Rafig Eyyub oglu Huseynov (; 1946 – 2017) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

– Azerbaijani TV announcer, host, actor and singer. He received the honorary title of the

People's Artist of the Azerbaijani SSR The People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR () was an honorary title awarded from 1944 to 1990, it was granted to artists of the Azerbaijan SSR for contribution to the development of Azerbaijani culture in the fields of visual art and painting. I ...

in 1990, and was awarded the State Prize of the Azerbaijani SSR in 1991.

Early life

Rafig Eyyub oglu Huseynov was born on 4 August 1946, in

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

of the

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was an Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union, autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majori ...

, the

Azerbaijani SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

, which was then part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Born into a merchant family, he grew up in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, and lost his father at an early age. Huseynov entered the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts and graduated from there in 1976.

Career

Huseynov worked as an illuminator at the State Committee for Radio and Television Broadcasting under the Council of Ministers of the

from July 1964. He worked as an announcer from January 1966. Later, Huseynov worked as deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Hosting numerous shows on the Azerbaijani television, including the news program, as well as many interviews and on-screen concerts, he was distinguished by recognizable timbre of voice, peculiar manner of broadcasting, and had played an active role in the formation of the Azerbaijani television. Thus, he was called the ''Azerbaijani Leviathan'' by some. In the early 1990s, Huseynov, as an announcer, had provided information about the

Black January Black January (), also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown on Azerbaijani nationalism and anti-Soviet sentiment in Baku on 19–20 January 1990, as part of a state of emergency during the dissolution of the ...

and the

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbai ...

. Though Huseynov left the television in the early 1990s, and continued his career as a singer. He returned to television in 2005, taking the post of artistic director of the TV presenter of the AzTV. He died on 26 October 2017, in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He was buried in the Yasamal Cemetery of

on 3 November 2017, after a farewell ceremony at the

Rashid Behbudov State Song Theatre The Azerbaijan State Song Theatre named after Rashid Behbudov () is located in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, on Rashid Behbudov Street, and is named after Rashid Behbudov, who founded it in 1968. The theatre building was originally built as a syn ...

Awards

* Honored Artist of the Azerbaijani SSR. (1979) *

. (1990) * State Prize of the Azerbaijani SSR. (1991)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huseynov, Rafig 1946 births 2017 deaths Artists from Shusha Azerbaijani television presenters People's Artists of Azerbaijan