Singer, People's Artist of Russia Valery Yakovlevich Leontyev was born on March 19, 1949 in the village of Ust-Usa of the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now the Komi Republic). He spent his childhood in the Arkhangelsk region, then the family moved to the city of Yuryevets in the Ivanovo region. He started singing in the school choir, went to a drama club, and was interested in dancing and drawing.
He studied at the evening department of the Vorkuta Mining Institute. In 1972-1973 he studied at the All-Union Creative Workshop of Pop Art on the course of the famous Soviet singer Georgy Vinogradov. In subsequent years, he graduated from the directing department of the Leningrad State Institute of Culture named after Nadezhda Krupskaya (now the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts).
As a singer, Valery Leontyev made his debut in 1971 at a regional competition in Vorkuta with the song “Carnival”, where he won second place. In 1972 he became the winner of the Syktyvkar Philharmonic competition “We are looking for talents”.
He began his professional creative career at the Syktyvkar Philharmonic, and was a soloist in the ensembles “Dreamers” and “Echo”.
In 1979 he moved to the Gorky Philharmonic (now the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic named after Rostropovich). In the same year, for his performance of David Tukhmanov’s ballad “In Memory of a Guitarist”, he received the Grand Prix at the First All-Union Competition for the best performance of songs from the countries of the socialist commonwealth in Yalta.
In the early 1980s, the singer received several more awards at prestigious competitions. Among them are the “Grand Prix” at the “Golden Orpheus” song festival in Bulgaria in 1980, the “Popularity Prize” at the “Yerevan-81” music festival.
In March 1980, Leontiev’s first solo concerts took place in Moscow at the Theater Bandstands. In 1980, the singer’s first records were released — “Dancing Hour in the Sun” and “Disks Are Spinning.”
In 1982-1983, Leontyev performed his first show programs “Valery Leontyev Sings” and “I’m Just a Singer.”< br />
In 1983, he moved to the Voroshilovgrad Philharmonic (now the Lugansk Academic Philharmonic), where he worked until 1989.
In 1985, Leontiev performed a new program, “Alone with Everyone,” followed by “Recognition” (1987), “I , it seems, has not yet lived» (1990), «Full Moon» (1993), «Captive of Casanova» (1995) and «On the Road to Hollywood» (1996), «Dream Photographer» (1999), «Nameless Planet» (2001), “Valery Leontyev presents…” (2005), anniversary show “I Love, Miss, Wait” (2009), “Best Forever!” (2011) and others
Over the years of creativity, Valery Leontyev has released about 30 original records and CDs, among them: “Colorful Fairs” (1982), “Velvet Season” (1986), “Disco Club” (1986), “A Matter of Taste” (1990), “ Night» (1993), «There in September» (1995), «Santa Barbara» (1998), «Everyone Wants to Love» (1999), «Rope Dancer» (1999), «Augustine» (2001), » Bird in a Cage» (2002), «Maple Leaf» (2003), «Night Call» (2004), «The Artist» (2011), «Love Trap» (2014), «This Is Love» (2017), «I I'll be back» (2019), «On the Wings of Love» (2021).
The singer's repertoire includes songs by Raymond Pauls, Alexandra Pakhmutova, David Tukhmanov, Vladimir Shainsky, Igor Krutoy, as well as his own compositions.
In 1988, Valery Leontyev played three main roles — the Jester, Satan and Giordano Bruno — in Laura Quint's rock opera «Giordano».
Leontyev starred in several feature films. He played the main role in Gennady Glagolev's science fiction film «Psychic» (1991) and supporting roles in the films «On Someone Else's Holiday» (1981), «Don't Get Married, Girls» (1985), «How to Become a Star» (1986) , “If I want, I will love” (1990), “Carnival Night-2” (1996), “Cinderella” (2002).
In the fall of 2021, Leontyev was one of the mentors of the fourth season of “The Voice. 60+” on Channel One.
Valery Leontiev — People's Artist of Russia (1996).
Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1987).
Winner of the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1985).
Winner of the Moscow Government Prize in the field of literature and art (1996).
Awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV (2005) and III (2022) degrees, the Order of Honor (2009), the Order of Friendship (2014).
Valery Leontiev’s work has been repeatedly awarded the music awards “Ovation”, “Golden Gramophone”, “Soundtrack”, “Song of the Year”, etc.
In 1991 he received the World Music Awards «Golden Treble Clef» for the largest number of CDs sold in the USSR.
Valery Leontyev is married and has no children.
The material was prepared on the basis of information and open sources