Irina Bilyk is one of the most famous, talented and popular contemporary pop singers in Ukraine. This woman is beautiful, artistic, talented. Today she is simply drowning in success and fame. What is known about this extraordinary woman? What facts can the biography of Irina Bilyk tell? The year of birth, the singer’s children—these questions haunt her large army of fans. All this will be discussed in the article.
Early years, childhood of Irina
How old is Irina Bilyk? The biography says that the future singer was born in the spring of 1970 in the capital of Ukraine - Kyiv. This means that it is not at all difficult to calculate that a woman will turn 48 this year. The girl's parents had absolutely nothing to do with music and art. They worked as engineers at one of the Kyiv aircraft factories. Irina has a brother, Sergei, who is also not particularly talented. Today he works as a lawyer in one of the capital's firms.
Irina's talents showed up quite early. When the girl was five years old, her parents took her to a dance studio. Teachers noted her grace and ability to move. After just a year, the girl showed excellent vocal abilities. Irina was included in the children's ensemble "Sun". The teachers strongly recommended developing the girl’s talents. The future artist constantly worked, tirelessly and without sparing herself. While her peers ran to walk in the yard, Ira enjoyed visiting the music studio. She taught her neighbors musical parts, since they had a piano. My parents couldn't afford to buy such an expensive item.
Diligence and work very soon bore fruit. Already at the age of ten, Irina became the best student in her group. She tried herself in writing songs, played the piano well and, in addition, studied vocals. After graduating from music school, Irina Bilyk worked as a teacher for some time. She had a group of children whom she taught vocals. This activity brought her pleasure. During this period of her life, the young artist no longer even dreamed of becoming a singer.
Biography
On April 6, 1970, a daughter was born into a simple family of engineers Nikolai and Anna Bilyk. At that time, no one knew that the future of the Ukrainian stage was born.
Irina began to be interested in music since childhood. Already at the age of five she started dancing, and a year later she became the soloist of the children's ensemble “Solnyshko”. The artist also has a younger brother, Sergei.
In 1998, Bilyk entered the Glier State Music College, which is not easy for a girl from an ordinary family. In parallel with her studies, Irina developed a pop career. So, the star graduated from college being already popular and recognizable in Ukraine.
The beginning of a singer's career
However, everything changed dramatically at the end of the eighties of the last century. Irina Bilyk became a participant in the then famous music festival “Chervona Ruta”. At the end of it, the girl met her future husband and producer Yuri Nikitin. But more on that a little later. The future star, together with him and other musicians, began to create the group “Tsei doshch nadovgo”. It is worth noting that this idea was a success. In the early nineties of the last century, the group gained a huge army of fans.
In 1992, Irina Bilyk had the opportunity to take part in the Slavic Bazaar festival, which she took advantage of. This year has been eventful. She managed to record her first song, “Your Lishe,” which her fans still remember. Just a few months later, Irina won the Song Vernissage competition. New Ukrainian wave." A year later, Irina Bilyk became a participant in the Maria song competition. All these events made the girl popular not only in her homeland, but also in some other CIS countries, including Russia.
Tour of Ukrainian cities
The following year, the young singer’s first tour took place in the cities of her native country, after which she gave a solo concert. It took place in the Kiev Palace "Ukraine". It is worth noting that independent Ukraine has never seen a tour of such magnitude. The fans were indescribably delighted, and the singer’s fame grew. At the end of the tour, the artist was awarded by the jury in the prestigious categories “Song of the Year” and “Singer of the Year”. Irina Nikolaevna Bilyk also received the high title of Honored Artist of Ukraine.
In subsequent years, three more solo collections of the singer were released, each of which was not deprived of the attention of fans. Irina Nikolaevna received awards one after another. She could not even dream of such success a few years ago. Irina became one of the record holders in Ukraine for the total number of prizes and nominations.
Working as a model and further activities
In addition to her solo career, Irina Bilyk also tried her hand at modeling. She has signed contracts with the following advertising companies, Idea Studio, Peugeot 206.
After that, Irina Nikolaevna worked on four more studio albums. Two official collections were also released. One of the most famous singers in Ukraine continued touring the cities of Ukraine and the CIS countries. Irina Nikolaevna collected prestigious awards one after another. And in 2009, Irina Nikolaevna Bilyk was awarded the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. And what is noteworthy is that four years later the singer was awarded a similar title in Russia.
Ascent to the starry Olympus
In 1989, Irina went to Chernivtsi, where she took part in the Chervona Ruta music festival. After that, they began to recognize her, and the aspiring performer acquired a small army of fans. At the festival, Bilyk met promising guys from the team “Tsei doshch nadovgo”. After a short conversation, the musicians invited Irina to join them on tour.
