Mikhail Gorbachev

Biography >> Cold War

Mikhail Gorbachev

• Occupation: Leader of the Soviet Union
• Born: March 2, 1931
• Best known for: Bringing reform to the Soviet Union and helping to end the Cold War.
• Nickname: The Marked One

Biography:

Mikhail Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union before it dissolved in 1991. He brought many reforms to the Soviet Union including new freedoms which eventually led to many countries breaking away from the union claiming independence. His relationships with western leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher helped bring an end to the Cold War.

Where did Mikhail grow up?

Mikhail was born in Stavropol, Russia on March 2, 1931. His parents both worked in agriculture. Mikhail also worked in agriculture while attending school. His childhood was filled with difficult events. In 1933 a famine swept through much of Russia. Two of his sisters and an uncle died during the famine. In 1937 his grandfather was arrested for supporting the followers of Leon Trotsky. Later, in 1942, his town was occupied by the Germans in World War II.

In 1950 Mikhail went to Moscow University where he received a degree in law. He also met his wife Raisa Titorenko there and joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).

Rising in the Communist Party

After graduating in 1955, Gorbachev first worked as a member of the Communist Youth Organization. He became the leader of the division in Stavropol. In 1961 he was selected to be the delegate for Stavropol at the 22nd Communist Party Congress in Moscow.

Over the next several years Gorbachev became a leader in the Communist Party. First, in 1970, he became First Secretary for the entire Stavropol territory. Then, 1971, he moved to Moscow as the Secretary of Agriculture.

Mikhail quickly became a force in Moscow gaining influence with such powerful leaders as Yuri Andropov (KGB leader who later became leader of the Soviet Union). In 1980 Gorbachev was selected to be a member of the Politburo, the most powerful group in the Communist Party. He was the youngest member of the Politburo.

Becoming the Leader of the Soviet Union

Within a few short years, Gorbachev gained considerable influence on the Politburo. After two aging leaders died in 1984 and 1985, the Communist Party wanted someone young and healthy to take over as leader. On March 11, 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Soviet Union.

When Gorbachev took over as leader, the Soviet economy was struggling. He wanted to reform the economy as well as the government. In order to do this he needed support, so he began to replace some of the older members of the politburo with younger men who shared his vision.

Glasnost and Perestroika

Gorbachev announced two main areas of reform. He called them Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost called for increased openness in government. It also allowed for some freedom of speech and less censorship. Perestroika was a restructuring of the economy and industry. It allowed for some private ownership and economic reforms to try and improve the Soviet economy.

Peace with the West

Gorbachev also made attempts to end the Cold War and improve relations with the west. He met with US President Ronald Reagan and signed the INF treaty regarding nuclear weapons. He also removed Soviet troops from Afghanistan ending the Soviet Afghanistan War.

Gorbachev and Reagan signing the INF treaty

Gorbachev also indicated that the Soviet Union would no longer interfere with other countries in Eastern Europe. This caused a major change in the world. Without the fear of the Soviet Union, countries such as Eastern Germany, Poland, and Hungary got rid of their communist governments. In 1989 the Berlin Wall in Germany was torn down.

1991 Coup Attempt

In August of 1991, communist "hardliners" who didn't agree with Gorbachev's reforms tried to take over the government. They kidnapped Gorbachev and said he was sick and couldn't rule. Soon protests grew and Gorbachev was set free, but the damage to the government had been done.

Collapse of the Soviet Union

Although Gorbachev's reforms allowed for more freedom, many states used this freedom to protest and eventually claim independence from the Soviet Union. By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union had collapsed. On December 25, 1991 Gorbachev resigned as leader of the Soviet Union and the Union was split into 15 separate countries.

Later Activities

Since resigning Gorbachev has remain involved in politics. He started new political parties in Russia and even ran for president in 1996 (he didn't win). Recently he has criticized the rule of President Vladimir Putin.

