Igor Nikolaev is a Russian composer, poet and singer. His musical career began in one of the restaurants of his native Sakhalin. He gained popularity after moving to Moscow, when his song "Old Mill" became a hit in 1986.
Biography: early years
Igor Yurievich Nikolaev was born on January 17, 1960 in the city of Kholmsk, on the southwestern coast of Sakhalin Island. His childhood and youth passed there. Father, Yuri Nikolaev, at that time was already a rather famous poet in the Far East. The second assistant to the captain on the ship, he wrote poetry mainly about the sea and the nature of Sakhalin. He was a member of the Union of Journalists, and later of the Union of Writers of the USSR. Igor Nikolaev's mother worked in accounting.
From an early age, the father instilled in his son a love of poetry. Igor at school tried to compose poetry. Soon, parents noticed that his son was interested not only in poetry, but also in music. At the age of seven he was brought to a music school, where he began to master the violin. Unlike other boys, after school, Nikolaev was in a hurry not to a football field, but to go home to hone his violin playing technique once again. However, Igor did not have a relationship with this tool. After school, he abandoned it and began to master the piano.
After graduating from the eight-year-old, Nikolaev entered the local music school. He was then 14 years old, but by then he had already composed several tunes. In the summer holidays, Igor began to earn money as a musician in the restaurants of Sakhalin.
Soon, a group of composers from Moscow arrived on the island with tours. Nikolaev decided to show one of them, Igor Yakushenko, his most successful tune in his opinion. A month later, Igor received a letter from the capital. In it, he saw the very melody that was modified by Yakushenko. The composer discerned talent in Igor and showed his notes to his colleague Sergey Balasanyan. Soon, an invitation came to Nikolaev in the "Merzlyakovka" - music school at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Then Igor was only 15 years old. Despite this, the parents decided to let the young son go to Moscow.
After graduating from college, Nikolaev did not want to continue his studies at the conservatory. He became interested in not classical, but pop music. Teachers and classmates did not approve of his hobby. However, Nikolaev firmly decided to enter another university. In 1977, he became a student in the pop department of the Moscow Institute of Culture. Nikolaev fell into the class of composer and jazz musician Igor Bril.
Career
In parallel with his studies at the institute, Nikolaev acts as a musician with various artists. So, in 1979, he worked with singer Irina Brzhevskaya.
In 1980, Igor graduated from the institute. Speaking at the same concert with Alla Pugacheva, Nikolaev dared to offer her his candidacy for the role of musician in her Recital collective. Then she already gained all-Union fame and successfully toured. Pugacheva invited Igor to audition. The singer and its director Evgeny Boldin liked the game of Nikolaev. They took him to their team for the role of keyboard player and arranger.
At the same time, Igor met a family of songwriters Mikhail Tanich and Tatyana Kozlova. He often went to their apartment, where they tried to write poetry together. After some time, their joint songs will begin to be performed by popular artists. So, in 1983, Alla Pugacheva took the stage with the already legendary Iceberg, and the audience enthusiastically accepted the song. Nikolaev was the author of music, and poetry was written by Tatyana Kozlova.
The next song was “Tell the birds.” Pugacheva performed it in the same year. Nikolaev wrote not only music, but also poetry.
At the end of 1983, Igor went to serve in the army, where he continued to compose songs. During this period, he wrote a series of poems for the first solo album of Alexander Kalyanov.
After the army, Nikolaev composes songs with a vengeance. In 1985, in collaboration with Nikolai Zinoviev, he wrote the song "Ferryman", which was performed by Pugacheva. And after her, but already in tandem with Mikhail Tanich, he introduced the famous Komarovo. This song was first performed by Igor Sklyar.
In 1986, Nikolaev begins his solo career with the song "The Old Mill". In the same year, Pugacheva’s eighth album, Happiness in Personal Life, was released, which consisted entirely of Igor’s compositions. In addition to “Ferryman”, it included such songs as:
- “Sorry, believe me”;
- "A hundred friends";
- "Ballet";
- "Balalaika";
- "Glass flowers";
- "Two stars";
- "Wishing happiness in my personal life."
A year later, Nikolaev's debut solo album was released. It was called the Mill.
Igor’s songs began to be popular not only among the audience, but also among the performers themselves. They literally lined up for new compositions of Nikolaev. In the 90s, Igor wrote a lot of songs for Irina Allegrova, Philip Kirkorov, Natasha Koroleva, Diana Gurtskaya, etc.
In zero, Nikolaev continues to write hits. In 2001, he recorded Five Reasons. The song for a long time kept on the top line of the charts of the country.
Awards
Igor Nikolaev has a lot of awards and titles, among which are:
- “Honored Artist of the Russian Federation”;
- multiple winner of the Ovation Award;
- "The best composer of 2002";
- Order of Serving the Arts;
- a star on the alley of the 850th anniversary of Moscow park;
- Prize winner I. Dunaevsky for his great contribution to the development of the song.
