Each of us at least once watched a music show " Star Factory". This show gave our stage a lot of young talents. Perhaps if they had not come to the casting, their fate would have been completely different, and modern hits would not have played from the speakers of our radios.
However, few people remember that the "Star Factory" was preceded by a television competition " morning star", which was broadcast on the ORT channel ("Channel One"). But it was here that Sergey Lazarev, Ani Lorak, Valeria and other modern performers first performed. Let's remember how it was.
Sergey Lazarev
Young Seryozha came to the program with musical experience behind him. He was a member of the children's ensemble "Fidgets". In 1997, he won the Morning Star contest with his song "My Way".
Angelica Varum
No one knew about Angelica's talent until 1990, when she performed on the show with the song "Midnight Cowboy". The following year, the whole country sang her songs from the album Good Bye, My Boy.
Valeria
In 1992, the singer was far from a child when she appeared at this children's competition. At the age of 24, she took first place with the song "Only once in a life there is a meeting."
Ani Lorak
17-year-old Carolina Kuek wowed the judges with her vocals in 1995. Another girl under the name Karolina was entered for the competition, so the singer got out of the situation by inventing herself the pseudonym Ani Lorak.
"Lyceum"
Anastasia Makarevich, Elena Perova and Izolda Ishkhanishvili sang the ABBA song "One of Us" in 1991, and in 1995 they blew up the stage with the hit "Autumn".
Julia Nachalova
10-year-old Yulia with the song "Titmouse Bird" in 1992 became the winner of the competition, like Valeria. Only she performed in a different age category.
Vlad Topalov
In 2001, the already famous Lazarev performed on stage with Topalov with the song "Belle" from the musical "Notre Dame de Paris". Soon they formed the duo Smash!!
Pelagia
Pelageya took first place and became the owner of the honorary title "Best Folk Song Performer in Russia in 1996" and a prize of 1 thousand dollars.
Prokhor Chaliapin
Prokhor performed in 1999 with the song "Unreal Dream". Later, he became a finalist in the Star Factory - 6 project.
Yuri Nikolaev was the permanent host of the TV show for all the years of its existence. He has been on television since 1975. His last project was the show "Honest Word".
For young talents, "Morning Star" became a ticket to the big stage. It was thanks to this project that children got the opportunity to express themselves.
However, there were also critics of this program. So, pianist Nikolai Petrov spoke about the transfer as follows: “ “Morning Star”, in my opinion, is one of the nastiest programs on our television. Little children of seven years old are forced to look like Moiseev and Pugacheva. I feel sorry for these children and their parents.».
The author of popular children's programs, Sergei Suponev, also spoke unflatteringly about the competition: “ Morning Star is swarming with kids like frogs, but it's not a children's program. This is a program for old grandmas who, having neither taste nor modern understanding of music, are simply touched by children in tuxedos and ties singing famous songs of pop stars».
Article author
Vyacheslav Yuriev
Vyacheslav Yuriev loves historical subjects and everything related to travel. If you need a brief information about some distant country, feel free to contact Slava. This editor will unearth little-known facts about the lives of generals and classics of literature. At the same time, modern technologies are not alien to him, starting with fashionable gadgets and ending with the exploration of space.
I got into "Fidgets" literally from the street. He was then about 10 years old. The mother of our girl, Yulia Komleva, worked in a store not far from Serezha's house. And he was an independent guy, he went to the store from childhood. And then one day he came to the bakery, and at the same time got into a conversation with the woman behind the counter. Yulia's mother mentioned that her daughter is engaged in the Fidget ensemble.
By that time, Seryozha had heard a lot about us, because we often appeared in the Morning Star, and Lazarev adored this program and, more than anything else, dreamed of getting there. Yulia's mother introduced him to her daughter, and the two of them went to the house of children's creativity.
Entering the building, Seryozha stopped at the first step of the stairs and said: “No, I won’t go. Afraid". He stood, caught his breath, resolutely went upstairs, reached the second floor: “No, after all, I won’t go, it’s scary!” Julia with grief in half dragged him to the third floor.
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Then he skidded in front of the door to my office. Here Julia began to act decisively, came to me and said: “Lena, here the boy came, without a competition, without a casting, but he really wants to show himself to you.” In general, she pushed him into my room by force, closed the door and fell on it from the outside so that the guy would not run away. Seryozha hesitated, blushed, but nevertheless pulled himself together and began to sing.