Interesting Facts About Gorbachev

• He was heavily influenced by his grandfather who taught him about Marxism and Lenin.
• He had one child, a daughter named Irina.
• Gorbachev has received many awards for his work including the St. Andrew Award from Russia, the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, the Indira Gandhi Prize, and the Nobel Peace Prize (1990).
• He has a large birth mark on his forehead which led to the nickname "The Marked Man".
• He was in a Pizza Hut commercial in 1997 with his granddaughter Anastasia.
• He once said "If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven't done much today."
•  http://www.ducksters.com/biography/world_leaders/mikhail_gorbachev.php

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Biography of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov  

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (Russian: Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков, Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov), also Nikolay, Nicolai, and Rimsky-Korsakoff, (March 6 (N.S. March 18), 1844 – June 8 (N.S. June 21) 1908) was a Russian composer, the best known of five Russian composers known as The Five, and was later a teacher of harmony and orchestration. He is particularly noted for a predilection for folk and fairy-tale subjects, and for his extraordinary skill in orchestration, which may have been influenced by his synesthesia.

Born at Tikhvin, 200 km east of St. Petersburg, into an aristocratic family, Rimsky-Korsakov showed musical ability from an early age, but studied at the Russian Imperial Naval College in St. Petersburg and subsequently joined the Russian Navy. It was only when he met Mily Balakirev in 1861 that he began to concentrate more seriously on music. Balakirev encouraged him to compose and taught him when he was not at sea. (A fictionalized episode of Rimsky-Korsakov's navy service forms the plot of the motion picture Song of Scheherazade (1947), the musical score adapted by Miklós Rózsa.) Through Balakirev he also met the other composers of the group that were to become known as "The Mighty Handful" (better known in English-speaking countries as "The Five"). While in the navy (partly on a world cruise), Rimsky-Korsakov completed his first symphony (1861-1865). This is sometimes claimed to be the first symphony by a Russian, but Anton Rubinstein composed his own first symphony in 1850. Before resigning his commission in 1873, Rimsky-Korsakov also completed the first version of his well known orchestral piece Sadko (1867) and the opera The Maid of Pskov (1872). These three are among several early works which the composer revised later in life.

In 1871, despite being largely group- and self-educated within The Five rather than being conservatory-trained, Rimsky-Korsakov became professor of composition and orchestration at the St Petersburg Conservatory. The next year he married Nadezhda Nikolayevna Purgol'd (1848-1919), who was also a pianist and composer. During his first few years at the Conservatory, Rimsky-Korsakov assiduously studied harmony and counterpoint in order to make up for the lack of such thorough training during his years with The Five.

In 1883 Rimsky-Korsakov worked under Balakirev in the Court Chapel as a deputy. This post gave him the chance to study Russian Orthodox church music. He worked there until 1894. He also became a conductor, leading symphony concerts sponsored by Mitrofan Belyayev (M. P. Belaieff), as well as some programs abroad.

In 1905 Rimsky-Korsakov was removed from his professorship in St Petersburg owing to his expressing some political views of which the authorities disapproved. This sparked a series of resignations by his fellow faculty members, and he was eventually reinstated. The political controversy continued with his opera The Golden Cockerel (Le Coq d'Or) (1906-1907), whose implied criticism of monarchy upset the censors to the point that the premiere was delayed until 1909, after the composer's death.

Towards the end of his life, Rimsky-Korsakov suffered from angina. He died in Lyubensk in 1908, and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. His widow Nadezhda spent the rest of her life preserving the composer's legacy.

The Rimsky-Korsakovs had seven children: Mikhail (b.1873), Sofia (b.1875), Andrey (1878-1940), Vladimir (b.1882), Nadezhda (b.1884), Margarita (1888-1893), and Slavchik (1889-1890). Their daughter Nadezhda married the Russian composer Maximilian Steinberg in 1908. Andrey was a musicologist who wrote a multi-volume study of his father's life and work, which included a chapter devoted to his mother, Nadezhda. A nephew, Georgy Mikhaylovich Rimsky-Korsakov (1901-1965), was also a composer.


