Sergey Lazarev
Encyclopedia
Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev (born 1 April 1983) is a singer, dancer and actor born in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. He is most famous for his singing career, when he rose to fame as the dark-haired member of the group Smash!!
Smash!!
Smash!! was a Russian pop duo founded in 2001 and consisting of Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov. They sang mainly in English, and released their music in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. They were most popular among teenagers in Russia and Southeast Asia...

. The group broke up in 2006. Since then Lazarev has pursued a solo career.

Early life and child stardom

From the age six to nine Sergey Lazarev went in for artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...

. Lazarev began his acting and singing career before the age of 10, singing in the Lokteus Children Choir. At the age of 14, he had already received his first musical award, won several children's song contests, and ended up as a member of child group Neposedi
Neposedi
Neposedi is a children's music group formed in Moscow, Russia in 1991 by Elena Pindzhoyan and Yuri Nikolaev. The title refers to children who are unable to sit indifferently in the same place; who are fidgety....

 (Непоседы), the same group in which Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina
Lena Katina
Elena Sergeevna Katina , born October 4, 1984, better known as Lena Katina, is a Russian singer and songwriter who is best known for her work with Russian duo t.A.T.u. She started her career at the age of eight, joining the Russian children's act Avenue, then not long after Neposedi...

 of t.A.T.u met each other. Also his friend Vlad Topalov (Влад Топалов) joined the group, who later would become the other half of the group Smash!!.

When he was eleven, he sang in the Pokrovsky Theatre, had parts in many plays. In 1995, at the age of 12, Sergey entered the fidgets band, the same year he won the TV contest of children's gold key. As a part of the fidgets group Sergey took part in famous Russian TV programs and contests, such as "Guess the Tune", "Grasp Me", "The Morning Star", "Look Out", "The Blue Light" and "The Slaconic Bazaar". In September 1996 Sergey won the first prize at the contest Bravo Bravissimo in Italy. The same year he sang with the president orchestra led by P. Ovsyannikov.

Acting

In 2000, Sergey entered Moscow's famous Mkhat Theatre School and graduated in 2004 as a professional actor. In 1999 Sergey entered the Russian leading dramatic Institute, the school-studio MAAT, and graduated from in with honors in 2003. As a student, Sergey played the main parts in Pushkinski Theatre's productions of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

, and Karamazov. For his role as Romeo, he was nominated for a "Seagull" dramatic debut award for the "Best Love Scene".

In 2005 he returned to the theatre scene. His part in the 2005 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

-style musical comedy Lend Me A Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End and Broadway . Although it received seven Tony Award nominations, it won only one, for Best Actor. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in...

 brought him five professional theater awards, making the play the biggest success of the 2005 theatre season.

Smash!!

In 2001 Sergey and Vlad Topalov started the boy band Smash!!
Smash!!
Smash!! was a Russian pop duo founded in 2001 and consisting of Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov. They sang mainly in English, and released their music in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. They were most popular among teenagers in Russia and Southeast Asia...

. Shortly after they were signed by Universal Music Records in Russia and were one of the biggest Russian pop groups in 2002–2003. The duo had five #1 hits, numerous awards and sold millions of records in Russia, CIS
CIS
CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of eleven former Soviet Union republics.The acronym CIS may also refer to:-Organizations:...

 and East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

 (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand) during their brief career as a group.

At the beginning of 2002 the duo shot their first video clip for the song "Should Have Loved You More". That August Smash!!
Smash!!
Smash!! was a Russian pop duo founded in 2001 and consisting of Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov. They sang mainly in English, and released their music in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. They were most popular among teenagers in Russia and Southeast Asia...

 won the 'New Wave' contest in Jūrmala
Jurmala
Jūrmala is a city in Latvia, about 25 kilometers west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River...

 and in October 2002 Smash!! released their first single "Belle". The video for "Belle" topped MTV Russia
MTV Russia
MTV Russia is a Russian language free-to-air 24 hour entertainment and music service seen in 22 million households in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Omsk, Voronezh, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, among other cities.-History:...

's chart for 6 months and entered the list of top 20 clips of the past five years. The story behind this song tells about the formation of the duo Smash!!, apparently Vlad and Sergey rehearsed the song as a birthday present to Vlad's father, but after he heard the song he immediately told all his friends and ended up on the radio as one of his friends started playing at a local station.

In February 2003 the band finally released their debut album, Freeway. Over a million discs were sold in Russia and other nations in the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....

. Smash!! subsequently toured Russia throughout 2003.

The following year Freeway was released in East Asian countries including; Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. The release of the album was followed by the promotional tour in the South-Eastern Asia, during which the band shot a video clip for the cover-version of George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

's song "Faith
Faith (George Michael song)
"Faith" is a #1 song, written and performed by George Michael, released as a single on Columbia Records, from his 1987 Faith album. According to Billboard magazine, it was the top-selling single of the year in the United States in 1988....

" in Shanghai.