I understood everything at once, without any castings. High treble of amazing clarity. Very confident dance moves. In general, I ordered him to come in the morning and immediately begin to study. From the very beginning it was obvious that it would be a mistake not to take such a guy.
But if I fell in love with him right away, then in the team he took root far from the first days. Lazarev had to go through a kind of initiation, which was arranged for almost all newcomers. Our star Yulia Malinovskaya, who already then hosted the Morning Star and was known throughout the country, could not pass by such a shy and sincere boy. Decided to play a joke on him. He comes up and says: “Seryozha, Lena asked me to tell you that by tomorrow you should learn such a dance. And if it doesn’t work out, she will immediately kick you out of Fidget!”
The poor guy was frightened, he diligently rehearsed all night, the next morning he comes up to me and says: “Elena Mikhailovna, take the job, I learned everything!” “What did you learn?!” I wonder. "Like what? Dance! As you requested. They won't kick me out now." I had to explain to him that our guys are joking like that. But after this incident, Seryozha quickly became the soul of the company, and Yulia did not suit him with such checks anymore.
Sergey Lazarev and Nastya Zadorozhnaya (center)
Once we went with him to a song contest in the city of Cremona, in Italy. Between rehearsals, we had some free time, and we decided to wander around the city. Walking, we came to the square, over which the town hall towered. We climbed up to the bell tower - from there a stunning view opened up.
"How good!" - says Seryozha and from the fullness of feelings begins to sing. Naturally, I chose "Santa Lucia" for performance - this song was ideally suited to the situation. The amazing acoustics of the bell tower greatly strengthened Serezhin's angelic treble. Literally for a second, he stopped to catch his breath, and at that moment we heard a noise below. We leaned over the fence and we see, far below us, on the square - a huge crowd. Everyone looks at us and applauds. I had to sing and bow.
About Vlad Topalov
little funny man
Five-year-old Vladka, then still very tiny, was brought to us for an audition by his grandmother. I just hung an ad on the doors of the Sokol Children's Art Center, and they just lived nearby.
Vladik was such a small, funny, plump baby doll. He went out to the middle of the room, blushed and, with each word, blushing more and more, sang: “A Christmas tree was born in the forest ...” The baby was very embarrassed. Julia Malinovskaya immediately drew attention to Vladik. She came up, took his hand and announced that “this will be my man!”, which plunged little Vlad into even more embarrassment.
However, he took his work seriously. Once, six-year-old Vladka was giving an interview to some TV channel, and the journalist asked him: “You are doing vocals and dancing here - this is understandable. And why do you need a classic machine, boy, explain it? And he, shrugging his shoulders, said with an arrangement: “I myself, to be honest, I don’t know, but my mother says that if you engage in a classic machine, you will be slender and beautiful.” From the lips of a six-year-old burly man, it sounded great.
Vladik grew up as a calm and extremely calm guy. Once we went on tour to America, and for some reason one of the performances took place in the concert hall of some fire department. This very firehouse had a very low ceiling. And now "Fidgets" on the stage, the girls are dancing, everything is very emotional and expressive. Suddenly, at some point, Zhenya Tremasova makes such a sweeping movement with her foot, and a shoe flies off her. It flies up to the ceiling and bounces off it like a ricochet down, right on Topalov's head. Not a single muscle on Vladka's face trembled; he continued to dance as if nothing had happened. Zhenya also does not give a look, continues the dance in one shoe.
The guys worked out the number to the end, and backstage, Zhenya runs up to Vlad and begins to apologize: “Forgive me, I accidentally. Were you in pain?" And he quite calmly and calmly answers her: “Oh, Zhenya, think of some kind of shoe. A vase fell on my head a month ago - it fell off the closet - and then I had nothing. Do you see how big and strong my head is? She is not even afraid of a vase, not like your shoe.
About Nastya Zadorozhnaya
The most beautiful ugly duckling
The first time I saw Nastya was backstage at the concert hall. We then performed at the Christmas tree in the city hall. It was a very responsible and important event, and I was covered in soap, running from dressing room to dressing room, settling various matters. The administrator comes up to me and says: "A girl wants to see you." “What other girl is there,” I wave as I run. Five minutes later, again: “The girl is calling you,” I again ignore. For the fifth time I can’t stand it, I say: “Give her here!”
