Parents
Yura was born in the urban village of Yagodnoye near Magadan on May 16, 1957.
His father, Yulian Sosfenovich Shevchuk, born in 1924, belonged to the old Cossack families of Shevchukov and Kuzmenko. My father was born in the village of Labun on the very border of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. Yuri Shevchuk’s great-grandfather, whose name was Ivan, served as a border guard at the Russian-Polish outpost. There, a very original priest worked in the local church, who baptized not only Yura’s father, but also his grandfather, giving them interesting names - Julian, Sosthenes. That’s why Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk ended up with an unpronounceable combination of first name and patronymic.
At the end of the 1920s, the Shevchuk family was exiled to Siberia for logging. Grandfather Sosthenes was shot in 1937 for serving in the tsarist army.
My mother’s ancestors were Tatars and lived in Bashkiria, where Yuri’s great-grandfather, named Mudaris, served as a mullah. Shevchuk still has the family Koran. On my mother’s side, the musician’s relatives were also subjected to repression; Mudaris’s great-grandfather was shot.
Yuri Shevchuk in childhood with his parents
There is an interesting family story connected with the move of my mother’s relatives to the north. Grandfather Akram went to Siberia in search of work. There was no news from him for a whole year. Then Tagil’s grandmother took her little daughter and four sons and went in search of her husband, without having the slightest idea where he might be. I found it in Bodaibo at the gold mines. So the family settled in Siberia, where the musician’s mother, Fania Akramovna Goreeva (born in 1925), grew up.
Yuri Shevchuk’s mother is an amazing woman. As a little village girl, she had a crazy desire for education. It was fifteen kilometers to school, and every day she measured this distance back and forth across the tundra. She independently memorized opera arias from gramophone records and sang them perfectly. I read a lot of books, painted, and played in the village amateur theater.
When the war began, my father, an eighteen-year-old boy, went to the front. He served in tank forces, was a reconnaissance officer and regiment Komsomol organizer, was wounded, met victory in Austria, and was awarded military medals and orders. After the war, he began his career in Magadan along the party line.
This is where the parents of the future musician met. Yuri’s mother worked as a radio operator at a polar station; the entire Northern Sea Route knew her call sign “Faina”. During the war she sailed on ships, for which she received an award - the Order of Honorary Polar Explorer.
Yuri Shevchuk with his mother
Childhood
Yura turned out to be a creative person thanks to his mother. Now she is a wonderful artist who has exhibitions in St. Petersburg; knows by heart many of the works of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
Since childhood, she studied painting and music with her son, and read him many books. When Yura was born, his mother immediately said that he would only be an artist. My father, a man with his own principles and beliefs, did not like this at all. He wanted his son to become an engineer, only this profession was considered worthy for a real man. But his mother still won; by the age of six, Yura was already drawing very well.
The boy grew up silent, he had a speech delay, and until the age of three he did not speak at all. The family then lived in Magadan, where everyone communicated in Russian. But mother and children often left for their homeland in Bashkiria, where grandparents spoke Tatar. Yura began to master first one language, then another, so he was confused and silent.
When Yuri was six years old, the family moved south to the city of Nalchik. My father got a job at the Iskozh plant through the party line and worked from morning to night. Mom was at home with the children, raising them and running the household. In total, there were three children in the family; Yura also has a brother, Vladimir, nine years older, and a sister, Natasha, two years younger.
Despite his busy schedule, the father devoted all his free time to raising his children. On days off, he woke up early, did exercises, singing some cheerful song. Then he raised the children, and everyone began to do general cleaning together - they polished the dishes, washed the floors, and took out the rugs. After cleaning the apartment, after dinner everyone went to the cinema or the park together, and in the evening there was always a common family dinner.
They lived differently, there were periods of hunger, when for three days they ate only bread with salt and sunflower oil. At the same time, my father was a music lover; there was a tape recorder in the house. And they bought the TV in Magadan, the neighbors often gathered at the Shevchuks with their stools to watch it.
Education
Yura went to school in Nalchik, subjects were easy for him. In elementary school, he was the teacher’s favorite; she called the boy “bell” for his ringing voice and the fact that he always held out his hand, ready to answer. He continued to draw and also took music lessons.
In 1970, the family left for Ufa, as my mother really wanted to return to her homeland. The father worked hard again, but did not forget about the children. He took them to Moscow and Leningrad, showed them the sights and forced them to write their impressions in a notebook.
In Ufa, Yuri continued to study painting in a circle at the House of Pioneers. His drawings often won competitions, and the teenager began to think seriously about becoming an artist. At the same time, he was very fascinated by music, Shevchuk independently taught himself to play the button accordion and guitar, and became a member of the school ensemble “Vector”.
