Almost twenty years ago, television and radio broadcasts of the country were "blown up" by a novelty - the Beasts group with songs in the pop-rock genre. Today the Beasts and their soloist Roman Bilyk, better known as Roma the Beast, are a recognized classic of our pop. What path did Roman take before coming to fame and finding his listener?
Childhood
Roma was born in the southern city of Taganrog in early December 1977. In the family, in addition to Roma, two more sons grew up - the eldest Edward and the younger Pavel. Roman's parents were ordinary people: father Vitaly worked as a turner at the factory, mother Svetlana gave more than twenty years of her life to work in a taxi, and before that she was a race car driver.
At school, Roma studied, as usual, and was generally an unremarkable boy - like everyone else. Hang out in the company of friends like him, spent time as is customary with young people. And in high school, suddenly became interested in music, having independently learned to play the guitar. True, then there was still no sign that the long-haired lanky clumsy boy in five years would become the frontman of the pop-rock group and conquer the whole country.
Study. Moscow
Many people think that if you are an artist, then you should get the appropriate education. However, not all artists have the right crusts. Here is Roma the Beast - an absolute self-taught. And he received a profession ... in an ordinary technical school of his native city - he studied there as a builder, later he received the same specialty in the corresponding college. Moreover, for some time the future musician even worked in his specialty. At the same time, Roman was already seriously interested in music, began to compose and play something. And then there was a failure in love, the hometown began to seem gray and uninteresting, and Roman thought: there is nothing to lose. So, almost lightly, but full of inspiration, plans, hopes and enthusiasm, in the summer of 2000, the novice musician arrived in Moscow.
First time
The first steps in Moscow were not easy. In order to sell songs (and record them), a producer was needed, communication was required, which Roman Bilyk (photos are presented in this article) did not have.
But there was a need for food and housing, and therefore it was necessary to make money for it all. At first, Roma worked in his specialty. And then he pulled out a happy ticket.
Sasha Voitinsky
The lucky ticket was Alexander Voitinsky, a producer whom Roma accidentally met. He met by chance, and then collaborated for many years. Upon hearing Romina’s recordings, Voitinsky understood: the guy is good, he has potential. So in the fall of 2001, the Beasts group appeared: Roman Bilyk, at the same time a vocalist and a guitarist, and in addition to him several musicians.
Upstairs
The debut single of the musicians was called "For You". In February of the following year, a video came out for him. He immediately attracted the attention of the audience and brought the beginning group a certain popularity. This year, 2002, the year of the Beast’s launch, turned out to be very successful for Roman Bilyk and for the whole team. They somehow, right away, as the saying goes, “flooded”. First, they successfully “shot” with a debut song, then, in the summer of that year, they performed at the Invasion festival, where all rockers are invited ... In the autumn, their second video for the second single - the song “Just such a strong love” - was born. Both the track itself and the clip on it immediately fell into the rotation of large music radio stations and entertainment television channels.
On this wave of success, Beasts recorded their debut album, entitled Hunger. He came out in 2003 and only strengthened the position of the team, significantly increasing the number of gang fans.
"Beasts": along the way with luck
Usually, musical performers have either ups or downs, but fortune still has never betrayed Roman Bilyk’s group. And this is wonderful! New videos, new songs, new albums, vigorous concert activity ... Seventeen years have already passed since the group was formed. A lot of what happened to the group itself - the composition changed, someone left, someone came. The participants themselves grew internally, and the frontman of the collective Roman changed. Now, the forty-year-old Bilyk is, of course, not the young Roma of the incomplete twenty-three years that he came to conquer the capital with burning eyes.
Romance diminished, wisdom improved. This, of course, is reflected in the songs of the collective: more precisely, in their lyrics, because Roma is the author of most of his tracks himself (sometimes he collaborates with other poets, for example, with his long-time Petersburg friend Viktor Bondarev). However, despite all the changes, the work of "Beasts" has always been and remains invariably high-quality and sincere, taking in the soul, and the collective itself is still loved by the audience.
Albums of the Beasts group
In addition to the first disc, which was already mentioned above, the Beasts released several more records. To date, in addition to the first, these are six full albums, as well as three mini-albums (Friends on the Chamber, Wine and Space, Animals in the Zoo). The last of this list is described in more detail below.
Roman Bilyk in the movie
The mini-album "Animals at the Zoo", released just a couple of months ago, is a collection of soundtracks for the film by Kirill Serebrennikov "Summer" - its premiere took place in June this year.
However, Roman has a much deeper relation to this tape: the whole point is that Roma Zver played in this film, by the way, dedicated to Viktor Tsoi, one of the main roles - Mike Naumenko, a friend and colleague of Tsoi. The director himself persuaded the musician to go to the actors, and, judging by the reviews, Roman coped with his task well.
The personal life of Roma the Beast
Unlike many representatives of show business, Roman is an exemplary family man. He has long and happily been married to a former St. Petersburg model named Marina (now she is engaged in children and home), they have two daughters growing up - a ten-year-old Olya and a three-year-old Zoenka. Do not spill water with the eldest daughter Roman Bilyk - they do their lessons together and ride a surf (like her father, Olya is an avid surfer). The youngest daughter is still looking at this sport.
The beast generally likes to spend time with his family - they often fly to relax together, Roman takes his girls with him to some performances. Roman Bilyk and his wife spend a lot of time - they go to museums, visit exhibitions, theaters - in general, lead the ordinary life of an ordinary happy family.
Interesting facts about Roma Zver and his group
- The first composition of the "Beasts" Roman and Alexander Voitinsky scored via the Internet.
- Roman published two books of autobiography. The first book (“Rain Pistols”) appeared in 2007, the second (“The Sun is for us”) - ten years later.
- Recently, Roma the Beast became interested in photography. He shoots a lot and even held several of his photo exhibitions.
- The first major concert was performed by the Beasts band at the Moscow Luzhniki Stadium in 2004.
- Roman's height is one hundred seventy-two centimeters, the zodiac sign is Sagittarius.
- One of the first works of Roman in Moscow was work in the museum of Zurab Tsereteli.
- At birth, Roman weighed more than four and a half kilograms; parents expected twins.
That's all there is to know about a talented musician, actor, writer, photographer Roman Bilyk. And, as one of his songs sings, "see you soon"!