I see an angel standing. With huge eyes. With long eyelashes. And in a timid voice he says: “Take me to Fidget!” Her dad brought her to the Christmas tree, she saw our children, plucked up courage and made her way backstage to ask for a team. The impudence of the city takes: they took Nastenka for a trial period, and then into the main team.
Lena Katina and Nastya Zadorozhnaya (left)
She had a hard time at first in our friendly and "friendly" team. There has always been a catastrophic shortage of boys in the Fidgets, and they were worth their weight in gold not only by teachers, but also by girls. When all the girls suddenly and without declaring war suddenly fell in love with someone, the shortage of boys was felt especially acutely.
And at that very moment Nastya comes - a beauty and a smart girl. Nastya has always been a beauty, and even at a transitional age, Zadorozhnaya remained a very pretty girl. And immediately, of course, she fell in love with our brightest boy - Seryozha Lazarev.
In general, seeing this, our girls went into all serious trouble. We decided to eliminate the competitor. From the very first day, they began to inspire Zadorozhnaya that she was an ugly girl. Jokes, jokes, sometimes even outright bullying - it got to the point that Nastya really believed that she was an ugly duckling. She roared, suffered, was sad, but did not give up. Then she repeatedly admitted in an interview that she went through such a powerful life school in Fidgets - all subsequent tests seemed like baby talk.
Thanks to Fidget, her acting career began. Directors and producers often approached us in search of performers of children's roles. Our children are bright, talented, uninhibited. In addition, at the Fidget school we teach stage speech and stage movement. Our fidgets were filmed in different issues of Yeralash.
During our vacation at Orlyonok, we were approached by producers from the Sinebridge television company, who were filming the first teenage series on our television, Simple Truths. The first composition of their young actors has already grown up and even finished school according to the script. They were looking for new actors. Their choice immediately fell on Nastya.
A series of "Simple Truths" was released every day on RTR. So I had to shoot a lot. During the day, Nastya went to school, then went to the music school, from there to Fidget, and in the evenings, weekends and vacations she also managed to act in films - she was a workaholic since childhood. This useful quality then helped her a lot in her future career.
About Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina
Skinny leader and head on his shoulders
Yulia Volkova… I pronounce her name, and a picture pops up in my memory. "Fidgets" are still brand new, we are engaged in Sokol, in the center of creativity for children and youth. We conduct a casting - we choose our replenishment. A small hall, the stage rises, the guys walk on it. We are watching them closely. And then a girl appears on the stage - a blonde in a velvet dark blue dress, pretty - you can’t take your eyes off. Everything is clean, fragile, transparent. She came out and sings “Oh, it’s not evening, it’s not evening,” and her voice is like a bell. And he sings the notes very well. As it turned out later, she studied at a music school, and she was doing great there. In general, it was some kind of angel. Of course, we took it without any hesitation.
At first, Volkova did not stand out in any way, but about a year later we all went to Artek together. It was a common practice, we went there every summer, in the camp we organized a special "non-Sedov" detachment, they had their own counselors, their own corps and their own schedule.
A week passed, and all of a sudden, walkers - our "fidgets" - suddenly reached out to me. One by one, two by two, they came and said thoughtfully: “Len, it turns out, Yulia Volkova, such a cool girl, we couldn’t even think!”, “Oh, Len, it’s so great with Volkova!” And since then I have only heard from them "Volkova, Volkova, Volkova", "Julia this, Yulia that." She became not just the soul of the company - the ruler of thoughts. Won the trust of our leaders - Lazarev and Malinovskaya. This couple usually worked as our main clowns, and now the three of them with Volkova amused the entire squad to the point of falling.
Vlad Topalov, Sergey Lazarev and Yulia Malinovskaya (bottom row) and Lena Katina (top right)
And Volkova had her own trick - she loved to treat everyone. Since she herself was a thin, frail and at first rather sickly girl, her parents collected a whole chest with a variety of pills, ointments and pills with them. And Yulia generously fed them to all the suffering. "Do you have a headache? On you, aspirin, drink! Do you have a tummy? Here's activated charcoal for you. It is clear that her mother did not give her any serious medicines with her to the camp, knowing full well that it was dangerous, but she still managed all the plasters and brilliant greens and earned the fame of Dr. Medunitsa.
