Biography of Yuri Khoy
Yuri Khoy is the pseudonym of the Soviet and Russian singer and musician Yuri Klinskikh, a songwriter who founded the popular punk band Sektor Gaza in the 90s. Despite frequent criticism of his work, the musician, about whose death there are various rumors, was a reflection of his time, and his songs are remembered and sung to this day.
Yuri Khoy
In 2021, journalist Pavel Selin planned to shoot a film about the phenomenon of an ordinary Voronezh guy who managed to create a project that became famous throughout the Soviet Union.
Death of a musician
At the end of June 2000, Khoy returned from Moscow to Voronezh. It was here that he planned to finish filming one of the few “Fright Night” videos. Before this, on June 25, 2000, Yuri gave a concert at the small arena in Luzhniki. As it turned out, for the last time. It is noteworthy that during the concert the phonogram was cut off several times, namely with the song “Demobilization”.
Upon arrival in Voronezh, Klinsky felt bad: the singer complained of pain on his left side, but he did not go to the doctor, hoping that the pain would go away on its own. On July 4, 2000, Khoy passed away. He left quietly, peacefully. The news of his death went almost unnoticed by the media, which is certainly very strange, since one of the most famous punk rock performers of the era of perestroika and the post-Soviet space died.
Until now, no one knows the exact cause of the singer’s death. His widow and two daughters, years later, turned to the TV show “Battle of Psychics” for help. So, in 2014, an episode was released in which people with psychic abilities found out the cause of Khoy’s death.
Childhood and youth
Yura was born in the summer of 1964 into the family of Nikolai and Maria Klinsky from Voronezh.
Nikolai Mitrofanovich, an engineer at an aircraft factory, was a big fan of rock and roll and wrote poetry. Maria Kuzminichna, a riveter from the same factory, already had two sons from her first marriage - Tolya and Lenya. Remembering her youngest son, the woman said that Yurochka grew up as a very honest, kind and unspoiled boy. He started singing at the age of three. At the age of seven he stopped playing on the street with the kids - he simply became uninterested in their “fuss.” Yura really enjoyed reading and writing poetry himself. He also loved cinema, especially Indian, and could watch the same film eight times.
Yuri Khoy in childhood
After the first grade, Yuri was transferred to another school because the boy was constantly being robbed of his money and beaten by senior students. Such injustice greatly depressed Yura, but he could not fight back - he was a modest guy, and he was not distinguished by physical strength.
In the second grade, he became friends with Igor Lobashov, with whom he sat at the same desk until graduation. Later he recalled that Yura was different from the other children in many ways. Even in small things, for example, he carried in a fashionable folder with a zipper only one general notebook for all subjects, while the rest had thin notebooks, separately for each discipline. The folder and other fashionable things were given to the boy by his mother, who went to work at the VASO restaurant as a waitress, where the pilots dined. They brought new items.
Yura Khoy as a teenager
Yura was not a good student, but he had innate literacy and even the hardcore students were not shy about copying dictations from him. Everyone who knew Klinsky noted that he always spoke pure Russian, despite all the common folk expressions that later appeared in his songs.
As soon as the boy grew up, he began to demonstrate extraordinary ability to play instruments. Without even one class of music education, Yura could immediately play the balalaika or select a scale by ear on the school piano.
His father helped him with his studies in various subjects almost until the sixth grade, after which he invited him to study on his own. But when class teacher Raisa Kochergina suggested that parents send Yuri to a vocational school after the eighth grade, Nikolai Mitrofanovich opposed, knowing what the situation was like there. The guy graduated from school, after which he went to the village of Ilyich, to his grandmother Fedosya Arkadyevna and grandfather Kuzma Savelyevich. There Yura learned to ride horses without a saddle and wrote poetry.
Yuri Khoy in his youth
His parents bought him a Voskhod motorcycle, and the young man decided to get his license before the army. In order to have almost all categories, I learned to drive a ZIS straight away. When the summons arrived, my friend and I visited all the most interesting attractions in Voronezh before seeing off.
I had to serve in the army in Blagoveshchensk, in the Far East. Yuri became a mechanic-driver on an amphibious tank. In the army, according to his parents, he was beaten more than once by Azerbaijanis, but this became clear much later. In his letters, the young man wrote that everything was fine with him.
Having been demobilized, Klinskikh got a job in the traffic police. At the same time, his father gave him a new Bulgarian electric guitar with an amplifier, which at that time cost ninety rubles (the regular one cost seventeen), and his mother gave him an Elektronika tape recorder for one hundred and ten rubles. Yuri began not only to listen to his favorite music, but also to record his own.
