One of the most prolific composers, who delivered over 300 hits to Prima Donna, Philip Kirkorov, Linda, Masha Rasputina and many others, will turn 60 on March 17.
Vitaly Okorokov graduated from the conservatory, was a fan of Shostakovich and longed to write operas and symphonies. But the eighties and nineties made their own adjustments: in order to earn money, I had to write about two pieces of sausage (“Combination”), and about a suit from the needle (“Dune”), and about Grandmother Yaga (“Na-Na”) … K on the anniversary, the musician told Komsomolskaya Pravda what those times were, and what each of the artists remembered for him.
Valeria could sing instead of Apina, and “Russian Madonna” was sculpted from Linda
Alena Apina has repeatedly admitted that she got into the “Combination” by a lucky chance when she ran into school love Vitaly Okorokov in the corridor of the Saratov Conservatory. He, one of the founders of the girl group, urgently needed a second soloist: he called Apina, she agreed.
Vitaly Okorokov and Alena Apina
– Although, in fact, Alla Perfilova could sing in the “Combination”, she singer Valeria, – the star composer shares. – She then worked at a local restaurant, and I suggested: “Alla, let’s perform with us.” But having learned that she would have to sing together, she categorically refused: “I work only solo!”.
From the very bottom – collective farms and rural recreation centers – “kombinashki” made their way to the capital’s scenes with great difficulty.
– In the late eighties, they spent the night at the station in Moscow. And another time – seven of us in my aunt’s one-room apartment, – continues Vitaly Okorokov. “I was the only one who had a relative in the capital. Apina and Ivanova, like soloists, slept on the bed, and the rest – who is where: even lay down in the bathroom!
Soon Apina went on a solo voyage, and the composer began to write not only for the Combination. So, for example, it is he who owns Linda’s first song.
Lev Geiman and singer Linda
– Her father, a banker Lev Geiman, a very rich man gave money to the producer Aizenshpisto make a star out of my daughter, – says the author. – They invited all the most famous composers to the bride: Vladimir Matetsky, Igor Nikolaev, Arkady Ukupnik and me at the same time. We brought all our demos, dad listened, it turns out: “Who wrote Non-Stop here? Let’s take this song.” Apparently, I definitely hit the target: a wealthy father wanted to make a “Russian Madonna” out of his daughter. And at first, until she met Max Fadeev, Linda copied her entirely.
Night rendezvous with Pugacheva
For Alla Pugacheva the composer in the early nineties wrote the song “Christian” to the verses of Alexander Shaganov. But instead of gratitude, he received an insult: the prima donna called him an eccentric with the letter M.
– I got a difficult size for execution there. And when Pugacheva entered the studio, singing “Christian”, she burst out: “Yes, what m … wrote this song ?!”, Okorokov recalls. – At that moment I stood on the sidelines: “Alla Borisovna, it’s me …”
But the most striking case from the biography of the Prima Donna, to which the composer had a hand, was the acquaintance of a star with an aspiring singer from the province Sergei Chelobanov:
– How he got to Pugacheva is a very funny story. Imagine the beginning of the nineties: Chelobanov has a wife, two small children, a rented apartment. He works as an arranger at Ukupnik’s studio. Arkasha was already friends with Pugacheva then, he was well received into the house. And one day I asked him: “Show Chelobanov to Pugacheva. He has interesting songs, a voice.” So he handed her the cassette.
Two weeks pass. And suddenly Alla calls Ukupnik at two in the morning:
– What’s the cassette? Who is singing this? A hoarse voice…
– Oh, so this is Seryozhka Chelobanov.
– I want to see him. No, not tomorrow – right now!
Ukupnik rushes to Chelobanov, wakes everyone up: “Hurry, Seryoga, Pugachikha wants to see you urgently!” That half-awake grabs one shoe and one sneaker – so in different shoes he went to get acquainted.
– Any other musician from the threshold would have scattered in compliments: “Alla Borisovna, what an honor. What did you want?” But Chelobanov enters, Alla to him – “Hello.” And he answered her: “Hello. What did you call? What problems?”, Vitaly Okorokov is still amazed. – She opened her mouth like that and said: “Arkasha, that’s it for now. You can go.” So Seryoga stayed with her. It seems to me that Pugacheva was madly in love with him. And he didn’t even call her by name – all the time for some reason Mashka, Mashka …
And besides, the favorite had a criminal record: foolishly stole a synthesizer, rewound the term.