Legacy

In his decades at the Conservatory Rimsky-Korsakov taught many composers who would later find fame, including Alexander Glazunov, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, Ottorino Respighi, and Artur Kapp.

Rimsky-Korsakov's legacy goes far beyond his compositions and his teaching career. His tireless efforts in editing the works of other members of The Five are significant, if controversial. These include the completion of Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor (with Alexander Glazunov), orchestration of passages from César Cui's William Ratcliff for the first production in 1869, and the complete orchestration of Alexander Dargomyzhsky's swansong, The Stone Guest. This effort was a practical extension of the fact that Rimsky-Korsakov's early works had been under the intense scrutiny of Balakirev and that the members of The Five during the 1860s and 1870s experienced each other's compositions-in-progress and even collaborated at times.

While the effort for his colleagues is laudable, it is not without its problems for musical reception. In particular, after the death of Modest Mussorgsky in 1881, Rimsky-Korsakov took on the task of revising and completing several of Mussorgsky's pieces for publication and performance. In some cases these versions helped to spread Mussorgsky's works to the West, but Rimsky-Korsakov has been accused of pedantry for "correcting" matters of harmony, etc., in the process. Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain is the version generally performed today. However, critical opinion of Mussorgsky has changed over time so that his style, once considered unpolished, is now valued for its originality. This has caused some of Rimsky-Korsakov's other revisions, such as that of Boris Godunov, to fall out of favour and be replaced by productions more faithful to Mussorgsky's original manuscripts.

Although his operas are seldom performed outside of Russia, the music has been widely performed and recorded through the orchestral suites that he compiled from the scores, particularly in the case of Mlada, Tsar Saltan, and Le Coq d'Or. The music of his last opera is remarkably modern for its time and the four-movement suite extracted from its score has enjoyed considerable popularity via concerts and recordings.

His autobiography and his books on harmony and orchestration have been translated into English and published, providing remarkable insights into his life and work.