In 1991, the group “Tsey Dosch nadovgo”, which was rapidly gaining popularity, signed a contract with the music agency “Rostislav Show”. A year later, the video “Lishe Yours” was released on TV screens , where a sexy participant finally appeared.
Attractive appearance and strong vocals helped the project quickly win over the audience. On this wave, the members of the group decided to transform themselves and act as accompanying musicians in the Irina Bilyk project.
In 1994, Irina was entrusted with a responsible mission - a meeting with American President Bill Clinton. The following year, Bilyk recorded three solo records: “Kuvala Zozulya”, “Nova”, “I will rozkazhu”.
In 1996, the singer opened the prestigious music festival "Tavria Games" and received two Golden Firebird awards in the nominations: "Singer of the Year" and "Song of the Year". Bilyk was also awarded the title of People's Artist of Ukraine.
With the advent of the 2000s, Irina’s career continued to develop rapidly. The singer toured Ukraine, Russia and America. In 2002, the Polish-language album “Bilyk” was released , and the following year “Kraina”. In support of her latest album, Bilyk went on a large tour of Ukraine.
In 2003, the premiere of the first Russian-language album of a Ukrainian performer entitled “Love. I". The new record sold out in large numbers in Russia, where Irina gained many fans.
The difficult political situation in relations between Russia and Ukraine had a negative impact on the performer’s concert activities. The Ukrainian authorities did their best to prevent her concerts, and unknown people helped them with this.
Irina Bilyk before plastic surgery
Irina, not accustomed to being led by circumstances, made her choice; she is outside of politics. Bilyk continues to work and perform where she is comfortable and where her fans are waiting for her.
Irina’s songs are sung by many popular artists, among them the king of Russian show business, Philip Kirkorov. The ex-husband of the Diva performed the composition “Snow” and “About Love”, which became the soundtrack to the film “Crew”.
In 2014, Irina presented the album “Dawn,” and the following year she presented her fans with the single “Santa Claus.” The creative collection of the successful Ukrainian singer includes more than fifty clips. The most popular of them: “We will be together”, “Girl”, “Love. Poison”, “Half and Half”, “Two Kindred Souls”.
In 2020, the album “Without Makeup” was released, on which Irina worked for more than ten years. At the end of 2020, the premiere of the video “Lenya, Leonid” took place, recorded in a genre unusual for Bilyk. Users of social networks immediately criticized the work and compared the Ukrainian singer with chanson star Lyubov Uspenskaya.
A funny story
In 1996, Irina Nikolaevna Bilyk was invited to open the famous Tavria Games festival. That's when this incident happened. When Irina Nikolaevna began to sing, the whole audience began to laugh. This, as you might guess, caused confusion among the singer. She could not find the source of humor and steadfastly continued to sing as the concert was broadcast live. After the performance, she was told that during the performance of the song a huge dog ran onto the stage. She sat there until the end of the singer's performance, listening to her carefully. Irina Nikolaevna remembers this story with a smile to this day.
Biography of Irina Bilyk: personal life
Irina’s personal life is under the constant close attention of her large army of fans. A bright blonde with a beautiful voice and model appearance constantly attracted men.
Her first husband (civil-law), as mentioned above, was Yuri Nikitin, a producer and musician. Their relationship lasted seven years. After the separation, the couple did not stop maintaining friendly relations. In addition, Yuri is still involved in Irina’s work.
In 1998, Irina Nikolaevna entered into an official marriage with fashion model Andrei Overchuk. They even got married. Their wedding took place in 1999. Does Irina Bilyk have children? The singer’s biography indicates that she gave Andrei Overchuk a son, Gleb. Notable is the fact that the godfather of Irina Bilyk’s son was none other than Yuri Nikitin.
But this relationship was destined to end. After the divorce, Irina Bilyk began dating choreographer Dmitry Kolyadenko. Their romance, as well as their separation, attracted the extremely close attention of all fans, as a lot of dirty laundry was washed out in public.
In 2007, the public was excited by a new event - Irina Bilyk got married again. Her chosen one was choreographer Dmitry Dikusar. He is almost 15 years younger than Irina. But this marriage was doomed. Their love flared up quickly and soon faded away. They lived together for only three years.
In 2014, Irina again stunned the public with her confession - she was in a relationship. The singer did not publish the name of her lover, citing the fact that excessive publicity only harms her personal life. After some time, some more details became known: Irina Bilyk’s lover is a sought-after guitarist. Soon, Irina Nikolaevna increasingly began to appear in public with the famous director Aslan Akhmadov. Fans can only guess whether he was Irina’s mysterious lover, whom she so diligently hid from everyone?
