibi (2016)[36][37]
- EAST X NORTHWEST (2018)
Ilya Lagutenko now
Now Ilya Lagutenko’s creative career continues to develop rapidly. In 2020, the Mumiy Troll group made a large tour of the cities of Russia and North America with the SEA X NORTHWEST program.
In Russia, musicians became headliners of the rock festivals “Wild Mint”, Stereoleto and “Invasion”. After a short break, Lagutenko resumed the activities of the V-ROX EXPO showcase festival, which changed its format in 2019.
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Ilya Lagutenko and Ivan Ugrant in the show “Evening Urgant”
At the creative venues of the event, an art exhibition of works by Far Eastern masters “Morskaya” and street art from artists from Europe were presented. Concerts of the participants were held at Mumiy Troll Music Bar for three days.
In the fall, the premiere of the song “Sprouts” and its video took place. The artist presented a new composition, which is included in the 2020 album, on the air of the “Evening Urgant” program. Lagutenko covered this event on the group’s Instagram page, posting a photo from his performance on air.
Concerts of Ilya Lagutenko’s group were planned for December 2019 in Moscow at the VTB Arena, where the musicians presented the program “Happy New Year, Baby!”
Filmography[edit | edit code]
Film roles[edit | edit code]
- 2004 - “Night Watch” - vampire Andrei
- 2006 - “In the rhythm of tango” (TV series) - cameo
- 2008 - “Radio Day” - cameo
- 2010 - “The Diamond Arm 2” - cameo
- from 2020 – Fixies – Time Keeper
Music[edit | edit code]
- 2002 - “Azazel” - song performance
- 2004 - “The Book Thieves” - music
- 2004 - “Dunno and Barrabass” - music
- 2005 - “Day Watch” - music
- 2006 - “Space Flight” - music
- 2006 - “Signs of Love” - music
- 2006 - “Peter FM” - music
- 2007 - “Paragraph 78” - song performance
- 2008 - “More Ben” - music
- 2008 - “S.S.D.” - cameo, music
- 2008 - “Kung Fu Panda” - song “Master Monkey’s Song”
- 2009 - “Margosha” - music
- 2009 - “Love in the Big City” - music
- 2009 - “At the Game” - music
- 2010 - “The Diamond Arm-2” - music
- 2010 — “Love in the City 2” — music
- 2013 — “Ku! Kin-dza-dza” - music
- 2015 - “Warrior” - song “Gang”
- 2015 - “SOS, Santa Claus, or Everything will come true!” - music, song “Happy New Year, baby!”
- 2015 - “Concerned, or Evil Love” - songs “From a Clean Slate”, “Seaweed”, “Bride”, “Golden Heart”, “Lightning”, “Where are you, girls”
- 2016 - “Voices of a big country” - song “Carnival.net”
- 2016 - “The Moomins and Christmas” - “The Moomins and Christmas”
- 2016 - “Moana” - song “Live in Splendor”
- 2016 - “Yolki 5” - songs “Ice cream”, “Grillage (31st)”, “Don’t part with your loved ones” (together with singer Yolka)
- 2017 - “Granny of easy virtue” - song “Fantastic”
- 2019 - “Sober Driver” - song “Such Girls”
Dubbing[edit | edit code]
- 2008 - “Kung Fu Panda” - Master Monkey
[34] - 2016 — “Moana” — sea crab Tamatoa
[16][35]