In May 2004 Smash!!
Smash!!
Smash!! was a Russian pop duo founded in 2001 and consisting of Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov. They sang mainly in English, and released their music in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. They were most popular among teenagers in Russia and Southeast Asia...

 in cooperation with the Italian band Earphones recorded the song "Obsession". When the song entered the radio rotation, it immediately gained the top of hit parades and became the top summer hit 2004. That year Smash!!
Smash!!
Smash!! was a Russian pop duo founded in 2001 and consisting of Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov. They sang mainly in English, and released their music in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. They were most popular among teenagers in Russia and Southeast Asia...

 received the award of the MTV Russian Music Awards
MTV Russian Music Awards
The MTV Russia Music Awards made its debut in 2004 and have celebrated local Russian talent as well as International. The MTV Russia Music Awards features local and international acts and music celebrities being honoured by Russian viewers.-Host Cities:...

 (RMA in short) 2004 as the pop-project of the year, and the award of the sound-track as the band of the year.

On December 1, 2004 Smash!!
Smash!!
Smash!! was a Russian pop duo founded in 2001 and consisting of Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov. They sang mainly in English, and released their music in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. They were most popular among teenagers in Russia and Southeast Asia...

 released the second album, 2Nite. The band split up only one week after the release, resulting both Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov pursuing solo careers.

Solo career

Together with British producer Brian Rawling, Sergey recorded most of the songs for his solo debut Don't Be Fake
Don't Be Fake
Don't Be Fake is the debut solo album by Russian pop star Sergey Lazarev.Formally in boyband duo Smash!!, Sergey and Vlad Topalov dominated Eastern Europe with their albums which reached platinum success....

 that was released in November 2005 and sold more than 300,000 copies in Russia alone. In May 2006 Sergey received Russia's national Music TV Channel's MUZ TV award as Best New Act. The fourth single from the album "Fake" was released to clubs in the UK, debuting on July 30 at #28 on the commercial club chart in Music Week.

Don't be Fakes first two singles, "Eye Of The Storm" and "Lost Without Your Love", were soon released. The video clips of these singles were shot in Miami and South Africa, respectively.

The third single "Daje Esli Ty Uydiosh (Даже Если Ты Уйдёшь)" ("Just Because You Walk Away" in English) became the biggest single from the album, peaking at #1 for many weeks, remaining on the charts for over six months, coming back to the charts twice more, and eventually reaching #2 in the annual airplay chart of most played songs in 2006. Due to the massive popularity of the song, the album was re-issued with bonus tracks including 3 versions of the song—the English version (which can be found on the first issue), the Russian version, and a dance remix also sung in Russian. Sergey also performed the song at the MTV Russia Awards. The single was written by U.S. songwriter Gordon Pogoda
Gordon Pogoda
Gordon Pogoda is an American composer, lyricist, and producer based in Los Angeles. In the past five years, he has signed publishing deals with EMI Music, Universal Music and Warner Chappell Music.- Biography :...

 and Australian writer/artist John Stephan.

The fourth single, "Fake", was plugged and the video clip was shot in London. Meanwhile the Fake Remixes EP was published. This was also promoted to some clubs in UK.

After the success of his first album, Sergey went to the studio and recorded a new Album TV Show The video for the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

, "Vspominay (Вспоминай)" was shot in Moscow. The English version of the song, "Everytime", was soon released along with the video clip, this one being similar to the Russian version.

Sergey did a cover of "Shattered Dreams
Shattered Dreams
In 2009, French singer Quentin Elias covered the song in a single released on-line at such retailers as iTunes and Amazon.com.Track listing# "Shattered Dreams" [Original Die For Me Mix]# "Shattered Dreams" [Deep & Dark Mix]...

", originally sung by Johnny Hates Jazz
Johnny Hates Jazz
Johnny Hates Jazz is an Anglo-American Pop/Rock band, formed in 1986 by Clark Datchler , Mike Nocito , and Calvin Hayes...

. This was the second single of the album and the first international single for Sergey. The video clip was said to be shot in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. In fact, a close examination of the video for the song reveals shots of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 landmarks (including Yonge-Dundas Square and the neon sign in front of the now closed-down Sam the Record Man
Sam the Record Man
Sam the Record Man was a Canadian record store chain that, at one time, was Canada's largest music recording retailer. In 1982, their ads proclaimed they had "140 locations, coast to coast"....

) and even a Toronto Transit Commission
Toronto Transit Commission
-Island Ferry:The ferry service to the Toronto Islands was operated by the TTC from 1927 until 1962, when it was transferred to the Metro Parks and Culture department. Since 1998, the ferry service is run by Toronto Parks and Recreation.-Gray Coach:...

 bus.

The same year, Sergey won the Best Male Singer singer in RMA 2006, defeating Dima Bilan
Dima Bilan
' is a Russian actor and pop singer . Bilan represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Never Let You Go", finishing second, and he won the contest in 2008 in Belgrade, with the song "Believe". He has had several Russian no. 1 hits....