Yuri Khoy served in the traffic police
His service in the police ended after Klinskikh fined the chairman of the regional Duma for driving through a red light. He, although he was wrong, complained about the “lawlessness” of the young traffic cop. Yuri was reprimanded and transferred to private security. After that, he began to submit report after report of dismissal, but was obliged to fulfill the terms of the three-year contract. The parting with the police uniform was stormy: Yuri furiously tore and trampled on his uniform, which had deprived him of his last illusions about justice and legality.
"Gaza Strip"
Having got a job as a milling machine operator, Klinskikh came to a rock club that had opened in Voronezh. After looking at amateur groups, he decided that his songs could well compete with what others were singing about. At first, he took part in solo performances and wrote several tough, rhythmic compositions that were sharply different from the repertoire of other performers. Among them is “Collective Farm Punk” (“Of the collective farm youth, I was the only one who punked…”), with which he performed solo and had unprecedented success.
Gas Sector Group
Klinskikh decided to take a desperate step - he sold the motorcycle and recorded two albums at once: “The Evil Dead” and “Yadrenu Vosh”. I sent them to Moscow, where the circulation sold out instantly. After this, Yuri founded his own team, named the same as one of the districts of his beloved city - “Gaza Strip”. This area was famous for its environmental problems and high crime rate. In 1988, a team was formed: Sergei Tupikin became the bassist, Alexander Yakushev became the drummer, and Yuri Khoy became the soloist and constant leader.
Yuri took the pseudonym Khoy because of a similar greeting with which he began his speeches
At first, the group performed exclusively in Voronezh, and their cassettes and discs were distributed by the fans themselves. There was no rotation on television; the idol’s appearance remained unknown to the general public for a long time. This was cleverly used by Khoy’s “doubles”, who traveled throughout the USSR with concerts accompanied by a soundtrack. Meanwhile, Yuri wrote new songs, the characters of which did not mince words. The acute social themes that were raised in the compositions touched a nerve and were a vivid reflection of the time in which the country lived. The musician wrote some songs about his own life, for example, “Java”, “Thirty Years”. Gaza Strip - Java Almost every album featured a mystical theme, to which Yuri dedicated more than one composition. One of the first, “The Drowned Man,” was inspired by reading Mikhail Lermontov and his ballad “The Love of a Dead Man.” Yuri, who as a child was afraid of the dark and always turned on the lights in all rooms if he was left alone, loved horror films and books about mysticism. And he constantly used the theme in his songs. The compositions “I Fell in Love with a Ghoul”, “The Night Before Christmas”, “Fog”, “Bite of the Vampire” are filled with otherworldliness. But at the same time, they are all full of philosophical and everyday meaning - that’s why they have become so popular. In one of his interviews, Hoy admitted: In the mid-nineties, Yuri changed the stage image of a punk hooligan to a calmer style: he began to go on stage in shirts, trousers and sweaters. Igor Kushchev and Tatyana Fateeva worked as part of the Gaza Strip, then Vladimir Lobanov and Alexey Ushakov. New compositions written by Yuri appeared in the repertoire, for example, “Lyrics” and “Your Call”, “It’s Time to Go Home” and “Near Your House”. During his creative career, Hoy toured with the group not only throughout Russia, but also in countries near and far abroad, and also recorded thirteen albums, the last of which was “Hellraiser.” Yuri Khoy about prison, the army, girls, the Gaza Strip and swearing
Personal life of Yuri Khoy
Yuri met his first wife, Galina, in the village of Ilyich, where she and her classmates came to harvest beets. The young man who had graduated from school was driving around the village on his own motorcycle, and a college student immediately noticed him. Soon they got to know each other better at a disco, and when Yuri was drafted into the army, she promised to wait. After serving, Klinskikh returned to Galina. When he turned 21, they got married and moved to live with Yura’s parents.
Yuri Khoy with his wife Galina and eldest daughter
It was difficult to call the family life of the young family cloudless. The daughter-in-law did not like her mother-in-law because she practically did not cook in the common kitchen. Maria Kuzminichna tried to feed her son when he returned late from work, Yuri sometimes ate, sometimes refused - it was a shame that his wife did not care. After all, each family had a separate refrigerator, but only Galina’s was often empty.