 http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov

Zemfira Ramazanova

Show count:  93

Zemfira, officially Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova, Russian rock musician, she was born on August 26, 1976 in Ufa, Bashkortostan. She has been performing since 1998 and has been popular in Russia and other former Soviet republics.
An ethnic Bashkir, she was born in a middle-class family – her mother is a doctor, and her father is a history teacher. At the age of 4, Zemfira became interested in music, entering a music school the following year (where she studied piano performance and voice) and writing her first song when she was seven years old. Her older brother Ramil introduced her to rock music, which became her real passion – she listened to Black Sabbath, Nazareth and Queen, learning to play the guitar. In the 7th grade Zemfira split her time between music and basketball, becoming the captain of the Russian Girls’ Junior Basketball Team by 1990. She began to lose interest in classical music, preferring instead to hang out with friends in the streets of Ufa and covering songs by Russian rock groups such as Kino, Nautilus Pompilius and Aquarium (who reached the peak of their popularity in the early 1990s).
At the urging of her mother, Zemfira continued with piano studies and graduated music school with honors. In her last year of high school, basketball competed with school work, and the singer abandoned the sport in favour of music. She took the entrance exams for the Ufa College of Fine Arts and was admitted into the second year, studying vocal performance. During college, she performed jazz and rock and roll standards in various local bars and restaurants accompanied by her friend, saxophone player Vlad Kolchin. She graduated with honors, and in 1996 took a job as a sound engineer at the Ufa subsidiary of the radio station "Europe Plus".
For the next couple of years Zemfira spent her days making advertisement recordings at the station and her nights on a computer, where she recorded the songs that would later become the singles "Why" (Почему), "Snow" (Снег), and "Weatherman" (Синоптик). In early 1998, Zemfira invited Rinat Akhmadiyev, Sergei Sozinov, Sergei Mirolyubov, and Vadim Solovyov to join Zemfira. Their first professional gig took place on June 19, 1999 as part of a festival celebrating the anniversary of a local radio station Silver Rain Ufa. Shortly after Zemfira sent out promo tapes to multiple Moscow producers, one of whom (Ilya Lagutenko from Mumiy Troll) was smitten with the material, and invited the band for some sessions in Moscow.
On February 14 a collection of music videos was released. It contains all singer's clips, except AIDS and Traffic.
In May and June 2007, Zemfira embarked on a short concert tour titled 'Déjà Vu', with performances held in smaller venues (clubs and small theatres). The tour culminated with a Moscow performance at the Green Theatre which was filmed by Renata Litvinova. The tour program focused on stylish remakes of the singer's top hits, often reworked is styles such as jazz, ska, bossa nova, and blues. A new album, Thank You (Спасибо), was released at the beginning of October. It is described by Zemfira herself as 'very positive', in contrast to what she terms the 'restlessness' of Vendetta.
The final concert in support of Thank You was staged on April 1, 2008 at the Olimpiysky stadium in Moscow; some journalists considered it as the best performance in her career. Later in June Zemfira was awarded an independent Steppenwolf prize established by a musical critic Artemy Troitsky. She won in two categories: The Best Performance (for the Olimpiysky show) and The Best Album (Thank You).
In June 2010, Zemfira wrote on her official website: "vacation is over" and announced a mini-tour in support of a deluxe-edition of her first three albums (Zemfira, PMML and 14 Weeks of Silence). On August 1 she performed a set of 4 songs on the closing concert of a pop-music contest New Wave. It was her first performance since January 2009. The arrangements of this set were used in the mini-tour in September that included 5 cities: Saint-Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Minsk, Kiev and Moscow. Critics admitted that her old songs became more rhythmic and resembled demo-versions due to the new minimalistic style of arrangements. In October Zemfira took part in two tribute concerts "20 Years without KINO" in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg that were dedicated to the memory of Victor Tsoi. Her gig of four covers on Tsoi's songs was seen by some journalists as the most noticeable performance in the program.
On New Year's Eve 2011, the video version of two Moscow concerts staged in Crocus City Hall and Strelka Institute in September 2010 was broadcast on Dozhd' (Rain) TV channel. The video was directed by Renata Litvinova. Then the singer informed her fans that the release of her sixth album had moved to the fall 2011. The first single No Chance (Bez shansov) was presented on Nashe Radio on April 15. During the next three months she gave three performances: on May 28 Zemfira took part in the international rock festival Maxidrom along with The Prodigy, Adam Lambert, Korn, Brainstorm and other artists; then she became a Russian headliner of a Muz-TV Awards ceremony show at Olimpiysky stadium on June 3; on July 23 Zemfira performed at the Afisha Picnic outdoor festival in Moscow as the Russian headliner of the main stage. During that gig she presented a new song called "Money".
Reference:  http://ufacity.info/eng/history/people/127294.html