– When Alla was called on a tour to Holland, she wanted to go only with Chelobanov. It was then that it turned out that he did not have a foreign passport, or even an ordinary Russian passport – only a certificate of release, says the composer. What is Pugacheva doing? One day he flies to the town of Balakovo, where Seryoga was registered, with his foot he opens the door to the mayor, back and forth. In a few hours I received all the documents up to the foreigner. In Balakovo, this visit is still remembered as if aliens had landed in the city!
Kirkorov was looking for fans at McDonald’s
The composer met the future pop king in the late eighties: both are young, their whole lives are ahead of them. Kirkorov was already famous, but not yet a superstar.
Vitaly Okorokov (left) and Philip Kirkorov
– We met on a cruise from “Morning Mail”, Philip himself approached: “Are you the composer of “Combinations”? Write me a song like” American boy, “says Okorokov. – And I wrote him a catchy song” Mitrofan “, then a serious ballad” There were six of us. “We worked closely: Kirkorov performed a dozen of my compositions.
Even then, Philip was a big fan of fast food and once asked: “Take me to McDonald’s” – he was then still located not on Tverskaya, but at the Central Telegraph. And so we scored everything, we sit and eat. And suddenly he asks:
“Look, is anyone looking at me?” Do you think they will know? Count how many there are.
– Well, yes, the girls are watching. Well, five or six are exactly whispering.
– Well, okay. Not enough yet, not enough. Well, nothing, the time will come and the whole McDonald’s will break when I come in!
Philip looked into the water: the cafe on Tverskaya seemed to have been specially built for him.
Antonov – Fisted, and Rasputina – tyrant
The composer received his biggest fee for the musical “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro” – then he built a house and updated the car park. But in show business there were no generous gifts: most stars count every penny.
“We had a case with Alexander Serov,” continues Vitaly Okorokov. – He sang hits all his life Cool, and in the late nineties, I suddenly decided to perform my song “Damned”. Cool then even offended. Although it’s just right for me to be offended: the singer forgot to pay the standard fee of 2000-3000 dollars. I got only praise from him: “It’s so cool – Serov sings you! Yes, and on the “Song of the Year”!
And the “patriarch of the stage” Yuri Antonovwho always earned an order of magnitude higher than his colleagues, at one time decided to save on “Combination”.
Yuri Antonov
– 1991, Antonov is going to America on a big tour. And he needed a team with which he could play two parts, – recalls the star composer. – Someone suggested “Combination”. I came to Yuri Mikhailovich’s house, he listened: “Cool, good girls! Only a little expensive. Can I take two instead of five?” In the end, he refused, that’s how tight-fisted he is.
Do not overpay the composer and actresses with a broad Russian soul.
– Vika Tsyganova and Masha Rasputina are such dictators! the author admits. “They have their own opinion on everything, they don’t listen to anyone. As a composer, I tried to advise them: here it is necessary to sing like this, here it is like that. But these women are not spoiled. “So, composer, did you write the notes? Did you get money? Go to the restaurant and mark the song!” – Masha Rasputina once kicked me out of the studio.
By the way
“Buhgalter” conquered Hollywood
The hit about the accountant, which Okorokov wrote together with Apina, became the first Russian-language soundtrack for a Hollywood film: the action movie Nobody was released on the big screens last year and even headed the box office in America for two weeks.
“They paid me about 10-15 thousand dollars for copyright, and as it turned out, I sold cheap,” says the composer. – Although in fact, to see myself in the credits of a Hollywood film, I would have paid myself!
Did you know…
“American boy” is not the same anymore
“At first, we didn’t succeed with this song,” the composer recalls. – The chorus was stupid:
“Take me to America
take me with you,
Otherwise I’m hysterical
I’ll go to Urengoy!”
And suddenly Apina says to me: “What the hell is Urengoy? Here in “Russian girls” we did the chorus in English – let’s repeat it. I immediately rhymed: the fight is with you, everything went from that …