In the last classes, the guy looked like a real hippie - long hair, bell-bottoms. Parents were often called to school, teachers and father demanded that he cut his hair. But Yura was stubborn and countered by pointing to portraits of Russian classics Gogol, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky, because they also had long hair.
Having received a certificate of secondary education, Shevchuk continued his studies at the Bashkir State Pedagogical Institute at the Faculty of Art and Graphics. A year later he was expelled with the wording “for family reasons”, in fact for bad behavior. By that time, he was already playing guitar in a student group, the expulsion did not upset him much, Yura was going to go to Sochi to play music in local restaurants and discos.
But then my mother intervened. She calmly said: “No, son, you will not go to Sochi, but to Kolyma to work as a loader.” And he worked there as a docker for the entire navigation, carrying bags and boxes for ten hours a day. Now he is grateful to his mother for not letting him into Sochi, where he could have perished in the local taverns.
Yura was not accepted into the army due to poor eyesight. He returned to the institute, graduated from it, then worked for three years as an art teacher at a school in the Bashkir village of Iglino. In his free time, he played in local musical groups “Kaleidoscope” and “Free Wind”, performing at festive events in the community center and at school dances.
Charity
The musical group "DDT" has a microblog on Instagram. In it, the band members share photos and home videos with fans. Shevchuk says:
Any reward is a dialogue. By accepting it, you agree with the decency, honesty, and not the commercialism of those who give.
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Yuri Shevchuk spends a lot of energy and money on charity, but does it without telling the media about it. He says:
In the current coordinate system, it is easier for dishonest people to exist, thirsting for profit at the expense of their neighbors.
"DDT"
Returning to Ufa to his parents after working at a rural school, Yuri continued his music studies in the group of the local Palace of Culture. In 1980, the group recorded their first magnetic album.
In 1982, the musicians sent their recordings to the Golden Tuning Fork competition announced by Komsomolskaya Pravda. When they passed the first round, they urgently needed to come up with a name for the nameless group. This is how the rock group “DDT” appeared, which became the winner of the competition with the song “Don’t Shoot.” This composition about the war in Afghanistan, which was hidden in the USSR, had a deafening resonance.
In an underground studio, the musicians recorded the album “Compromise,” which quickly gained popularity and put the DDT group on a par with many famous rock musicians of Leningrad. In his song lyrics, Shevchuk expressed protest against the existing government, so for a long time the team was in disgrace, they were haunted by constant conflicts. The “competent authorities” were especially outraged by the new album “Periphery” about the unsightly life in the Soviet outback.
Perestroika opened the way for the team to reach the big stage. Shevchuk moved to Leningrad, where he formed a new group. Having performed its concert program at the Leningrad Rock Festival in the spring of 1987, DDT became a major discovery. A year later, at the same festival, the musicians repeated their success and triumphantly went on a tour throughout the Soviet Union. Their songs instantly became hits:
- "Major Boys";
- "Born in USSR";
- "Thaw (Leningrad)";
- "I got the role."
Despite the fact that the team is already thirty years old and its composition has changed many times, DDT still remains afloat. In the 21st century, Shevchuk is also actively writing songs, in which he increasingly raises questions of love for life and loved ones, and religious motives.
Their new studio albums are released regularly. Of the latest musical compositions, it is especially worth noting:
- "Missing";
- "Born this night";
- "This city";
- "Song of Freedom"
Love for life
His only beloved woman and muse for life was Elmira Bikbova. She was ten years younger than Yura and lived in Ufa. The girl was dancing in the studio of the Avangard Palace of Culture, where rehearsals of Yuri Shevchuk’s group (the future “DDT”) took place.
When they met, Elmira was seventeen years old. For her next birthday, Yura drew her portrait. He then said that from now on he would paint it every year, and by the 50th anniversary he would have already accumulated 32 paintings.
In September 1986 they got married. A year later, in November 1987, their son Petya was born, that night Yuri wrote the song “Actress Spring” and dedicated it to his beloved, as well as all his other compositions.
Elmira really dreamed of becoming an actress. Having failed to enter Leningrad and Moscow, she returned to Ufa with her little son, where she became a student at the Institute of Arts, specializing in puppet theater actress. Five long years of partings, meetings and letters full of love began.
After graduating from college, Elmira and Petya came to Yuri in Leningrad. They all lived together again, their happiness was limitless, but too short. At the very beginning of 1992, doctors diagnosed Elmira with brain cancer. On March 13, 1992, she passed away. Eight months later, DDT’s brightest album, Actress Spring, was released. It included songs:
- "Rain";
- "Motherland";
- "In the last autumn";
- "What is autumn?"