Sergei Bodrov Film Director

Mongol director Sergei Bodrov on navigating the perilous Hollywood battlefield

Just over a decade ago, Russian director Sergei Bodrov made his mark on the West with his Academy Award-nominated movie Prisoner of the Mountains, which transplanted a Tolstoy novella for children to Russia's war with Chechnya. Though Prisoner seemed an unlikely calling card for Hollywood, its blend of commercial technique and humanistic storytelling swept Bodrov onto the studio radar — which brought him nothing but aggravation. The Quickie (2000), a mob thriller he co-wrote and produced starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, went straight to DVD. The family horse movie Running Free (2000) suffered running interference at every level and ended up inviting snorting comparisons to Mr. Ed. And in 2005, Bodrov walked onto the troubled set of Nomad: The Warrior, after the original director, Ivan Passer, ran out of money.
In response to all that — and to the tragic death in an avalanche of his son Sergei Bodrov Jr., a star of Russian television who had made his film debut in Prisoner — Bodrov did the smart thing. He quit being a director for hire and made the movie he wanted to make. "My life changed," says Bodrov, sprawled on a couch at the Beverly Wilshire in L.A., looking exhausted from months of promotional globetrotting for his latest film, Mongol. "I wanted to go away, and to be busy."
A two-hour epic that rewrites the life of Genghis Khan from boyhood to his forging of a Mongolian Empire out of warring tribal clans in the 12th century, Mongol was planned as the second in a trilogy following Nomad, which Bodrov, who completed the film, now dryly calls "a learning experience." But Mongol, which was shot in Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan, stands alone as a terrific picture furnished with gorgeous scenery, visceral battle scenes worthy of an Asian action picture, a passionate love story complicated by a male-buddy scenario, furry costumes to die for, and a score fortified with music from a Mongolian folk-rock band. In other words, the movie, which brought Bodrov a second Oscar nomination earlier this year, is well placed to hit all four demographic quadrants and make a splashy swan song for departing distributor Picturehouse.

Mongol director Sergei Bodrov and Mongolian actress Khulan Chuluun

Trained by Andrei Tarkovsky, Bodrov cut his teeth as a screenwriter and director making sardonic, semi-experimental critiques of Russia under Communism. (His early film The Non-Professionals, which features a cow, a scruffy rock band touring the Kazakh outback, and an old-age home for worn-out lady Communists, is a must-see.) But Bodrov has powerful commercial instincts, a screenwriter's practiced funny bone, and a maverick's suspicion of official stories. Indeed, Mongol is nothing less than a revisionist biopic, if revisionist is the word for a man about whom next to nothing is definitively documented. "His history was written by his enemies," says the director, who never quite believed the tales of brutality he grew up on in Russia, which was occupied by the Mongols for 200 years.     To read more:http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-06-19/film/warrior-king/

Sergei Bodrov Jnr

Sergei Bodrov's Biography

Sergei Bodrov Jr. (Russian: Серге́й Серге́евич Бодро́в; December 27, 1971 – September 20, 2002) was a Russian actor who had lead roles in the movies Brother, Prisoner of the Mountains, The Stringer and Brother 2. He was the son of the Russian playwright, actor, director and producer Sergei Bodrov. He was killed in the Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide after finishing the second day of shooting of his film The Messenger.

Biography Childhood Sergey Bodrov was born on December 27, 1971 in Moscow. His father is a famous film director, Sergey Bodrov, and his mother Valentina Nikolaevna is a fine art expert. Sergey Bodrov Jr. considered

that "childhood is the most important time in life." and what you'll become happens in the first sixteen years". Different publications say that Bodrov wanted to become a garbageman and drive an orange car.

Bodrov wrote "Composition on the topic: eight events which influenced me or how I became a good person" about the years of his youth and events which changed his view of the world.
Education Sergey Bodrov attended the specialized French language school № 1265. He was the banner-bearer in school.
Bodrov wanted to enter the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, but his father explained to him that "cinema is a passion and if you don't have it you should wait for it or forget about it". Between 1989 and 1993, Bodrov Jr. studied art history at the History Department of Moscow State University. He graduated with Honors and began postgraduate studies. In his own words, at the university he "learned to see the beauty in simple things around us". While already a famous actor, he completed his graduate thesis entitled "Architecture in the Venetian Renaissance painting" in 1998 and received the Candidate of Science degree, equivalent to Western Ph. D. 

From 1991, for three consequtive summers he went to Italy.  