Girls were especially drawn to Yulia: in addition to everything else, she still had the talent of a stylist and makeup artist and loved to do hairstyles, dress up, and paint. That was a rare combination of kindness and sparkling contagious fun. As well as a unique ability to become one's own and a leader in any team. Not a girl, but a treasure.
Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina (left) and Sergey Lazarev (right)
Her future partner in the Tatu duet, Lena Katina, came to us at Fidget later than Volkova. And she has a completely different story. Lenin papa is a professional composer and sound engineer. We met at the studio when we were recording one of the songs with Fidget. After a while, he called me and said: “Len, listen to my girl? She is engaged in some kind of song group, she sings Spanish songs with a guitar, it turns out interesting.
A girl of about 12 years old came. Bright, red, these charming cannabis. Well, cute, not a girl! The voice is amazing, the timbre is very pleasant. And she herself is calm, mature, quiet. I naturally took it.
Yulia Malinovskaya and Nastya Zadorozhnaya (center) and Lena Katina (right)
It is not easy to enter a long-established team, but Lena managed not to come into conflict with anyone. The old-timers, of course, tried to reward the "brand new redhead" with a portion of ridicule and jokes. But Lena reacted to this in the highest degree philosophically and calmly. This calmness and "maturity" have always distinguished Katina. Even after the rapid rise of Tatu, Lena managed to keep her head on her shoulders. And remained completely unspoiled by success, money and fame.
About first love
Lovers Lazarev, Zadorozhnaya, Topalov and Volkova
Today, to light up or tell the world about your talents, it is enough to start Instagram or collect views on Youtube. Well, 25 years ago, celebrities were discovered, or more precisely, lit by the "Morning Star"!
Let's remember those whose names today, perhaps we did not even know, if not for this popular TV show?
Yes, yes, in 1995, a young talent named Carolina Kuek was already preparing for her speech, as the presenter Yuri Nikolaev urgently demanded to change the name, due to the fact that one Carolina was already announced on the list of speakers. Then the future star simply wrote her name backwards and “teared” the hall. What does not cease to do today ...
How did you not know this? But back in 1992, Valeria literally managed to “jump into the last carriage” in order to win the competition. And all because 22 years old was the maximum age for participants ...
Despite the fact that the father-producer prepared the girl for the stage from the age of 2, it was the stage of the "Morning Star" that became the first launching pad that gave the long-awaited success and victory at the age of 10!
All fans of Seryozha Lazarev know that he became popular even when he was one of the Fidgets, but you can’t hide his leadership qualities ... In 1997, Sergey performed solo at the Morning Star, unconditionally winning, and at the same time stealing the hearts of millions of girls on that side of the screen. Looks like nothing has changed since then...
Well, one more "Fidget" became crowded in the team. Yes, Vlad Topalov decided to follow the success of his friend Sergey Lazarev, with whom he performed the song “Belle” from the musical “Notre Dame de Paris” on the stage of the Morning Star. Oh, to the hysteria of the all-Russian scale for the duet "Smash!" only a few days left...
Well, it was only in 1999 that the whole world began to sing along with the outrageous girls “I've lost my mind”, and before that, Yulia and Lena sang and won as part of the same restless “Fidget” in the most long-awaited Sunday musical program ...
Did you know that in 1996 Pelageya, who had just turned 10 years old, won the Morning Star competition and $1,000?
In 1997, with the song "Juliet's Heart", Zara only managed to become a finalist in the "Morning Star" contest, but you must admit that this scene is a worthy breakthrough for the first performance!
Well, here's another discovery for you - from the age of 11, Alexei Chumakov began to write his own songs, with the first of which he won the "Morning Star"!
Are you also singing now - “Do not offend, do not offend the groom, a young girl”? It seems that the "Morning Star" for this discovery alone could already calmly rest on its laurels!
Yes, yes, and for Evgenia Otradnaya, the scene of the "Morning Star" was the first real feeling of success and victory!
