Yuri Shatunov – 46: Is it true that the star of “Tender May” will no longer sing “White Roses”?
On September 6, the famous singer, former soloist of the band “Tender May” Yuri Shatunov celebrates his 46th birthday. In the mid-1980s he was the idol of millions of Soviet listeners, and today continues to tour, performing old hits and new songs, although his popularity cannot be compared with the excitement that White Roses caused 30 years ago. Recently it became known that the singer had surgery, and a few days ago there was information that Shatunov would never perform the hits of “Tender May” again. What really happened to the singer?
In the mid-1980s all schoolgirls knew his biography – the story of how an orphan boy who grew up in an orphanage and did not have a musical education became the number one star on the perestroika stage, circulated in all media. However, in fact, Yura Shatunov was not an orphan and ended up in an orphanage at only 12 years old. He was born in the city of Kumertau and lived with his grandparents for the first 4 years – his mother was only 18, his father drank a lot and was not involved in his upbringing. After the parents divorced, Yura lived with his mother, but when he was 11 years old, she died. So he ended up in an orphanage, and a year later – in a boarding school in Orenburg. This decided his fate.
Shatunov did not live long in the boarding school. The head of the musical circle Sergey Kuznetsov decided to create a group of orphans, and Yuri became a member of it. At first, this did not cause him enthusiasm – the sport fascinated him much more than music. But after the group began performing at discos and musical evenings in the local Palace of Culture, the musicians got their first fans, and the soloist decided to stay in the band.
Sergey Kuznetsov was the author of songs that became the hallmark of the group. Then no one could have imagined that White Roses, Grizzly Night, Melting Snow and other compositions would soon become hits on an all-Union scale. In 1988, Kuznetsov recorded the first album, which was distributed at kiosks and train stations. The cassette came to the manager of the Mirage group Andrei Razin, and this project seemed to him promising. Intuition did not fail him.
“Tender May” released several albums, gave 5-8 concerts a day, gathering 40-60 thousand spectators in the halls and stadiums. The main composition of the group physically did not have time to tour daily in different cities of the country, and its “clones” “puffed out” for it in the provinces. During the existence of the collective, up to 10 soloists performed in it.
In 1991, Yuri Shatunov decided to leave the group. He spoke of the reasons as follows: “I was just tired of the crazy rhythm … When“ Affectionate May ”broke up, I left show business for some time, lived in Sochi, and was disappointed in life. After all, when “Tender May” was gone, everyone forgot about me. Nobody needed me. ” The singer went to Germany, where he was educated as a sound engineer. Initially, his solo career was limited only to work in the studio, where he recorded new songs that were included in his first solo album “You Know”. And later every 4-5 years he released new albums, which could not be compared in popularity with the hits of “Tender May”.
For a long time, Shatunov did not give concerts, and they began to forget about him. To return to its former popularity, he again appeared on stage, but at all concerts he was asked to perform old hits. In addition, most of the time the singer spent in Germany. There he met a girl who became his wife and bore him two children.
This year, Shatunov released the album “Favorite Songs”, consisting of 14 songs of “Tender May” in a new arrangement. This summer, the singer performed on a tour of Russian cities. However, the concerts were interrupted due to illness. A cold carried on her legs caused complications, and Shatunov had to undergo surgery. Because of this, many rumors were born that the singer would no longer tour. And recently there was information that he would never again be able to perform the hits of “Tender May”, which everyone loved.
For many years, the group’s producer Andrei Razin and Yuri Shatunov continued to have conflicts over the rights to the songs of “Tender May”.