And when the Klinskys’ daughter Irina was born in 1984, open quarrels began between the women. Much later, already famous, Yuri bought an apartment for his parents, and the families moved away. And in 1995, a second girl, Lilia, was born.
Yuri Khoy with his daughters
At this time, Yuri had been living with Muscovite Olga Samarina for four years. They met in 1991; the girl was eleven years younger than the musician. Together they spent time in companies; Olga accompanied Khoy on tours.
In 1998, Galina learned about her husband’s parallel personal life (according to her, Olga deliberately put her photos in Yuri’s bag so that his wife would find them) and invited him to choose between his family and his mistress.
Yuri Khoy with Olga Samarina
Until his death, Yuri was never able to decide which woman he needed more. At the same time, he never left his daughters unattended; the eldest subsequently continued her father’s work, became a concert organizer, and began to try her hand as a singer.
Personal life
Even before the army, young Yura met Galina. The girl came to harvest beets with a group of college classmates. The young man noticed the young beauty and began to court her. True, as Galina recalls, it was not entirely skillful. However, the student liked him, the young people began dating, the girl waited for her beloved from the army, and the couple got married. In 1984, the first daughter, Irina, appeared, and in 1995, the youngest, Lilia. The musician adored children, the girls reciprocated their father.
Yuri Khoy with his wife Galina Klinskikh
In 1991, at one of the concerts in Moscow, the singer met Olga Samarina. The acquaintance became fatal for the leader of the group. The musician fell in love with a blonde who was 11 years younger. In archival photos, the couple spends time together at meetings with friends and in clubs in the capital. Until the end of his life, Klinskikh maintained a love relationship with Olga, but could not leave the family.
Yuri Khoy and Olga Samarina
Two years before Yuri’s death, the wife found out about the existence of a mistress, although she suspected it before and suggested that her husband leave, but he, according to the woman, could not choose who his heart belonged to. He begged Galina not to file for divorce and to wait. As a result, the punk rocker of the Russian scene lived in two families, torn between his beloved women.
Death of Yuri Khoy: hypotheses
On July 4, 2000, 35-year-old Yuri Khoy died suddenly. The official version of death is a heart attack. Family and friends still don't believe it. Yuri’s father, while he was alive (he died in 2005), believed that his death was facilitated by the brutal beating of his son at a “double” concert in Moscow. Hoy went on stage to announce the deception to the audience, but he was pulled away from the microphone and began to be beaten. Afterwards, Yuri spent three weeks in the hospital.
Relatives of Yuri Khoy name different reasons for his death
His mother, who outlived her son by seventeen years (died in 2021), believed that he was ruined by his wives, with whom Yura was terribly unlucky. Colleagues and his wife accused Olga Samarina, who addicted Khoy to hard drugs and did not care about him at all. Galina spoke in an interview about her husband’s addiction: A childhood friend, Igor Lobashov, believes that the musician was killed because of a large sum of money that he had with him on that ill-fated day. And that Hoy was injected with a lethal dose of drugs.
Samarina, who together with Yuri was going to record the video “Night of Fright,” said that he did not feel well in the morning, but refused to call an ambulance, and they stopped on the way to visit a friend in a private house on Barnaulskaya. There he allegedly lost consciousness and died before the ambulance arrived.
Voronezh said goodbye to Khoy at the Luch cinema and in the church on Polina Osipenko Street. It was raining heavily, but people walked and walked to honor the memory of the people's favorite.
Yuri Khoy with his parents
The leader of the Gaza Strip was buried at the Left Bank cemetery in Voronezh. In his less than thirty-six years, he managed to do a lot for the national punk culture. After the singer’s death, his thirteenth album “Hellraiser” was released, which included thirteen songs. In his last interview, Yuri spoke about him like this: The musician dreamed of releasing a new video and finishing filming a fairy tale that would be even better than “Kashchei the Immortal.” He promised to release a new album every year. Everyone celebrated Yuri's creative rise. There was no sign of a sudden departure.
After Khoy's death, the fates of his women turned out differently. Galina never married again, remaining faithful to her husband. Olga, according to her friends, overcame drug addiction and even gave birth to a child from a man with whom she eventually started a family.
Creative crisis and the end of an era...
Yuri Klinskikh (Khoy)
At the end of the 90s, Yuri Klinskikh’s creative ideas left... And, of course, this affected the group: very soon only the guitarist and keyboard player remained in it. Collaboration with Gala Records also ended, although not through Khoy’s fault. The crisis in Russia also made itself felt... So, during this period only 2 albums were released: the collection “Ballads” and the collection of remixes “Extasy”...
