Larisa Dolina is a famous Russian jazz and pop singer and actress who celebrates her 70th birthday on  10 September. Her songs have been featured in more than 80 live action and animated films.

Larisa Dolina was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, but both of her parents were originally from Odessa, Ukraine. Dolina’s musical career began in 1971 in the performance group “My Odessity” (We are Odesa Natives). She then worked as lead singer for the “State Performing Orchestra of Armenia”, the “State Performing Orchestra of Azerbaijan”, and the performing group “Sovremennik” (Contemporary).

In 1981, Dolina performed together with Weyland Rodd as part of the “Anthology of jazz vocals” tour. In 1982, Dolina performed the hit “Tri belyh konya” (Three white horses) for the soundtrack of the famous Soviet film Charodei (Magicians). In 1991, Dolina performed in front of 20,000 people at the festival Radio Prestige in La Rochelle, France. The same year, she was awarded the prize of “Best female singer” at “Profi”, a Russian national competition. In 1995, she created a concert program called “Ya ne nravlus’ sebye” (I don’t like myself) and toured in Baku, Almaty, Kyiv, Yerevan, Minsk, Riga, Kishinev, and Jerusalem, as well as a number of cities in Europe and the United States.

In 1998, the singer received the title “ People’s Artist of Russia” In 2007, Larisa Dolina performed several George Gershwin compositions at the Gershwin Galaat the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. In 2010, she played multiple roles, including the lead, in the musical “Lyubov and shpionazh” (Love and espionage), which was written specifically for the singer. In 2004, Larisa Dolina performed live at the Kostya Tszyu-Sharmba Mitchell boxing rematch in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. In February 2011, she performed “Summertime” and “Wonder Where You Are” at a concert at Crocus City Hall dedicated to the songs of jazz legend Al Jarreau. Both songs were part of Dolina’s new album titled “Hollywood Mood”. The singer followed that up with a rendition of “Private Dancer” by Tina Turner at the “Novaya Volna” (New Wave) competition in July 2011.

In 2022, Larisa Dolina proposed creating a Russian analogue of Eurovision, and 3 years after this proposal Intervision 2025 will be held in Moscow, Russia in September, 20. The most popular pop songs of Larisa Dolina are “Pogoda v dome” (Weather in the house), “Stena” (Wall), “Obozhzhennaya dusha” (Burned soul) and “Tsvety pod snegom” (Flowers under the snow).

Check out Larisa singing the famous Gloria Gaynor song, I Will Survive below.

Source: ESC Covers – Report by ELIANA GONCHAROVA