Natalya Vetlitskaya

Natalia Igorevna Vetlitskaya (; born 17 August 1964) is a Soviet and Russian singer and actress, popular in the 1990s, who released six studio albums between 1992 and 2004. She retired from the music scene in 2009 and, as of 2018, resides in Spain.

Biography Early years

Natalya Vetlitskaya was born in Moscow, to nuclear physicist Igor Arsenyevich (1935–2012) and his wife Yevgenia Ivanovna (born 1939), a piano teacher.

She studied at the Moscow School No.856, and, a self-described 'ugly duckling', hated sports lessons there, because, being the smallest in the class, had to stand always the last in the line. "I've always dreamt of becoming a doctor, and yet could never stop imagining myself on stage, singing or dancing," she later remembered. At the age of ten she began to study ballet and for ten years, since fourteen, was regularly taking part in dancing competitions. She enrolled into music school to learn piano, which she graduated in 1979.

In 1981 Vetlitskaya graduated from the high school with gold medal. The same year, defying her parents' wish that she should go into studying languages, she went on to start a ballet dance school of her own.

Legacy In 2011 the song Look Me into the Eyes was included into the 100 Songs That Changed Our Life list, compiled by Time Out (Russia). In December 2011 the song made it into the Best of the History of Russian Pop, 1991–2011 list, compiled by Afisha. The short editorial described Vetlitskaya as "the embodiment of everything that is likeable in Russian pop music."

Vetkitskaya's hits provide a guideline for the recent Russian pop music history. Not its mainstream version, but the one that could be called a shadowy, underground one, music critic Alexey Mazhayev argued, reviewing her 2004 The Best Of compilation. "Her song 'Look Me into the Eyes' has made a huge impact on the whole industry of Russian clip-making, while the singer herself single-handedly invented the genre of the 'pop easy listening' for Russian pop," according to the critic who described Vetlitskaya as a cult figure of the Russian music scene.

Private life Vetlitskaya's first husband was Pavel Smeyan, of the band Rock Atelier. This alliance proved to be a painful experience to Vetlitskaya who later claimed to have become victim to a severe case of domestic violence. ...He was beating me. The reason was his nature, evil and cruel. Alcohol played its part too. We divorced after he'd all but killed me... There could be no excuse for this. I was a child, just eighteen... I decided to forgive him, but could have sent him to jail, she claimed.

Vetlitskaya's marriage with Zhenya Belousov famously lasted for ten days, from 1 to 10 January 1998. It was a funny story. He said to me: Listen, one woman wants to make me marry her. I do not want to. What do I do?' We sat and we mulled this over. Then he says: Listen, why shouldn't you and me marry? And I said: Indeed! We were totally crazy and carefree... And we were just very good friends. Hung out together, were going to the parties as a pair. I loved him as a friend but for some reason never saw a man in him. There was nothing romantic about our relationship.

Vetlitskaya's third husband was Kirill Kirin, originally a model, later an administrator for Philipp Kirkorov. Over the years she had relationships with Dmitry Malikov, Vlad Stashevsky, Suleyman Kerimov (who reportedly presented her an airplane as a parting gift), Mikhail Topalov (producer and businessman, father of Vlad Topalov), and Sergey Zverev. Vetlitskaya's partnership with Malikov lasted three years; it was him who's penned for her the song "Dusha" (The Soul), one of her personal favourites.

Vetlitskaya, who once had a hit with a song called Playboy, appeared in the Russian version of this magazine twice, but the result produced nothing scandalous. I do not consider myself a sex symbol, besides, I am shy, she explained, why. She composes music, writes poetry, is engaged in painting and design. Since 1998, she has practiced Kriya Yoga, and attended the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's courses in India. Vetlitskaya has been engaged in charity. Since 1999, she financially supported the Children's Mental Hospital No. 4, in the village of Nikolskoye, in Ruzsky District, Moscow oblast. She is a vegetarian.

Controversies

In August 2011 Natalya Vetlitskaya found herself in the center of major controversy after her satyrical 'fable' describing a private all-star concert taking place at some secret residence, appeared in her blog. The figures of the 'Tsar' (who chose the occasion to grant the title of The People's Artist to a certain Big Artist) have been instantly recognised as those of Vladimir Putin and Filipp Kirkorov, respectively. She described Putin as 'charismatic' but subjected to scathing criticism somebody, easily recognised as Pyotr Shaboltai, the director of the State Kremlin Palace (and the organizer of this event), describing him as vile, obnoxious 'monster' who arose in her one strong desire: to kill him on the spot.

In 2012, after the death of her father, who spent 54 years working for ITEP, Natalya in her blog accused the head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko and Director of ITEP Yuri Kozlov in her father's harassment, financial fraud and deliberate bringing Russia's nuclear industry to collapse. She called Kiriyenko the Rosatom's mafiosi general and stated that the reason of her father's death from heart attack in May 2011 was the document he'd received notifying him that his monthly salary was being cut from 4,4 to 2,8 thousand rubles.

In October 2015, her article on the website of Echo of Russia issued a sharp criticism of the spiritual, informational and political atmosphere in Russia. Highly contentious proved to be Vetlitskaya's 9 May 2016 Facebook post in which she argued that "only idiots can jump madly with joy, celebrating the Victory Day. This is the day of mourning, not joy... Those who perished should be paid tribute and glorified, personally. Not the state. This accursed state deserves nothing but contempt, she went on to say.

Discography Studio albums Look Me into the Eyes, 1992, Jeff Records Playboy, 1994, Jeff Records Slave to Love, 1996, Soyuz Records Think What You Will, 1998, Extraphone Just So, 1999, Soyuz My Beloved..., 2004, CD Land

Awards and nominations

1992 "Посмотри в глаза" Best Direction