. During the ceremony, Vlad and Sergey got together and sang "Belle" for the first time in years, ending the performance with a hug from the two former best friends.

TV Show (album)
TV Show (album)
TV Show is the second studio solo album by Russian singer Sergey Lazarev. The album was released in Russia on May 10, 2007 and features 12 English tracks, one Russian re-recording and 3 remixes which serve as bonus tracks for the album...

 was published in Europe in 2007. This was a theme-album talking about TV shows and reality by mostly love ballads. "Shattered Dreams" was in this album together with 11 other tracks, including "TV or Radio" his third single and "Girlfriend" his fourth single of this album. His single Shattered Dreams
Shattered Dreams
In 2009, French singer Quentin Elias covered the song in a single released on-line at such retailers as iTunes and Amazon.com.Track listing# "Shattered Dreams" [Original Die For Me Mix]# "Shattered Dreams" [Deep & Dark Mix]...

 was released in the UK later and currently available on some online music stores.

In 2008, he tried to represent Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. This year was the first contest to have two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the final held on 24 May 2008...

 with the song "Flyer", but came 4th place, losing to Russian pop star Dima Bilan
Dima Bilan
' is a Russian actor and pop singer . Bilan represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Never Let You Go", finishing second, and he won the contest in 2008 in Belgrade, with the song "Believe". He has had several Russian no. 1 hits....

.

He performed to full-capacity crowds at The Opera House in Bournemouth, England on 23 March 2008. He was supporting UK dance group Booty Luv
Booty Luv
Booty Luv also known as Cherise & Nadia are an English dance group formed in June 2006 via the Hed Kandi label. It is fronted by two R&B vocalists Cherise Roberts and Nadia Shepherd, both of whom were in the original line-up of the successful hip hop band Big Brovaz...

.

In 2008 Sergey won MTV's Artist of the Year Award. Consequently releasing the video of the Russian version of the song "Almost Sorry", (Зачем придумали любовь) this one being the fifth and last single of the album. Songwriters of the Russian version (Chris Landon, Taryn Murphy, Lara D'elia).

In 2009 Sergey collaborated with artist Timati and made a video of the song "Lazerboy". In April 2009 Sergey promoted "Stereo", the lead single for his third solo album and sang "Already Know" and "Out of Control". All four songs were expected to appear on his upcoming album, but only "Lazerboy" made the cut.

On 31 March 2010 Electric Touch was released in Russian music stores.

The video for "Alarm" was released on May 10.

On June 26 it was confirmed the song "Feeling High" was the new single from Electric Touch

Other appearances

In 2006 Sergey took part in Russia's "Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice (UK)
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...

", coming in 2nd. In 2008 he appeared in the reality "Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars was an annual television special, broadcast by the CBS network in the United States, in which celebrities performed circus-type acts. There were 19 shows in total, the first being broadcast in 1977 and the last in 1994. Over the years the series featured many leading movie and...

" winning the first place for his performance.

Albums

Year Title
2005 Don't Be Fake
Don't Be Fake
Don't Be Fake is the debut solo album by Russian pop star Sergey Lazarev.Formally in boyband duo Smash!!, Sergey and Vlad Topalov dominated Eastern Europe with their albums which reached platinum success....

2007 TV Show
TV Show (album)
TV Show is the second studio solo album by Russian singer Sergey Lazarev. The album was released in Russia on May 10, 2007 and features 12 English tracks, one Russian re-recording and 3 remixes which serve as bonus tracks for the album...

2008 London Club Remixes
2010 Electric Touch

Singles

Year Title Album
2005 "Eye of the Storm" Don't Be Fake
Don't Be Fake
Don't Be Fake is the debut solo album by Russian pop star Sergey Lazarev.Formally in boyband duo Smash!!, Sergey and Vlad Topalov dominated Eastern Europe with their albums which reached platinum success....

"Lost Without Your Love"
2006 "Just Because You Walk Away"
"Fake"
"Shattered Dreams" TV Show
TV Show (album)
TV Show is the second studio solo album by Russian singer Sergey Lazarev. The album was released in Russia on May 10, 2007 and features 12 English tracks, one Russian re-recording and 3 remixes which serve as bonus tracks for the album...

2007 "Everytime"
("Vspominay"/"Вспоминай")
"TV or Radio"
"Girlfriend"
"Almost Sorry"
("Zachem pridumali lyubov"/"Зачем придумали любовь")
2008 "The Flyer" London Club Remixes
"Lazerboy"(featuring Timati
Timati
Timur Ildarovich Yunusov , better known by his stage name Timati , is an Russian rapper and actor.-Early life:Timur Ildarovich Yunusov was born on August 15, 1983 in Moscow, Soviet Union to an ethnically mixed family of Tatar father Ildar Yunusov and Jewish mother Simona Yunusova , he also has a...

)
Electric Touch
2009 "Stereo"
"Naydi menya" ("Найди меня")
2010 "Alarm"
"Feelin' High"
"Instantly"
2011 "Heartbeat"
"Electric Touch"

External links

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