The history of the Moscow “Bravo” beat-group, like any other, playing music unconventional for the official Soviet pop music, is characterized by unflagging control of party and administrative bodies, as well as constant changes in the composition and close contacts with other informal musicians.
Postscript - Bravo
So, the future Bravo leader Yevgeny Havtan began his musical career in 1982 in the postscript group Garik Sukachev, who was playing a new wave then. Some time later, in 1983, Garik Sukachev left the team, and his first future star soloist Zhanna Aguzarova, who had previously sang in the Mukhomori band forbidden by the KGB, joined the ensemble.
The ensemble changes its name to “Bravo” and begins to play a beat, speaking in palaces of culture, institutes and schools. At the end of the year, the group’s first unofficial magneto-album appears, but already on March 18, 1984, police officers detained the participants right at the concert. The Bravo group is on the banned list, and Zhanna Aguzarova is arrested for several months due to problems with documents and then deported from Moscow.
Peak of popularity
The composition of the group changes, and it practically ceases concert activity, doing only rehearsals and occasionally speaking at home concerts.
Since 1985, the situation with unofficial music in the country has been substantially softened, and musicians as an amateur group are invited to the newly created Moscow rock laboratory, which has the right to organize official concerts. Zhanna Aguzarova returns to the team, and very soon Alla Pugacheva begins to patronize the group, by which time she had already become the first star of the Soviet stage and a popular favorite.
It is she who invites children to the most prestigious music festivals, and then television. In 1986, “Bravo” acquired the status of a professional philharmonic group, and in 1987, “Melody” released their first official record, consisting of songs with 3 magneto-albums that had been released by then and sold in the amount of 5 million copies.
Syutkin and Lenz
The Bravo group is at the peak of popularity, but in 1988 Zhanna Aguzarova left her, preferring to pursue a solo career. The team remains famous, gives concerts. However, due to the fact that the soloists of the Bravo group are constantly changing, the success of the team is not growing.
This continues until 1990, when Valery Syutkin, a talented composer, memorable vocalist and artist, enters the team. “Bravo” again soars to the top of popularity - it gives more than 1 thousand concerts, releases the albums “Hipsters from Moscow”, “Moskovsky Bit” and “The Road in the Clouds”, which became the most popular in the discography that the Bravo group had.
Syutkin in 1994, again for the sake of a solo career, leaves the team. He is replaced by Robert Lenz. Along with his arrival, the audience of quite a few fans of the ensemble is becoming constant, and all younger, which gives the group the opportunity to give an acceptable number of concerts and release new singles and albums.
Change of direction
The group’s creative activity is changing too - now they are working on “Bravo” solo projects, singing songs by other authors and inviting other composers to their concerts.
Musicians along with invited stars celebrate 20 and 25 years of work in the Kremlin and become one of the most profitable concert groups in the country, and their participation in major rock festivals only increases the number of fans, and among those who have not been born when the group “ Bravo ”began its activities. The ensemble continues to release albums, including with the participation of foreign producers, but very rarely: Fashion - in 2011, and Forever - only in 2015.
Nevertheless, the Bravo team is not forgotten by the fans - many songs are constant hits on radio and television.