Yuri raised his son Peter with his grandmothers. At the age of twelve, the boy became a cadet of the Kronstadt Naval Corps. After graduation, he served in the Baltic Fleet in the Marine Corps.
Now Petya writes and plays music (the genes still took their toll), he has his own promotional group. But to a greater extent, he considers himself a freelancer and a computer person.
For a quarter of a century, Yuri Shevchuk continues to write lyrical songs and dedicate them to his Elmira. In 2011, a new composition “When You Were Here” was released, which is impossible to listen to without tears. “She was an actress, she was in the spring. Nothing autumn, summer or winter. Only constant spring”...
First wife
We can say that it was precisely because Yuri was in a rock band that many girls paid attention to him. And he met his first wife at a concert. This girl's name was Elmira Bibkova, who later became Bibkova-Shevchuk. She was a fierce fan of his, and along with many of her friends, she helped protect Yuri when his group began to be trampled on in different cities of Russia. It was love like in the movies, both of them doted on each other, they really really enjoyed life when they were around, they were just happy. But, after a short but rather bright life together with the singer, she dies of brain cancer, Yuri is left alone with his five-year-old son, whose name is Peter. The singer could not recover from the loss of his wife for quite a long time, blamed himself for her death, and wrote compositions dedicated to this grief, which were later compiled into a common album.
Yuri and Elmira Bikbova-Shevchuk-
Yuri took on the task of raising his little son on his own; the main thing was to raise a real man. Therefore, the young man graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps in Kronstadt, after completing his studies he served in the Marine Corps, and worked as a programmer for a short time. But, nevertheless, he still followed, so to speak, in his father’s footsteps. Peter became interested in electronic music and is doing well at it.
After his son matured, Yuri was able to relax a little. At this time, the musician began a relationship with theater actress Daria Yurgens. She fell in love with him, even though she wasn't a huge fan. Daria considered herself the one and only one who could help Shevchuk get rid of protracted depression. But, despite this course of events, in the end everything turned out to be quite banal - she came up with a happy life and deceived herself, she thought that Yuri was somehow special, but he was simple and ordinary.
Musician's life now
Five years after the death of his wife, Yuri had a short relationship with actress Maryana Polteva. In September 1997, their son Fedor was born. The musician rarely sees him, since Fedya and his mother currently live in Germany.
Now Yuri has a life partner named Ekaterina. She is absolutely not a public person, does not communicate with the press, and constantly accompanies Shevchuk on tours and trips. Katya is from Kyiv, a doctor by profession, fifteen years younger than Yura.
The musician’s work is also connected with cinema. Shevchuk often writes and performs soundtracks for films:
- "Azazel";
- “The geographer drank his globe away”;
- "Gentlemen officers."
Yuri himself acted in some films, not only as a cameo, but also as a professional actor:
- "Once upon a time there was a woman"
- "Whit Monday";
- “Antonina turned around”;
- "Vovochka";
- "Father."
The musician devotes a lot of time and money to charity. These actions are never advertised or talked about to the press. It is known that Yuri, at his own expense, organized the purchase of prosthetics, wheelchairs and treatment of people injured during the Chechen conflict. He also transferred money from concerts to a fund to help victims in Ossetia and Ukraine.
First marriage
In Ufa, Yuri Yulianovich met his first wife, Elmira Bikbova. Shevchuk’s beloved was seventeen years old at that time. The girl wanted to become a ballerina. Here is a quote from Shevchuk:
You need to live every day to the fullest. Because there is still love, there are stars in the sky that you need to look at more often, no matter what. And shave before an attack, like real officers. In a trench, in the mud, but you can shave. To look decent - with all my heart...
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The tall, long-haired man attracted Elmira with his extraordinary character. Soon Bikbova and Shevchuk got married and had a son, Peter. It is known that Elmira passed away at the age of 24. The cause was a serious illness.
Yuri dedicated a music album entitled “Actress Spring” to his beloved wife, and also wrote the compositions “Trouble”, “Crows” and “When You Were Here”. A trip to Jerusalem helped the famous musician overcome depression. There, Yuri Yulianovich visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and then was baptized. He says:
Freedom is a terrible thing. Many people mistakenly understand it as will.
After the death of his wife, Shevchuk raised his son on his own. Peter grew up and became a programmer.
Currently, Shevchuk's son is best known as DJ Pete. With his friends, Peter created the group “Trium Techno Night”, with which he performs in nightclubs. The son of Yuri Shevchuk hides his last name even from his friends.
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