To study art, at the same time working as a lifeguard at local beaches to support his travels all around the country. When he was asked if the education was useful in his life or not, he answered:
Of course. So you come to any city. What do you usually know about it? That there are central square, some shops... And I know there is a painting in one of the museums and you can spend the whole day in front of it. And this one day is added to your life.
Cinema First roles Sergey's first role was in his father's movie Freedom is Paradise in 1989. He appeared on screen only for a few minutes, playing a minor lawbreaker waiting for a decision concerning his destiny. During his university days, he also had a bit role of an usher's courier who was bringing mail to the hotel in the movie White King, Red Queen (1992).
Prisoner of the Mountains In 1995, his father was going to move to Dagestan where his movie Prisoner of the Mountains was to be filmed. Bodrov asked to go with him and was ready to do whatever he could to help. Instead, he became one of the featured actors, playing conscript soldier Vanya Jilin. His partner was Oleg Menshikov, who played contract soldier Alexey Ryapolov. Bodrov got an award for best  actor jointly with Menshikov at the Kinotavr cinema festival in Sochi.

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Bodrov himself did not claim to be an actor:
I always say everywhere: I'm not an actor, I'm not an actor, I'm not an actor. And I hear: "No, you're an actor". An actor is a quite a different thing. It's a different person, another constitution. A role is not a profession for me. It's an action.
View From October 1996 to August 1999, Bodrov was a host of the show View (Vzglyad) on Channel One. He said that he left the show feeling it had given him a good schooling:
I've got acquainted with so many people, I've heard so many stories, I've read so many letters - it's impossible on any other job. It had a very positive impulse. Help two or three people and the telecast exists not in vain. But it's necessary to do it responsibly.
In 1997, Sergey married Svetlana Mihailova (the author of the projects "Sharks of plume" and "Canon"). In 1998, their daughter Olga was born, followed in 2002 by a son, Alexandr.
Brother During a cinema festival in Sochi in 1996, Sergey Bodrov became acquainted with stage manager Aleksei Balabanov, who invited him to

studio STV. Just in this studio, the movie Brother was shot and released in 1997. Sergey was a featured actor, playing Danila Bagrov. The mass media criticized the movie. It was accused of fascism and racism and even of Russophobia (as a movie which was made for foreign audiences). Bodrov himself viewed his character in the following way:
I know that Danila is often blamed for being primitive, simple and inarticulate. In part, I agree with that. But I have a metaphor regarding him in my mind: I imagine people in primitive chaos, who sit before the fire in their caves and do not understand anything in their life except for the responsibility to eat and to breed. And suddenly one of them stands up and says very simple words that it is necessary to stand up for their friends, to respect women, to stand up for one's brother.
The music to the movie was composed by the famous Russian rock band Nautilus Pompilius, of which Sergey admitted to being an admirer himself.
Despite some controversy, the movie received critical acclaim and the award at the movie festival in Sochi, a Special Jury Award and the FIPRESCI Award at an international festival in Turin, the awards in Cottbus, and the Grand Prix in Trieste. Bodrov received the

award for Best Actor at the movie festivals in Sochi and Chicago and got the "Golden Aries" prize.
The movie was regarded by many as culturally significant and for many of the younger generation, Bodrov's character Danila Bagrov became a hero and a role model
To read more click on   http://sergei-bodrov.journal-of-life.com/#!biographies

Irina Allegrova

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Irina Allegrova
Background information
Birth name	Ирина Александровна Аллегрова (Irina Alexandrovna Allegrova)
Born	January 20, 1952 (age 61)
Origin	Rostov-on-Don, Soviet Union
Occupations	Singer

Irina Aleksandrovna Allegrova (Russian: Ирина Александровна Аллегрова; born January 20, 1952) is a Russian singer of Russian and Armenian descent.

Biography

Irina Allegrova

Irina Allegrova was born in Rostov-on-Don in 1952. Her Armenian father Alexander Sarkisov took the last name Allegrov as a pseudonym when he was just 17 and Irina was born under the name Allegrova. Her Russian mother was Serafima Sosnovskaya. Irina was brought up in a theatrical family with famous people who frequented their house and impressed the young girl. Irina spent her early life in Baku, Azerbaijan where she studied piano and ballet. Irina gave birth to one daughter, Lala, at a young age. She left Lala with her parents and moved to Moscow to become a singer at the age of 22.

