Vyacheslav Gennadievich Butusov (; born 15 October 1961) is a Russian singer-songwriter and composer. He was the lead singer of

Nautilus Pompilius The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect logarithmic spiral, equiangular s ...

and U-Piter. Since 2019, he has been playing in his group "Orden Slavy". He also has a solo career as a singer-songwriter.

Musical career

Viacheslav Butusov Nautilius Pompilius butusov-15-50 by Alexey Nikishin

1982–1997: Nautilus Pompilius

While he was a first-year student at the Sverdlovsk Architectural Institute, he was acquainted with musician Dmitry Umetsky. The two young men were passionate about music and often gathered to play together. This resulted in the recording of Nautilus Pompilius's first album ''Pereyezd'' (''Relocation'') in 1982, which met with little success. In the same year, Butusov met the poet Ilya Kormiltsev. Together, they recorded the band's first mature album, ''Nevidimka'' (''Invisible'') in 1985. Next year their tandem released the record ''Razluka'' (''Separation''), which sparked the band's popularity. The band's last album, ''Yablokitai'', was recorded by Butusov and Kormiltsev in 1996 in England.

1997–present: Solo career

After Nautilus Pompilius disbanded, Butusov launched his solo career. In 1997, he recorded ''Nezakonnopozhdenniy AlKhimik doktor faust pernatiy zmey'' with Yuri Kasparyan, and in 1998, his first solo album, ''Ovaly''. During this years he also had a brief cameo in Russian

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

Brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...

''. In the 2020s, Butusov turned to classical music. He is composing the score for the theatrical piece "Two Tsars", based on the play by

Boris Akunin Grigori Chkhartishvili (; ka, გრიგორი ჩხარტიშვილი), better known by his pen name Boris Akunin (, born 20 May 1956), is a Georgian and Russian writer residing in the United Kingdom. He is best known as a write ...

, and is writing a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

for the symphony project "Lament of Adam". In July 2022, he was denied entry from Finland for practically supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine and canceled his live appearances in the country. In November 2022, Butusov composed the soundtrack for the Russian documentary ''Holy Archipelago'', about the famous

Solovetsky Monastery The Solovetsky Monastery (, ) is a fortified monastery located on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in northern Russia. It was one of the largest Christian citadels in northern Russia before it was converted into a Soviet Union, Soviet pris ...

2001–2017: U-Piter

In 2001 Vyacheslav Butusov founded the band U-Piter with former Kino guitarist Yuri Kasparyan. They have recorded seven albums, the last being ''Gudgora'' in 2015. U-Piter was disbanded in 2017.

2017–Present: Orden Slavy

After the dissolution of U-Piter, Butusov founded his project "Orden Slavy" with Vyacheslav Suori (guitar), Ruslan Gadzhiev (bass) and drummer Denis Marinkin, who had formerly played with artists such as

Zemfira Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova (, ; born 26 August 1976) is a Russian rock musician. She has been performing since 1998 and has been popular in Russia and other Post-Soviet states, former Soviet republics. To date Zemfira has sold over 3 million ...

and

Peter Nalitch Peter Andreyevich Nalitch (, ), also spelled as Petr Nalich or Pyotr Nalich, is a Russian singer and composer who represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo. In the final on May 29, he came 11th with his song "Lost and Forgott ...

. They released their first album in November 2019, ''Alleluia''. In recent years, Butusov's Orthodox Christian faith has informed much of his work—in sharp contrast to the rest of his rock-based discography, as acknowledged by critics.

Personal life

Butusov is married to Anzhelika Estoyeva (born 1970). He has four children: three daughters – Anna (born 1980; with his first wife Mariana Dobrovolskiy-Butusova), Ksenia (born 1991), Sofya (born 1999) and a son Daniil (born 2005).

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Ovaly'' (1998) * ''Tikhe igry'' (2001) * '' Model dlya sborki'' (2008)

Collaboration albums

* '' Most'' (1985) (with Yevgeniy Dimov as part of the project "Step") * ''NezakonNoRozhdenniy AlKhimik doktor Faust — Pernatiy Zmey'' (1997) (with Yuri Kasparyan) * '' Elizobarra-Torr'' (2000) (with Deadушки) * ''Zvyodzdniy padl'' (2001) (with musicians of Kino)

Film soundtracks

* ''

'' (1997) * '' Brother 2'' (2000) * ''

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

'' (2002) * '' Dead Man's Bluff'' (2005) * '' Igla remix'' (2010) * ''Holy Archipelago'' (2022) * ''At the Edge of the Abyss'' (2024)

Filmography

Publications

*''Virgostan'' (2007) *''Antidepressant'' (M., Eksmo, 2007) (Co-authored with Nikolay Yakimchuk) *''Arkhiya'' (2011)

Awards

Lenin Komsomol Prize Lenin Komsomol Prize () was a Soviet Union, Soviet annual award for the best works in science, engineering, literature or art carried out by young authors of age not exceeding 33 years. Komsomol was the abbreviated name of The Communist Union of ...

(1989) for his songs with Nautilus Pompilius * Golden Gramophone Award (2004) for his song "City Girl" * Tsarskoselskaya Khudozhestvennaya Prize (2007) * Medal "15 years of Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk diocese" (26 March 2009) *

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

(13 October 2011) Order IV. For his contribution in the development in music, art, and many years of creative activity.

References

External links

Official Website of Butusov & U-Piter
Vyacheslav Butusov's current group
Official Website of Nautilus group
Vyacheslav Butusov's worldwide famous group
Biography of Vyacheslav Butusov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butusov, Vyacheslav 1961 births Living people Musicians from Krasnoyarsk Russian rock singers Russian male singer-songwriters Russian singer-songwriters Russian rock guitarists Russian male guitarists Russian male film actors Soviet male singers Post-punk musicians 21st-century Russian writers 20th-century Russian guitarists 21st-century Russian guitarists 20th-century Russian male singers 21st-century Russian male singers Recipients of the Lenin Komsomol Prize Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class