Lidia Andreyevna Ruslanova (sometimes spelt ''Lidiya'' or ''Lydia'', ; 27 October 1900 in

Saratov Governorate Saratov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR. History On December 25, 1769, the Saratov province was established as part of the Astrakhan Governorate. On January 11, 17 ...

– 21 September 1973 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) was a performer of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

Early life

She was born in the village of Chernavka near

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

, into a peasant family, and was baptized as ''Praskovya Andrianovna Leykina-Gorshenina'' (). Her mother was an Erzya by ethnicity. By the time she was five, both her parents had died; her father in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

and her mother soon after. As a result, she spent most of her childhood in an orphanage. She began singing when she joined the local parish children's choir and soon became a soloist. Her uncle invited her to work in a furniture factory. One of the factory's owners heard her singing as she worked and recommended that she go to study at the Saratov Conservatory.MacFadyen, p.202 However, she did not enjoy academic study. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she worked on a hospital train and met Vitalii Stepanov during this period, with whom she had a child, born in May 1917. He left her after a year, due to her erratic lifestyle. According to a Saratov source, she married a different man who later died in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, whom she took her surname from.

Career

Ruslanova gave her first concert at the age of 16, to a military audience, where she sang everything she knew. She first started singing for Russian soldiers during the

, and debuted as a professional singer in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

in 1923. She was noted for her peculiar singing voice and

timbre In music, timbre (), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes sounds according to their source, such as choir voices and musical instrument ...

, which was a revival of old traditions in which female soloists would perform on festive occasions. Until 1929, she lived with a

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

official, then she married again, this time to Vladimir Kryukov.MacFadyen, p.203 During the 1930s, Ruslanova became extremely popular. She became an artist of the state association of musical, variety and circus enterprises in 1933, and performed all over Russia throughout the rest of the decade. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out, she ceaselessly toured from one front to another, helping to boost the soldiers' courage with her patriotic songs. Her signature songs were ''

Valenki Valenki ( rus, ва́ленки, p=ˈvalʲɪnkʲɪ; sg valenok ( rus, ва́ленок, p=ˈvalʲɪnək)) are traditional Russian winter footwear, essentially felt boots: the name ''valenok'' literally means "made by felting". They are not wa ...

'' and ''

Katyusha Katyusha () is a diminutive of the Russian name Ekaterina or Yekaterina, the Russian form of Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in c ...

'', written specially for her. During the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

, she performed on the doorsteps of the smouldering Reichstag. Ruslanova became one of the richest women in Soviet Russia and even financed the construction of two

batteries, which she presented to the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in 1942. That same year, she was made an Artist of Honour of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Her rough manners and racy language appealed to the soldiers to the point that she was regarded as a potential threat to the Soviet authorities. In 1948, due to association with Marshal

Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...

(who led the

to the defeat of

Nazi-Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictator ...

during

, and who became a strong political opponent of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

in the post-war years) Ruslanova's husband, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Kryukov was arrested and Ruslanova followed two years later. Ruslanova was forced to sign a declaration that her husband was guilty of treason, but refused, so she was sentenced to 10 years of camp labour. In the

gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

she was dispatched to, Ruslanova became a star lionized by inmates and administration alike. Therefore, she was moved to a prison cell in the Vladimirsky Tsentral. Following Stalin's death, she was released on 4 August 1953; she was thin, gray, and had difficulty walking. However, she returned to singing almost immediately. Her time in prison was unmentioned in the press until decades after. Although awards and titles bypassed her, Ruslanova presided over the first All-Soviet Festival of Soviet Songs, together with

Leonid Utyosov Leonid Osipovich Utesov, also spelled Utyosov or Utiosov, born Lazar (Leyzer) Iosifovich Vaysbeyn or Weissbein (, Odessa – 9 March 1982, Moscow), was a famous Soviet estrada singer, and comic actor, who became the first pop singer to be award ...

Mark Bernes Mark Naumovich Bernes () (born Menakhem-Man Neukh-Shmuylov Neyman, ; ,This date: – is a mistake found in the ''Great Soviet Encyclopaedia''. True date: – was engraved on the Bernes's gravestone at Novodevichy Cemetery (Moscow), and also ...

, and

Klavdiya Shulzhenko Klavdiya Ivanovna Shulzhenko (, ; – June 17, 1984) was a Soviet popular female singer and actress. Biography Shulzhenko started singing with jazz and pop bands in the late 1920s. She rose to fame in the late 1930s with her version of Seba ...

. She went on singing right up until her death in 1973, at the age of 72. Ruslanova crater on Venus is named after her.

Discography

* 1996: ''Поёт Лидия Русланова'' (Lydia Ruslanova sings) * 2000: ''Царица Русской песни'' (Queen of the Russian Song) * 2001: ''Великие исполнители России XX века'' (Great performers of Russia of the XX century) * 2002: ''Русские народные песни'' (Russian folk songs) * 2007: ''Имена на все времена'' (Names for all time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruslanova, Lidiya 1900 births 1973 deaths People from Serdobsky Uyezd Erzyas Russian folk singers Russian women folk singers Soviet women singers Russian people of World War II Soviet women in World War II Saratov Conservatory alumni Inmates of Vladimir Central Prison 20th-century Russian women singers Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery