Before becoming a musician of the popular group “Hands Up!”, Alexey Potekhin worked at the Samara radio station “Europe Plus”, where he had a humorous program. Their union with fellow DJ Sergei Zhukov in 1991 was the beginning of a long collaboration in a new musical group. Their very first song "Baby" immediately fell in love with the youth audience and became the key to more than ten years of successful work. The duet received many prizes in various categories of Russian competitions and five Golden Gramophone statuettes. Songs of the group "Hands up!" four times became laureates of the "Song of the Year" award. In 2006, this group broke up and each of the singers went their own way. Alexey became the founder of the new TREK & Blues project, promotes young talents and goes on tour as a performer of songs from the old repertoire. The wife of Alexei Potekhin has nothing to do with the stage
Potekhin married twice in his life and his first marriage was directly related to the Hands Up! group. At the very peak of their popularity, two singers: Zhukov and Potekhin, were so busy with their creative careers that their personal lives had no development: due to the lack of wives or more or less permanent girlfriends, they were even suspected of being prone to unconventional love interests. Young guys simply did not immediately cope with the all-Russian success and adoration that fell on their heads, therefore, they completely devoted themselves to the stage. Then the state of affairs changed: having strengthened in their glory and got used to it, they became simpler and more reasonable: life went on. Zhukov was the first to marry in 2000, and in 2002 his stage partner decided to join the army of “married men”. Moreover, he had no reason to go far: Alexey met with a girl from the group's backup dancers - Irina Tomilova.
Irina danced and “sang along” to the duet to the soundtrack, creating a decorative background during the performance, and quite suited the audience. In April 2002, he and Alexei got married, but this information was hidden among the audience: only the insiders and those who found information knew about the wives of the main performers: the fans should not be disappointed. This marriage lasted two years and there is no exact information why it broke up. They said that Irina was expecting a baby, then there were rumors that he could not be saved. Potekhin himself admitted in an interview that he and his wife continue to communicate, but do not live together and any girl who can make him a father can become a candidate for the role of his wife. However, information that his ex-wife is now married and has a child refutes the version of Irina's infertility.
In addition to gossip, there was also a message in Express Gazeta that, having heard about the construction of a luxurious mansion in a reserved resort town on the Curonian Spit near Kaliningrad, allegedly started by Alexei Potekhin, meticulous journalists asked him for details. Alexei suggested that this building, perhaps, means "Ira's dad" - his ex-wife, who lives in Kaliningrad. A man, presumably, not poor and influential enough to afford such a luxury. Potekhin himself, according to him, does not have that kind of money. In the light of these circumstances, Alexei's divorce from Irina could have other reasons.
In 2009, Potekhin married a second time, and in March 2010, his daughter was born. Alexey's new wife's name is Elena and she, according to her husband, worked in the "veterinary field". The lovers dated for two years before they decided to get married, and are completely happy that they have a child. Elena, for the sake of her daughter, parted with work, devoting all her attention to her. The girl was named Masha and Potekhina is very pleased with how her name sounds, her name with a patronymic is Maria Alekseevna. During childbirth, the musician was in Moscow and he himself delivered his wife to the Family Planning Center.
He often has to leave with concerts in the Russian hinterland and this is due to Zhukov's ownership of the repertoire of their former duet. Even the name of Alexei's team is now "Raise your hands up!", And the variety venues are much more modest than before. But the wife of Alexei Potekhin can be calm: her husband will be able to provide them with a decent existence with the baby, because he works for the good of his family.
The generation of the 90s is still a fan of the songs of the legendary band. Perhaps this is the closest music to the people, which at one time made a tremendous sensation and won millions of hearts. Despite the rapid emergence of new idols, people do not forget their favorites and remember the old days with pleasure. Why did the Hands Up group break up?
The history of the legend group
Sergei Zhukov and Alexei Potekhin met by chance in 1991 at a radio station where each worked. They decided to air a cassette with their compositions. At that time, they didn’t even think about the name of the group, as well as whether such creativity would be interesting to anyone. The only thing that has been done is to attach a sticker saying "This music will make you put your hands up". DJs put on a novelty during the program and announced that this composition of the young group "Hands Up". Thus, the name appeared by itself and firmly entrenched in the pop world. The very first song "Kid" was accepted by the public with incredible returns and fell in love with many. After another hit song "Student", the group began touring the cities, giving a huge number of young girls the opportunity to meet with their adored group. In 1999, the album sold an incredible 12 million copies. All the songs suited the mentality of the listeners so well that they instantly became hits. But many are still at a loss as to why the Hands Up group broke up.
Who is guilty?
In 2006, it was decided to terminate the activities of the group. A big farewell concert was planned in Moscow, but the artists failed to raise enough money to organize it. In August 2006, the Hands Up group simply ceased to exist. The reason for the collapse is not indicated by the musicians, although in various interviews they nevertheless admit that everyone in life has undergone changes that are incompatible with further activities. If you ask who is to blame for the collapse of the Hands Up group, you can get the answer: "No one."
Creative differences
Sergey Zhukov switched to new projects and a solo career, and Alexey Potekhin became interested in producing. It was no longer interesting to engage in the development of joint creativity. In addition, with age, young people have more and more disagreements. The guys grew up and wanted something more, especially since the audience was mostly squealing teenagers. We decided that at the age of 30 this is no longer serious. There is also an opinion that the project has simply exhausted itself. The group no longer had its former popularity due to the emergence of new young artists, with whom it became more difficult to compete.
Sergei Zhukov is touring with the repertoire of the group "Hands up", performing under the same name
When the Hands Up group broke up, the musicians divided the entire repertoire they had accumulated among themselves. After that, Sergei recorded two solo albums, and then began to travel around the country with the Street Jazz show ballet, which had previously collaborated with Ruki. He collects full houses and gives you the opportunity to plunge into nostalgia. Everyone knows the old hit repertoire, young and old. To date, Zhukov is one of the most touring artists. Married, has 4 children.
Bar "Hands Up"
Sergey Zhukov, in parallel with his work, opens bars with the name of the legendary band. Business is booming, cozy places with a direct atmosphere are opening in many cities. This place is not for worshiping idols and discussing why the Hands Up group broke up. Even a ban on round-the-clock listening to Ruk hits has been introduced. People come here to feel nostalgic, have a tasty meal and meet friends, see the performances of star guests.
The life of Alexei Potekhin after the breakup of the group
During one of the interviews, the musician admitted that he did not maintain relations with Sergei Zhukov. When asked why the Hands Up group broke up, he does not like to answer. Alexei, together with Vladimir Luchnikov (group "Turbomoda", musician group "Hands Up"), is touring with a solo program in small towns. They attract with their sincerity and sincerity, although they do not receive large fees. He believes that the success of the songs is in their natural provinciality, in which every inhabitant of a small town recognizes himself. Alexey Potekhin devotes himself to producing new projects. Married a second time, has a daughter.
Alexey was born into a musical family: a tape recorder was constantly playing at home, listening to records. Mom liked symphonic music, and dad liked pop music. The elder brother carried him away with foreign music. The boy had a lively and cocky character, but his parents insisted that he study at an art school and a basketball section.After leaving school, Alexey went to study in the regional center, in Samara. He entered the river technical school, and now he recalls this time with warmth:
There were other teachers who, despite their venerable age, were kidding like they were young. This period in my life was the best, because I made great friends.
Fresh hits were regularly played at home, and Alexey began to perceive music with interest, at first he just listened, and then he bought a guitar and began to compose himself, even managed to earn extra money at a disco as a DJ. His tastes included Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Foreigner, The Cult, Metallica and others in the same vein. He is still a fan of Jimmy Page and Hendrix.
After graduating from a technical school in 1991, he entered the Samara State Technical University - as Alexei himself recalls, "my mother influenced." He graduated in 1996 with a degree in systems engineering.
He worked at the radio station "Europe-plus" in Samara, hosted the program "Nursery from Potekhin." In Tolyatti, he created the Uncle Ray and Company group together with Sergei Zhukov. It was the beginning of a great future called "Hands Up!". But so far, these were only hopes that could not even bring income. To earn some money, the duo held a series of discos in Tbilisi.
Then they returned to Moscow and began working at the Pavian Records recording studio, creating arrangements for other groups for the right to simultaneously record songs for their own. By that time, a new name had been chosen - "Hands Up!".
With the involvement of a professional producer, the music business began to develop. The group became incredibly popular after the release of the first album, Breathe Evenly, and the musicians began touring the country and abroad. Since then, countless concerts have been held, many songs have been written. "Hands" was awarded many awards. After the closing of the group in 2006, Alexey has been producing young performers such as Superboys, J Well (ex-member of the group Discomafia). During the period 2006-2008, 3 collections of Potexinstyle dance music were released, combining many young performers and hits from famous groups such as Demo, Turbomoda, Planka, etc. At the moment, Alexei is engaged in his new project TREK&blues, in which he invited - vocalist gr. Turbomod Vladimir Luchnikov and ex-participant gr. His Ruslan Achkinadze. In 2007, Alessandro Materazzo, a former member of the TV show DOM-2, was invited to the TREK & blues group, who toured with them in the summer of 2008 in southern Russia. Alexei has a hobby: he loves old, antique things. She loves the book "The Twelve Chairs" and is ready to re-read it endlessly. Alexei admits that he has always been a joker by nature and loves humor and practical jokes.
Alexei Potekhin has an older brother Andrei Potekhin, a former member of the gr. Turbomoda, Boys, Revolvers. To date, Andrey is the manager and organizer of the performances of Alexey's new project TREK&blues. Alexey invited many Samara musicians to produce. Mark Melnik, Handsome, his projects.
Alexei Evgenievich Potekhin. Born on April 15, 1972 in Novokuibyshevsk, Samara Region. Russian musician, radio host, producer. Former member of the group "Hands Up!".
The elder brother is Andrey Potekhin.
Everyone in the family loved music, which Alexey also joined from an early age.
He studied at the art school and the basketball section.
He learned to play the guitar, composed songs, and worked as a DJ at discos. At that time he was into hard rock - Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Foreigner, The Cult, Metallica.
After graduating from high school, he went to study in Samara at the river technical school, from which he graduated in 1991.
He was a presenter at the Europa-Plus radio station in Samara, where he hosted the program "Nursery from Potekhin." There, on the radio in 1993, he met with.
In December 1994 they move to Togliatti, where they try to record songs in the studio. At the same time, they regularly go to Samara to listen to the broadcasts of Europe Plus radio.
In Togliatti, together with Sergei Zhukov, he created the Uncle Ray and Company group.
In May 1995 they find themselves in Moscow. They worked as DJs at the Moscow radio station "Rocks", then held a series of discos in Tbilisi.
At the end of 1995, the musicians handed over a cassette with several songs to the radio "Maximum" and signed: "This music will make you raise your hands up." The cassette fell into the hands of the presenters Olga Maksimova and Konstantin Mikhailov, who put on their show the song “Good Morning” and announced: “Young group“ Hands up! Since then, this name has stuck with the group - "Hands up!".
Then producer Andrei Malikov became interested in the group, concerts and tours began.
Group "Hands up!" recorded the song "Baby", which became popular, then the hit "Student" was released. The songs "Baby" and "Student" are knocked out in the top ten of the hit parade "Russian Radio" "Russkaya Gorka". In the spring and summer of 1997, video clips were shot for these songs. To record the female parts, a session vocalist Elizaveta Rodnyanskaya, a member of the Melissa group, was found.
In 1998, the group received six silver medals, three gold medals and one platinum disc for the huge number of copies sold. In 1999, the group became the laureate of three diplomas at once from the second annual award of the Russian recording industry.
In 1999, the album "Without Brakes" was released, which was sold in 12,000,000 copies.
Their songs “My Baby”, “I'm Sorry”, “Ai Yai Yai Girl”, “Alyoshka”, “I Thought”, “Kind, Gentle, Affectionate”, “Little Girls”, “He Kisses You”, “Go away” became hits. , "Omut".
Hands up - Ai yay yay girl
In the late 1990s, the team created its own music label "Dancing Men" ("B-Funky Productions"), which began to produce the pop groups "Turbomoda", "Boys", "Revolvers", "Shark", singer Murphy.
In 2006, the group "Hands Up!" broke up. Alexey Potekhin said about the reasons for his departure: “Everyone asks me why I left Hands Up!” I will answer you: because we all became adults, but Sergey did not think so, he was comfortable. He is comfortable now. I always wanted fame, but I didn't."
He admitted that although the whole country sang their songs, he didn’t earn much money: “The most interesting thing is that of all the two hundred and thirty songs that we wrote, everyone was interested in only the simplest ones.“ La-la-la-la, all day I I sing" - we became famous on such songs. Every girl in the country had "Hands Up!" cassettes, but this did not affect our financial situation in any way.
After the collapse of the group "Hands Up!" in 2006, Alexey Potekhin, together with his friend Vladimir Luchnikov, created a project called "Raise Hands Up". With the team, he began to tour. Released a collection of dance music Potexinstyle-3.
Alexey also started producing young performers such as Superboys, J Well (ex-member of the Discomafia group). During the period 2006-2008, 3 collections of Potexinstyle dance music were released, combining many young performers and hits from famous groups such as Demo, Turbomoda, Planka, etc.
Then Alexei took up the TREK & blues project, in which he invited the ex-vocalist of the Turbomoda group Vladimir Luchnikov and the ex-member of the Svoi group Ruslan Achkinadze. In 2007, Alessandro Materazzo, a former member of the TV show Dom-2, was invited to the TREK & blues group, who toured with them in the summer of 2008 in southern Russia.
In 2013, the artist, together with his wife, presented the new track "Summer-Winter" as part of the Russian internet television (PeoplestarTV) project.
In 2014, the Arena Moscow club hosted a presentation of his solo album entitled "I can't do otherwise."
In 2016, at a concert dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the Hands Up! group, Potekhin and Zhukov reunited on stage again. However, their communication never resumed.
For the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Alexei Potekhin wrote a song for Buranovskiye Babushki.
Cooperates with a company engaged in the production of textile products.
The growth of Alexei Potekhin: 182 centimeters.
Personal life of Alexei Potekhin:
Was married twice.
The first wife is Irina Tomilova, a dancer in the Hands Up! group. They got married on April 13, 2002. Divorced in 2004.
The second wife is Elena Potekhina, a veterinarian by profession, but works as a stylist. They got married on September 12, 2009.
Alexey Potekhin with his wife Elena and daughter Maria
Alexey loves antique things that he collects.
Discography of Alexey Potekhin:
2011 - Scorpio Leo
2014 - I can't help it
In the late 1990s "Hands Up" became one of the most successful and popular pop groups. While music critics branded unpretentious songs and accused their performers of vulgarity and lack of taste, Sergey Zhukov and Alexei Potekhin gathered stadiums and forced tens of thousands of fans to dance.
In 2006, the group broke up, but Sergey Zhukov still performs solo, using the same group name. The former popularity of “Hands Up” is no longer there, but there are still a lot of young people at concerts, dancing to the well-known hits “Student”, “My Baby”, “And He Kisses You”, “Alien Lips”, etc. 
Group *Hands up* 
The leaders and founders of the group Sergey Zhukov and Alexey Potekhin met in 1993, when both worked at the Europe Plus radio station. Samara. They decided to create their own musical group, and a year later "Uncle Ray and Company" was the most popular group in Samara and Togliatti. But these scales quickly ceased to satisfy their needs, and in 1995 they moved to Moscow. Sergei Zhukov always calls this year the beginning of his musical career in interviews, since it was then that they began serious work to promote their songs. 
Group *Hands up*
At first, nothing worked - without the support of the producer, it was impossible to attract attention in the capital, and only rich women “over 50” were called to help them for certain services. They found another way: on pirated cassettes with the music of famous artists, they added three of their songs at the end. Soon, hits began to sound from all the stalls in the markets, which were remembered from the first note. Once they were heard by producer Andrei Malikov and offered cooperation to Zhukov and Potekhin. Since then, a rapid rise in their musical career began. The group was named "Hands Up" and released the first songs "Baby" and "Student", which very quickly became mega-hits.
Founders and leaders of the group *Hands up* 
Sergey Zhukov 
Founders and leaders of the group *Hands up*
Since 1997, the group has been actively touring the country, and then abroad, performing at dance music festivals. Thanks to the huge number of albums sold, the following year, Hands Up became multiple owners of silver, gold and one platinum disc. In 1999, the group became the winner of the annual award of the Russian recording industry in several categories at once: "Russian Radio Hit", "Album of the Year", "Golden Gramophone" award and "Best Love Song".
Sergey Zhukov and Alexey Potekhin 
Sergey Zhukov
However, for a long time, Zhukov and Potekhin received nothing but public recognition and love letters from girls. They lived in a rented apartment and dressed in the market. The producer took most of the profit. Then Zhukov and Potekhin decided to go on an independent voyage. They terminated their contract and became an independent band. So many people gathered at their concerts that people often pulled down barriers and maimed each other in a stampede. Popularity turned out to be the other side for them: obsessed fans sent them poisoned food and letters written in blood, several girls committed suicide, demolished chairs and stands at concerts, trampled each other. Artists could not appear on the streets, they often had to change phone numbers and hide from the persecution of female fans. In order to get out unscathed after the concert, they often had to change into the uniform of "OMON" and run out with them in helmets and masks.
Group *Hands up* 
Alexey Potekhin 
Alexey Potekhin and Sergey Zhukov
By 2001, the band members were tired of the frantic concert schedule, and from the persecution of female fans, and from each other. In the early 2000s, their popularity began to decline, although albums continued to be released with enviable regularity. The producers had a certain strategy, which for some time remained quite effective: “Within the Hands Up group, a clear fulfillment of a certain super-task was required. Every May, when school ended, we had to release an album so that people would take it with them on vacation - to the south, to the country. It was dance music that set the mood for summer. And I confess that we were experienced psychologists, we specially thought about what topic to write lyrics on so that the song would become popular.
Concert in Moscow, October 2011
In 2005, the 13th album "Hands Up" was released. In the same year, the group broke up, but Sergey Zhukov continued to record solo songs, released the album "In Search of Tenderness" and shot several videos. Aleksey Potekhin started producing, and Sergey Zhukov is still gathering the halls on the wave of popularity of the music of the 1990s.
