Mariya Leonidovna Pakhomenko (25 March 1937 - 8 March 2013) was a Soviet and Russian pop singer. People's Artist of Russia (1998).
Maria Pakhomenko was born on 25 March 1937 in Leningrad. There were four children in her parents' family: Ivan, Maria, Lyudmila and Galina.
Her mother, Daria Mikhailovna, and father, Leonid Antonovich, were from the village of Lyutnya, Krasnopolsky district of the Belorussian SSR (now the Mogilev region of Belarus).
Maria studied at an ordinary school, she received no musical education. She graduated from the machine-building technical school at the Kirov plant. She worked at the factory "Red Triangle". Having incredible natural vocal data and musicality, she passed the competition and started singing in the women's quartet under the direction of Valentin Akulshin of the Palace of Culture named after Lensovet. Maria was the only self-taught singer in this group. All the other members, Vera Groznaya, Nina Menyaeva and Zara Kuznetsova, had conservatory education.
The first success came to the singer in 1963, after her solo debut on the radio with the song "Rocking, Rocking" (A. Kolker - L. Kuklin), written for the play "I'm Coming to the Thunderstorm" by the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre (directed by M. Sulimov). From the same year she became a soloist of the Leningrad Variety Orchestra under the direction of A. Badkhen at the Lenconcert.
The year 1964 becomes really significant for Maria Pakhomenko. The song "Again the ships are sailing somewhere", performed by her on the radio station "Yunost", takes first place in the competition held on the air. The singer records duets on the radio with Eduard Khil, with whom she performs the songs "Crane in the Sky" and "Chicks", is filmed on television with the VIA "Singing Guitars"
In the 1960-1980s Maria Pakhomenko was one of the most popular stars of the Soviet variety. Her songs were played in the programmes of many radio stations and on television. For many years she toured the USSR and abroad (she sang in France, Italy, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Finland). Many musical films have been made about her, one of which, released in Poland, was acquired by 13 countries, including Japan.
In 1968 she was awarded first place at the MIDEM (Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale) International Competition, Cannes, France, with the "Jade Record" prize as the performer who in 1968 had the record number of discs released (about 2.6 million).
In 1971, she was the first Soviet pop singer to be awarded the Grand Prix at the Golden Orpheus international contest in Bulgaria.
Maria Pakhomenko brought her own style of performance to the stage, combining pop singing with folk intonations. Many leading Soviet composers and poets entrusted the singer with the first performance of their works: "My Unattractive One" (A. Pakhmutova - R. Kazakova), "Men" (E. Kolmanovsky - V. Soloukhin), "Conversations" (E. Hanok - G. Serebryakov), "Candlelight Waltz" (O. Feltsman - A. Voznesensky), "Sunflowers" (V. Kulakov - E. Kuznetsov) and so on. Pakhomenko's stage success is largely associated with Kolker's songs - "Again the ships are sailing somewhere" (poems by I. Kashezheva), "The girls are standing", "Sad", "Beautiful Words", "Confession", Lida's romance from the musical "Krechinsky's Wedding" (all to poems by K. Ryzhov). The singer resurrected many songs of the past years - "Sailor's Nights" and "Do not disturb yourself, do not disturb" by V. Solovyov-Sedogo, "There is no better flower" (M. Blanter - M. Isakovsky) and "To Us in Saratov" (M. Fradkin - L. Oshanin) and others. Composers Sergei Slonimsky and Valery Gavrilin recorded with Maria Pakhomenko their musical cycles in the genre of chamber music.
She has sung on all the leading stages of the USSR and Europe, including the legendary Olympia Hall in Paris, after a performance in which French producer Bruno Cockatrix released her mini-disc.
Since 1982, for seven years she worked as a presenter on Leningrad TV in the cycle of programmes "Maria Pakhomenko Invites".
For eight consecutive years Maria Leonidovna was a member of the jury of the Isabella Yurieva International Festival of Russian Romance, which was held in Tallinn.
In 1976 Maria Pakhomenko was awarded the title of Honoured Artist of the RSFSR.
In 1998 Maria Pakhomenko was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation.
Maria Pakhomenko passed away on 8 March 2013.
