Famous Russian Lyricists & Songwriters

Vitas is a Ukrainian-Russian actor, singer, and songwriter. Renowned for his eclectic musical style and unique falsetto, Vitas has performed with well-known labels like Universal Music Group. He often incorporates elements of folk, classical, jazz, techno, dance, and operatic pop into his music.

Zedd is a Russian-German songwriter, record producer, and DJ. He is best known for his 2012 single, Clarity, which earned him a Grammy Award in 2014 after peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although he mainly performs and produces electro house music, Zedd also draws inspiration from dubstep, progressive house, and classical music.

Viktor Tsoi, the lead singer of the legendary Russian rock band Kino, broke the hearts of his fans across the world when he died in a tragic car crash at age 28. A symbol of rebellion, Tsoi transformed rock music from an underground movement to a mainstream phenomenon in Russia.

A Soviet cultural icon, singer Vladimir Vysotsky was known for his social commentary in his songs. In his early years, he quit engineering to study acting. He later ruled the stage as an actor, before stepping into music. He even distributed his recordings after being banned in the country.

Bulgarian-Russian singer Kristian Kostov was 6 when he began training in music and was already performing solo by 11. He soared to fame with the Russian version of The Voice Kids and then became the runner-up on X Factor Bulgaria. At 18, he was the youngest contestant on the Chinese reality show Singer.

Russian rock-musician Zemfira has made her mark as a singer in Russia and other former Soviet republics with studio-albums like Zemfira and Forgive Me My Love, and hit singles like You Want? Forgive Me My Love became the best-selling album of Zemfira with over 1,500,000 copies sold, while overall till date Zemfira has sold over 3 million records.

Valery Meladze is a Soviet and Russian singer who often performs and popularizes his brother and composer Konstantin Meladze's songs. Apart from his work as a solo artist, Meladze is also known for his work with bands like Dialog and Gruppa Dialog. Valery Meladze is a recipient of several awards, including the Muz-TV Music Award.

Legendary Russian rock musician and lead singer of the band Zvuki Mu, Pyotr Mamonov was also a fine actor, known for his stellar performances in films such as Dust and The Island. He contracted COVID-19 I 2021 and passed away in a Moscow hospital soon after.

Soviet Russian singer-songwriter and film-actor Igor Talkov is best-known for releasing popular songs like Clean Ponds and Summer Rain. While several of his songs were about love and fate, many also included lyrics containing political message criticising the Soviet regime. He also starred in the films Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Behind the Last Line. He was murdered in 1991.

Born into a family of doctors, Alexander Rosenbaum, too, had initially been a doctor. However, later emerged as one of the greatest singing poets of Russia, best known for his blatnaya pesnya songs such as Gop-Stop, which described the criminal subculture of his country. He was also named the People's Artist of Russia.

Born in the US and raised in Russia, opera singer and pianist Elizaveta Khripounova often experiments with alternative pop, rock, and jazz. He hit tracks have been featured on the soundtracks of series such as Pretty Little Liars. She also sang for a Russian film and the video game Dragon Age Inquisition.