Irina Zabiyaka

Background Irina was born and brought up in the Ukrainian town of Kirovohrad (present day Kropyvnytskyi), by her Ukrainian mother. At the age of 1, she left there to live in the Russian city of Kaliningrad.

Irina's mother did not want to tell her daughter that her father had died, so made up a story that he was a Chilean revolutionary. The young Ira believed the story and was proud of who she believed her father to be, with this influence going onto later see her band named Chi-Li.