Sergey Nikolayevich "Chizh" Chigrakov (born 6 February 1961) is a Russian rock performer and songwriter. Most of his current songs are recorded with his band,

Chizh & Co Chizh & Co () is a Russian rock band, formed in the early 1990s by guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Sergey Chigrakov. The band's last studio album to date was released in 1999. The band was also named The Band of a Year by '' Rock-Fuzz Magaz ...

. Chigrakov has performed on stage since the age of 14, playing the

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

in clubs in his home town Dzerzhinsk. He graduated from a musical school and college in the same town, and then studied at the Leningrad Institute of Culture and the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

studio of the Leningrad Conservatory. There he learned to play the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. Chigrakov then worked as an instructor in Dzerzhinsk, while playing the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and singing in a

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

group. After some time, Chigrakov got an invitation from A. Chernetskiy, which resulted in the formation of the group " Raznyie Lyudi" (literally ''Various people'' or ''Different People''), where Chigrakov soon occupied the place of the lead vocalist. In 1993, Chigrakov released his first solo album in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. At this time, he worked with numerous famous Russian rock stars such as Mikhail "uncle Misha" Chernov, N. Korzinin and

Boris Grebenshchikov Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the founder and lead singer of the band Aquarium which has been active since ...

. Chigrakov performed in a live concert for the first time with ''Raznyie Lyudi'' at the festival ''Solovki''. After this first official concert, he began writing, recording and singing his best known songs including ''Hochu Chaiu'' and ''Avtobus''. In 1994, Chigrakov moved to

and formed a band called

. In the same year, the festival "Generation 94" presented the band with the special-prize of producer judges. Their clips were shown in a television show "Dobroye Utro" ("Good Morning") on national TV. In November, club ''Moscow'' arranged the group's first

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 ...

appearance. Since then, Chigrakov and his band released 13 albums, and performed all over Russia. They are currently considered to be a legend of Russian rock music.

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* (in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chigrakov, Sergey 1961 births Living people People from Dzerzhinsk, Russia 21st-century Russian male singers Russian rock singers 20th-century Russian male singers