In December 2020, Irina Nikolaevna became a mother again. The singer's second son Tabriz was born through surrogacy. And in 2020 everything became clearer. The public learned that Irina and Aslan formalized their relationship, which, according to the artist herself, had lasted for several years.
Irina Lungu
(b. 1987)
“Shimmering soprano”, “shining, blooming voice” - this is how they burn about the Russian singer Irina Lungu.
The singer was born in Moldova. In the early 1990s, when nationalist sentiments intensified in the republic after the collapse of the USSR, the family was forced to move to Russia, to the city of Borisoglebsk, located in the Voronezh region - Irina was eleven years old at that time. And at the age of eighteen she entered the Voronezh Institute of Arts. She studied with Mikhail Podkopaev, whom she considered a wonderful teacher and did not want to exchange for anyone else, although the gifted student received offers to study in St. Petersburg or Moscow. While still a student, the singer became an artist of the Voronezh Theater and even then successfully participated in various competitions: victory in Moscow at Bella Voce, second place in St. Petersburg at the Elena Obraztsova competition, grand prix in Greece at the competition named after. M. Kallas, diploma at the Competition. P.I. Tchaikovsky...
But the Belvedere competition, which took place in 2003 in Austria, was truly fateful. After performing there, Irina Lungu receives an invitation to the La Scala Academy. The audition was attended by Riccardo Muti, who was at that time the musical director of La Scala. Lungu performed the Italian repertoire - Medora's aria from Giuseppe Verdi's "The Corsair" and the finale of Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Anne Boleyn". In October of the same year, Irina began studying at La Scala Academy, and already in December she performed in a play at this famous theater. La Scala's own building was closed for reconstruction at that time, and the performance was performed on the stage of another theater - Arcimboldi. It was Gioachino Rossini's opera "Pharaoh and Moses" in the French version, and Lungu performed the role of Anaida.
At La Scala Academy there were many unusual things for her - for example, the fact that vocal technique and interpretation were taught by different teachers, because in Russia the singer was accustomed to the fact that one is inseparable from the other. Nevertheless, classes at the Academy gave her a lot, especially classes with Leyla Gencher.
While studying at the Academy, the singer successfully performed at the Verdi Voices competition, and after graduating in 2005, thanks to collaboration with agent M. Impallomeni, she began a performing career in the West. The ardent love for Italian opera, which her mentor in Voronezh instilled in her, helped her adapt to Italian culture. She also performed in other countries. Nevertheless, at first, as a singer from Russia, she predominantly sang in the Russian opera repertoire, in particular in the operas of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: in Switzerland and Portugal she sang the title role in Iolanta, in Milan - Oksana in Cherevichki. Subsequently, the singer switched to the Italian repertoire - and considers it a great honor to perform it in Italy, but very often includes works of Russian composers in concert programs.
An important step was playing the main role in La Traviata. When Lorin Maazel invited her to audition, she didn’t even know the part, and she had to sing from the clavier. Nevertheless, the singer made a favorable impression, and she subsequently performed the part of Violetta more often than other parts - more than a hundred times, and in more theaters.
The singer's repertoire is extensive: Adina, Gilda, Nanette, Liu, Maria Stuart, Juliet, Margarita, Michaela and many other roles. She performs at La Fenice in Venice and Teatro Reggio in Turin, at the Metropolitan Opera in the USA and at the Covent Garden Theater in England, at the Arena di Verona and the National Opera of the Netherlands, at the " Real" in Madrid and at the Vienna Opera. She collaborated with Daniele Gatti, Michel Plasson, Fabio Mastrangelo, Daniel Oren and other famous conductors. Since the singer’s life has been connected with Italy for many years, on posters they often try to indicate her as an Italian performer, but Irina Lunga always emphasizes that she is a Russian singer and does not renounce her citizenship of the Russian Federation.
Ten years after the fateful competition in Austria - in 2013 - Irina Lungu performed in Russia. This happened as part of the “Music of Three Hearts” concert, which took place in the capital, at the Novaya Opera. The first section was dedicated to French music, which the singer loves no less than Italian. In 2015, on the stage of the same theater, the singer performed as Mimi in the opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini, interpreted in a very original way by director Georgy Isaakyan.
With all her love for Italian and French opera, with all her success in this repertoire, Irina Lungu regrets that she does not have the opportunity to perform in Russian operas, since they are staged extremely rarely in Western theaters. One of her favorite Russian operas is “The Tsar’s Bride” by Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, in which she would like to perform the role of Martha, the singer also dreams of the role of Tatiana in “Eugene Onegin”.
An interview with Irina Lungu can be read here.
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