The group continues to tour (they even performed in Germany!), but financial difficulties are making themselves felt... “Hellraiser” was the last work of the group with Yuri Klinskikh, and it was released after the death of the cult leader... As many critics and listeners noted, “ Hellraiser turned out to be a heavy and even gloomy album...
“I always strived forward, and I always wanted to achieve a heavy sound...” said Yuri Khoy during his lifetime.
The Gaza Strip on stage...
The new millennium has arrived. The group played concerts in the capital, and then went to Germany. Returning to their homeland, none of the participants or fans knew that very soon the legend would no longer exist... Yuri Klinskikh appeared on the stage of the Luzhniki small sports arena for the last time on June 25, 2000. He came out alone, as at the very beginning of his career... He performed the signature hit “Demobilization”, however... after the first verse it became clear: he would not finish this performance. And soon he left... For good. According to unofficial data, the musician suffered from hepatitis, and was also heavily addicted to illegal substances recently... His lifeless body was discovered on the very day when he was supposed to go to the shooting of the video “Fright Night”... With his departure, the story of his iconic the brainchild of the Gaza Strip.
Memory and legacy
Yuri Khoy was an extraordinary person.
Sincere and simple in ordinary communication, on stage he turned into an eccentric and uncompromising exposer of modernity and morals. After his sudden death, many unfinished plans and creative materials remained. The main keeper of the father’s archive was his eldest daughter Irina, whose last name is now Melekhovets. She is thinking of leaving her famous father’s surname to her son Matvey, especially since the boy is growing up to be very musical. On the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Yuri Khoy, Irina released the collection “Howl at the Moon,” which collected both popular and little-known compositions by the musician.
Irina Klinskikh talks about her father Since 2014, an initiative group has been trying to break through the wall of misunderstanding of the Voronezh authorities, who refuse to install a monument to the people's favorite. For now, all the memorialization is reflected on the painted walls along the road to the cemetery.
Yuri Khoy's grave
Immediately after the funeral, several monuments at Khoy's grave were toppled by fanatical fans. Later, in 2011, a new monument was erected. In 2021, journalist Pavel Selin plans to shoot a film about the phenomenon of an ordinary Voronezh guy who managed to create a project that became famous throughout the Soviet Union.
Yuri Khoy cause of death
On July 4, 2000, there were no signs of trouble. The musician was going to shoot a video in Voronezh for the song “Night of Fear”. Olga was with her beloved, they were going to the studio together. According to the woman’s recollections, Yuri felt unwell in the morning. “The blood seemed to be burning in my veins,” the musician complained.
Despite his deteriorating health, the singer refused medical help, believing that everything would go away after drinking aspirin. The couple went to filming, but on the way Klinsky became worse, he decided to stop by a friend.
Olga recalls that there, in a private house, Yuri was getting worse every minute, and eventually he lost consciousness. The ambulance refused to accept the call, and when it eventually arrived, the doctors were forced to declare the musician’s death.
The official cause of death of Yuri Klinskikh was a heart attack, although the singer had no heart problems. The death of the musician caused a lot of speculation and rumors.
Close friends and Yuri's wife tend to blame Olga for the death of the group leader. Thanks to her, the musician became addicted to drugs. Olga did not hide the fact that she and her beloved began taking heroin. True, Yuri was being treated for addiction, and he also treated his chosen one. Due to drugs and alcohol, the musician was diagnosed with hepatitis C.
Old tombstone at the grave of Yuri Khoy
Doctors prescribed a strict diet, which Yuri neglected. Klinskikh loved chocolate, which doctors tried to ban. The singer did not deny himself alcohol, according to the recollections of his friends. One way or another, the true cause of death remains a mystery; no official autopsy was performed.
After the musician’s death, the group’s last album, “Hellraiser,” was released. By the way, fans and colleagues of the singer say that the musician predicted his own death in the lyrics. After the death of her husband, Yuri’s wife did not connect her fate with another man. Olga was able to overcome her addiction and got married, giving birth to her husband’s son.
Yuri Khoy's grave
Many years after the death of the leader of the Gas Sector, in 2015, the musician’s eldest daughter accidentally came across her father’s unreleased song “Howl at the Moon,” which was planned to be recorded in the album “Gas Attack.” The author considered the composition unsuccessful and refused to include it in the list. The composition was released on the collection of the same name, published 15 years after the death of the author.