It turns out that not only today the name of Prokhor Chaliapin is mentioned in connection with another scandal or sensation in the world of domestic show business. 20 years ago, Andrei Zakharenkov also liked to play pranks ... And then the third place with his own song "Unreal Dream" on the stage of "Morning Star" seemed not enough to him - he decided that the rumor that he was a descendant of the famous opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin would fix him success is sure...
Admit it, you completely forgot this name? But Elena might not have had the second place at the “Star Factory-2”, if a few years earlier she had not been brought to the “Morning Star” competition by the chairman of the jury of the television project. By the way, then she won ...
In 1995, "Autumn" in the vastness of our country sounded in a new way - with poems and music of the song of the same name, which became the hallmark of the Lyceum group. But four years earlier, these girls were just “warming up” on the stage of “Morning Star”!
Come on, stretch your memory! You couldn't forget that in 1990 Anzhelika Varum made her debut on the stage of "Morning Star" with the song "Midnight Cowboy"! And yes, we are also shocked ...
Yuri Nikolaev, having made Yulia Malinovskaya the host of the Morning Star, literally turned her life upside down Photo: from the archives of the Neposedy Theatre-Studio
Yulia Malinovskaya - the main girl of the country
So Yulia was dubbed by journalists. And all thanks to Yuri Nikolaev. He played a significant role in the fate of each of the "fidgets". But Malinovskaya's life literally turned upside down.
Working on the concept of his new program "Morning Star", Yuri Alexandrovich decided that his co-host should be a little girl. First, it was Masha Bogdanova. But she grew up, and the organizers had to look for a new candidate for this role. Yura turned to me:
Do you have anyone in mind?
I answered:
Of course! - and showed him Vlad Topalov's sister Alina and Yulia Malinovskaya, whom Nikolaev already knew a little from filming in the program. The choice fell on her.
I remember their first appearance on stage. Nikolaev says:
Well? Let's get acquainted? My name is Yuri Alexandrovich, and yours?
Julia! - Malinovskaya answered loudly. And after a pause for a second, she added weightily: - Vladimirovna!
Her spontaneity and organicity then struck down both Nikolaev and the entire film crew.
I have heard legends a million times that Yulia appeared on the air of Morning Star for a reason. Like, behind her thin back was someone so powerful that even Nikolaev could not resist him. Or that someone incredibly wealthy brought a giant bag of money into the office of the Morning Star. I could only laugh: I knew perfectly well how everything really was.
Yulia with her mother and sister lived in a tiny Khrushchev, they had neither rich nor influential relatives. For the fact that Malinovskaya became for several years the “main girl of the country” - once a week she had an hour of air in prime time of the most rated channel - only Yulia herself, her talent and hard work should be thanked. And also Yuri Alexandrovich, who gave the girl a chance.
They have a wonderful tandem. Once Nikolaev had to announce the number and leave the stage, leaving Yulia alone. He says to the audience: “I am leaving you, Yulechka remains for the eldest!” And Malinovskaya suddenly stretches out her hand to Nikolaev and sings with enthusiasm: “Don’t leave-and-and-and, stay with me-oh-oh-oh!” How Yuri Alexandrovich laughed! I did not expect such a rush from the co-host at all.
Behind the scenes, "fidgets" often parodied each other and famous artists. I remember Julia portrayed Irina Allegrova, so funny! She saw this, came up and asked in surprise:
Am I really that terribly spread my legs?
There is a little, - answered the little impudent one. Another would have fainted in her place from fear, having heard the question of the famous artist. But not Julia!
Malinovskaya had good reasons to feel like a real star. Everywhere we went, her dressing room was crowded with a queue of people eager to get an autograph. Yulia was recognized everywhere and everywhere, pulled, not allowed to pass. To be honest, the girl's head was spinning from such glory. And who could resist? But "Fidgets" managed to defeat this disease. It helped that we all felt like we were one. For example, if on Sunday Julia hosted the Morning Star, on Monday she performed in the Fidget number singing with Serezha Lazarev or Nastya Zadorozhnaya. This approach was great sobering our "stars": arrogance flew off instantly. In addition, I had a secret ritual: when we went somewhere on tour, before lights out, I put the guys in a circle and each in turn said what he thought about his friend. This helped not to accumulate anger and tension in children.
