Alexander Valerievich Shulgin is a rather famous Soviet and Russian composer and producer. He also runs the Familia group of companies, which operates in the media, entertainment and publishing industries. However, producer Shulgin is popular not only for his musical talent, but also for scandals and life stories that haunt him throughout his life.
Childhood
Composer Alexander Shulgin, and then the unknown boy Sasha, was born on August 25, 1964 in the city of Irkutsk. 3 years after his birth, probably the first truly significant event occurred in the boy’s life. Grandfather decided to give his grandson a compact music player and became the one who woke up a great love for art in general and music in particular in a small child. The kid sat around the player for days, listening to melodies from the records.
How did it all start?
Already in the sixth grade, the future producer Shulgin enrolled in the school ensemble. He began to devote all his free time to frequent rehearsals and popular songs at that time. In addition, the teenager learned to play the guitar, sorting out the motives of Western hits and Russian songs. After a couple of years, the small ensemble, speaking at the lights and school events, tried to play songs composed by the future composer.
In those years, the young team was not easy. High-quality equipment was sorely lacking. Parents were able to provide their heirs only with guitars, but the amplifiers had to be crafted literally from improvised means. The same story happened with the speakers. Soon, teenagers realized that for better sounding, you need to get at least some equipment, moreover, not made on the knee in the garage, but real, bought in a professional music store. But in order to buy something you need, first you need to sell something unnecessary ... For one of the members of the group, the elder brother turned out to be a commissioner and young talents gained as much as 800 rubles for an old home-made technique. But the older "comrades" of the future producer Shulgin turned out to be traitors and decided to divide the proceeds into three, without taking into account the 13-year-old Alexander.
Youth
After graduating from school, Alexander V. Shulgin enters the IGLU (Irkutsk State Linguistic University). A little later, he transferred to NI ISTU (National Research Irkutsk State Technical University), and from there again left for BSUEP (Baikal State University of Economics and Law). Such a frequent change of educational institutions is directly related to the desire of the young man to give himself completely to music.
First musical steps
Once, Alexander met with members of the Carnival group, who invited him to Moscow with them. There, at the age of 19, he begins to work as part of the popular Soviet group Cruise. Cooperation with her opened the road to Germany for future producer Shulgin, and Cruise was the first group to travel abroad. It was there that Alexander got acquainted with recording trends and learned to understand the complex system of show business.
Shulgin himself says that they lived in Germany for 4 years, then Cruise broke up - ambitious musicians began to quarrel and the relationship came to naught. Warner looked at what was being done with the band and waved a hand. Each of the artists believed that the company would sign a contract with him, but this did not happen. Shulgin remained in Germany to work in the studio, began to recognize the system of show business.
Creative way
Saying goodbye to Germany, Shulgin returns to his homeland, where he begins his production activities, simultaneously opening several of his companies. In 1998, he founded the company "Last Name". She is still engaged in the media, business and entertainment industries. Very soon producer Alexander Shulgin also became known as a composer. Over 50 songs of his composition become real hits and capture only the top lines of charts and hitparads. Throughout the 90s, he has been working together with singer Valeria and the Dream group. Later he undertakes to produce the Jazz album of the rock group "Alisa", promotes "Mumiy Troll" and "Ivanushki International" on the career ladder. Leading artists begin to collaborate with Shulgin.
In the early 2000s, producer Shulgin became the author and musical director of such popular shows for young talents as “Star Factory” and “Become a Star”. As a result, the Other Rules group appears, the participants of which become the finalists of this project. In 2005, Shulgin released the album "Submission", where he seriously discusses the struggle between good and evil.
A year later, he becomes a columnist and leads his own column in the newspaper Vzglyad. Later, in 2010, Alexander begins to compose for the music portal Newsmusic. In 2011, he decided to make a gift to his native land (by nationality Alexander Valerievich Shulgin is Russian) and writes the anthem to Irkutsk: “Siberia, Baikal, Irkutsk”. Very soon this gift became legendary, and the record acquired various interpretations.
Shulgin in search of himself
In 2011, Shulgin is seriously interested in religious issues and even enters PSTGU (Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University). A little later, the composer will begin to create music for the Orthodox channel "SPAS". At the same time, the producer is engaged in advanced technologies and becomes a member of the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation.
A family
The personal life of Shulgin Alexander Valerievich has long ceased to be only personal and has become a public property. His first wife was the famous singer Valeria, whom he met in one of the nightclubs, where his future wife had a small solo performance. This meeting was not love at first sight. Initially, the producer just wanted to work with Valeria, later their relationship grew into something more. And even the singer’s official spouse - musician Leonid Yaroshevsky - could not prevent the future couple from gaining, as it seemed then, happiness.
“Happy” family life
After a short time, Alexander Shulgin and Valeria announce their marriage. In marriage, in 1993, they have their first child - the girl Anya. A little later, beautiful boys are born - Artem and Arseny. Being pregnant with her third child, Valeria had already filed for divorce, but her husband was able to convince her to save the family for the child. Later, the couple nevertheless divorced, and the case was not without a scandal.
Valeria told reporters about the quarrels with her ex-husband, which is why the composer's reputation has been badly damaged. In addition, the stories of the ex-wife that after the birth of her daughter, the tender and caring Alexander became quick-tempered and aggressive, and sometimes even raised a hand to his wife, were very shocking details of their family life.
Offended Shulgin repaid the same coin and left his own children without attention, care and alimony. Moreover, the daughter said that she did not consider Alexander his father and did not feel any warm feelings for him.
Later, producer Alexander Shulgin struck up close relations with one of the participants in the Star Factory project, Julia Mikhalchik. However, this novel ended as swiftly as it began. His new girlfriend, from her own experience, realized that the statements of the singer Valeria were not empty words out of a sense of revenge, and very quickly hastened to leave her lover. Since then, Shulgin has been living the life of an avid bachelor and, it seems, is not going to change anything at all. At least, nothing is known about his new passion at the moment.
Producer and composer Shulgin today
What is Alexander Shulgin doing now? Judging by the list of his merits, he does not sit a day without important matters. In 2016, he produced a very interesting short film “ShahMat” and acts as a composer of this film, in which Ornella Muti herself played the main role.
Today, Alexander Shulgin is investing in new high-tech projects. He was one of the first in Russia to invest in blockchain, and later he joined the Elon Musk project. A year ago, the composer gave a free lecture in his hometown. He spoke about how and why it is changing in society, where new technologies come from and what education young talents need to have in order not to be left out in the future.
In 2017, Shulgin was spotted at the Innoprom site. There he also expressed his opinion regarding the future of our country. A well-known producer says that only robotization can help Russia. Of course, there is a huge risk, because, according to Shulgin himself, production will always compete with foreign competing firms, and not create worthwhile original products for the country's needs.
Alexander Shulgin is a significant figure in the history of Russian show business. He established himself as a talented, successful producer and composer. His works are performed not only by our compatriots, but also by a number of foreign artists. It is worth noting that Shulgin is exactly the man who made himself. Born into an ordinary family, he was able to turn his hobby not only into the business of his whole life, but also into decent earnings.