In the middle of 1980s, Irina met Oscar Feltsman, who gave her a chance at a solo career and wrote several songs for her. Then she became soloist in David Tukhmanov's band - Electroclub.

Irina's debut album "My Destined One - Suzheny/Wanderer - Strannik" was written and produced by her neighbor and friend Igor Nikolaev. The album, supported by the single "Wanderer" (1991–1992) became No.1 and stayed No.1 for nearly a full year.

Irina's next album was "Ugonschitsa" (1994–1995), which won a Russian Grammy (Ovatsiya) for Best Pop Female Star. She toured the United States after that album's release.

Irina began to work with Igor Krutoi, changed her hair to her natural brunette, got married, had a grandson, and bought a house on the outskirts ofMoscow. Irina and Krutoi released two albums together, "I will disperse the clouds with my hands" and "Un-ending Romance" (1996, 1998).

Irina divorced, released a healing-themed album called "Teatr" (Theater) (1999) and went on tour around the world.

In 2005, Irina began working exclusively with Aleksei Garnizov on "Po Lezviyu Lyubvi (On the razor's edge of love) trilogy". A new album was planned for release in late 2005.

Irina has since written three= novellas about love, and created an award ceremony where she and other stars give out the 'Golden Duck' to those journalists who made up the worst lies.

Irina Allegrova announced that March 2012 she will have her final concert featuring all her friends and will be ending her career. Everyone was shocked by this news because Russia is losing a legendary singer

Recordings

• Strannik (cassette/lp) = Suzheny (CD) (1991/1994 CD)
• Ugonschitsa (1995) - Car thief
• Ya Tuchi Razvedu Rukami (1996)
• Imperatritsa (1997) - Empress
• Nezakonchenny Roman (1998)
• Teatr (1999) - The theatre
• Vsyo Snachala (2000 version 1 & 2001 version 2)
• Po Lezviyu Lyubvi (2002 version 1 BLACK & 2003 version 2 RED)
• Popolam (2004)
• S Dnem Rojdeniya (2005) - Happy Birthday!
• Allegrova 2007 (2007)
• Exclusive edition (2010)
• Reference:http://hitchhikersgui.de/Irina_Allegrova

Nadia Comăneci

Nadia Comăneci,  (born November 12, 1961, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Romania), Romanian gymnast, the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event.

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Comăneci was discovered by Bela Karolyi, later the Romanian gymnastics coach, when she was six years old. She first competed in the national junior championships in 1969, placing 13th, and she won the competition in 1970. Her first international competition was in 1972 in a pre-Olympic junior meet for the communist-bloc countries in which she won three gold medals, and in 1973 and 1974 she was all-around junior champion. In her first international competition as a senior in 1975, she bested the Russian Lyudmila Turishcheva, the five-time European champion, winning four gold medals and one silver. She won the American Cup in New York City in 1976, becoming the first woman to perform a backward double salto as a dismount from the uneven parallel bars.

At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Comăneci received seven perfect scores and won the gold medals for the balance beam, the uneven bars, and the all-around individual competition. She won a silver medal as a member of her team and a bronze medal for the floor exercises. After the 1976 Games, she was named a Hero of Socialist Labour by her country. The song used to accompany her floor exercises was retitled “Nadia’s Theme (The Young and the Restless)” and became an international hit, earning a Grammy Award in 1977. She finished a disappointing fourth in the world championships in 1978, however, and was out of competition during most of 1979 with an infected hand. At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, she won gold medals for the beam and the floor exercises (tying for first in the latter event with Nelli Kim of the U.S.S.R.). She won a silver medal as a member of her team and tied with Maxi Gnauck of East Germany for second place in the all-around individual competition. She retired from competition in 1984.

Comăneci defected to the United States in 1989; she became a U.S. citizen in 2001. In 1996 she married American gymnast Bart Conner, with whom she works to promote gymnastics. She published an autobiography, Nadia (1981), and a book on mentoring, Letters to a Young Gymnast (2003).http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127253/Nadia-Comaneci