Maya Kristalinskaya

Maya Vladimirovna Kristalinskaya (; 24 February 1932, Moscow – 19 June 1985, Moscow ) was a Soviet-Russian singer.

In 1957 she performed at the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow with an amateur ensemble under the direction of Yury Saulsky and was awarded a Laureate prize. Later she started performing independently. Maya Kristalinskaya toured the country a lot, worked with the jazz orchestras of Eddie Rosner and Oleg Lundstrom, with the ensemble of Evgeny Rokhlin. In 1963, she performed "" on popular show "Little Blue Light". Kristalinskaya was the original performer of the song "Nezhnost'" (1966) which is considered the epitome of her singing talent. In 1966, Maya Kristalinskaya was recognized as the best pop singer of the year.

In 1972 and 1975, Kristalinskaya participated in the "Pesnya goda" festival.

She was bestowed the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1974.

In her latter years, Maya Kristalinskaya worked on the translation of Marlene Dietrich's book "Reflections". The book was published in the USSR after her death.

In 1984, after the death of Kristalinskaya's second husband, Eduard Barclay (he died on June 15, 1984, from a stroke caused by complications of diabetes), the singer's illness worsened. On June 19, 1985, at the age of 53, Maya Kristalinskaya died. She lay in state at the Central House of Artists

During her life she lived in 11/13 Myaskovsky Street and on 1 Novoalekseevskaya street in Moscow. In 2002, Kristalinskaya got a star posthumously on the Star Square in Moscow.

Nikolai Ovchinnikov (Afisha) in the article "10 best and most amazing albums with Soviet songs" described Kristalinskaya's debut LP as "an ideal portrait of the main singer of the sixties", who was equally subject to waltz, jazz, and movie buffs.

Selected songs

Dva Berega

Nezhnost'

Zemlyanka

Partial discography 1965 — (LP, «Melodiya» Д 15815–15816) 1969 — Maya Kristalinskaya (LP, «Melodiya» С 01727 — 8, Export edition) 2007 — Tol'ko lyubov' prava (2CD, «Bomba Music» BoMB 033-337/338)