What happened to the hands up group. Ex-soloist of the group “Hands Up!” spoke about the true reasons for the breakup of the group. In which city do you have the most fans?

The generation of the 90s are still fans of songs legendary group. Perhaps this is the music closest to the people, which at one time created a colossal sensation and won millions of hearts. Despite the rapid emergence of new idols, people do not forget their favorites and remember with pleasure old times. Why did the group "Hands Up" break up?

The history of the legendary group

Sergei Zhukov and Alexey Potekhin met by chance in 1991 at the radio station where each worked. They decided to broadcast a cassette with their compositions. At that time, they didn’t even think about the name of the group, nor did they even think about whether such creativity would be interesting to anyone. The only thing that was done was attach a sticker that said "This music will make you raise your hands in the air." The DJs played a new song during the program and announced that this composition was from the young group “Hands Up”. Thus, the name appeared by itself and became firmly entrenched in the world of pop music. The very first song “Baby” was received by the public with incredible dedication and was loved by many. After another hit song “Student”, the group began touring cities, giving a huge number of young girls the opportunity to meet their beloved group. In 1999, the album sold an incredible 12 million copies. All the songs suited the mentality of those listening so well that they instantly became hits. But many are still perplexed as to why the “Hands Up” group broke up.

Who is guilty?

In 2006, a decision was made to discontinue the group's activities. A big farewell concert was planned in Moscow, but the artists failed to raise enough money to organize it. In August 2006, the “Hands Up” group simply ceased to exist. The reason for the breakup is not indicated by the musicians, although in various interviews they still admit that everyone has experienced changes in their lives that are incompatible with their future activities. If you ask who is to blame for the collapse of the “Hands Up” group, you can get the answer: “Nobody.”

Creative differences

Sergey Zhukov switched to managing new projects and solo career, and Alexey Potekhin became interested in producing. It was no longer interesting to develop joint creativity. In addition, as young people grew older, more and more disagreements arose. The guys grew up and wanted something more, especially since the audience was mostly screaming teenagers. We decided that at the age of 30 it was no longer serious. There is also an opinion that the project has simply exhausted itself. The group no longer had its former popularity due to the emergence of new young artists, with whom it became more difficult to compete.

Sergei Zhukov tours with the repertoire of the group "Hands Up", performing under the same name

When the group "Hands Up" broke up, the musicians divided the entire repertoire they had developed among themselves. After that, Sergei recorded two solo albums, and then began traveling around the country with the show ballet Street Jazz, which had previously collaborated with “Rukami”. It brings together full houses and provides an opportunity to plunge into nostalgia. Everyone, young and old, knows the old hit repertoire. Today Zhukov is one of the most touring artists. Married, has 4 children.

Bar "Hands Up"

Sergei Zhukov, in parallel with his creativity, opens bars with the name of the legendary group. Business is booming, and cozy, intimate places are opening in many cities. This is not a place for worshiping idols and discussing why the group "Hands Up" broke up. There was even a ban on listening to “Ruk” hits around the clock. People come here to feel nostalgic, eat delicious food, meet friends, and see performances by celebrity guests.

The life of Alexey Potekhin after the breakup of the group

During one of the interviews, the musician admitted that he does not maintain a relationship with Sergei Zhukov. He doesn’t like to answer the question of why the “Hands Up” group broke up. Alexey, together with Vladimir Luchnikov (Turbomoda group, musician of the Hands Up group), tours with a solo program in small towns. They attract with their sincerity and sincerity, although they do not receive large fees. He believes that the success of the songs lies in their natural provinciality, in which every resident of a small town recognizes himself. Alexey Potekhin devotes himself to producing new projects. He married a second time and has a daughter.

Before becoming a musician popular group“Hands up!”, Alexey Potekhin worked at the Samara radio station “Europe Plus”, where he had a humorous program. Their union with fellow DJ Sergei Zhukov in 1991 was the beginning of a long collaboration in a new musical group. Their first song, “Baby,” immediately fell in love with the youth audience and became the key to more than ten years of successful creativity. The duet received many prizes in a variety of categories Russian competitions and five Golden Gramophone statuettes. Songs of the group “Hands Up!” four times became laureates of the “Song of the Year” award. In 2006, this group broke up and each of the singers went their own way. Alexey became the founder of the new project “TRACK&Blues”, promotes young talents and goes on tour as a performer of songs from the old repertoire. Alexei Potekhin's wife has nothing to do with the stage

Potekhin married twice in his life and his first marriage was directly related to the “Hands Up!” group. At the very peak of their popularity, two singers: Zhukov and Potekhin, were so busy with their creative career that their personal life did not have any development: due to the lack of wives or more or less permanent girlfriends, they even began to be suspected of having a penchant for unconventional love interests. The young guys simply did not immediately cope with the all-Russian success and adoration that fell on their heads, therefore, they devoted themselves entirely to the stage. Then the state of affairs changed: having strengthened themselves in their glory and got used to it, they became simpler and more reasonable: life went on. Zhukov was the first to get married in 2000, and in 2002 his stage partner decided to join the army of “married people.” Moreover, he had no need to go far: Alexey was dating a girl from the group’s backup dancer, Irina Tomilova.

Irina danced and “sang along” with the duet to the soundtrack, creating a decorative background during the performance, and completely satisfied the audience. In April 2002, she and Alexei got married, but this information was hidden among the audience: only initiates and those who found information knew about the wives of the main performers: fans should not be disappointed. This marriage lasted two years and there is no exact information about why it broke up. They said that Irina was expecting a child, then rumors appeared that it could not be saved. Potekhin himself admitted in an interview that he and his wife continue to communicate, but do not live together, and any girl who can make him a father can become a candidate for the role of his wife. However, information that his ex-wife is now married and has a child refutes the version of Irina’s infertility.

In addition to the gossip, there was also a message in Express Newspaper that, having heard about the construction luxury mansion in a protected resort town on the Curonian Spit near Kaliningrad, allegedly started by Alexei Potekhin, meticulous journalists asked him for details. Alexey suggested that this building may mean “Ira’s dad” - ex-wife, living in Kaliningrad. A person, presumably, not poor and influential enough to afford such a luxury. Potekhin himself, according to him, does not have that kind of money. In light of these circumstances, Alexei’s divorce from Irina could have other reasons.

In 2009, Potekhin married a second time, and in March 2010 his daughter was born. New wife Alexey’s name is Elena and, according to her husband, she worked in the “field of veterinary medicine.” The lovers dated for two years before they decided to get married, and are absolutely happy that they have a child. For the sake of her daughter, Elena parted with her work, devoting all her attention to her. The girl was named Masha and Potekhina is very pleased with the sound of her name, her middle name is Maria Alekseevna. During the birth, the musician was in Moscow and himself took his wife to the Family Planning Center.

He often has to leave for concerts in the Russian outback and this is due to Zhukov’s ownership of the repertoire of their former duet. Even the name of Alexey’s team is now “Raise your hands up!”, and the stage venues are much more modest than before. But Alexei Potekhin’s wife can be calm: her husband will be able to provide a decent existence for her and her baby, because he works for the good of his family.

Group "Hands Up!" was at the height of fame 15 years ago. The first line-up, represented by Sergei Zhukov and Alexei Potekhin, won many prestigious awards and music awards. All Russian youth knew their songs “Alyoshka”, “Student” and others by heart. Today the group continues to perform, albeit with a different lineup.

What the group “Hands Up!” used to be like: photos of the old lineup

The leader of the group was initially Sergei Zhukov. In June 1993, he met on a radio show with promising musician Alexey Potekhin. They decided to create a group with interesting name"Uncle Ray and Company"

Young and early “Hands Up!”

The compositions were dominated by “techno” and “dance” elements. Young people wrote songs and sang on the streets for several years, but they didn’t “get through” big stage did not work. In December 1995, they recorded several new tracks and sent them to radio.

The caption for the tape read: "This will make everyone raise their hands in the air."

One of the compositions was played in live, and the audience really liked it. Since then, this name has been assigned to the group - “Hands Up!”

That's how they were

Real success came in 1997, when the group began to be invited to various international festivals. People really liked their simple songs and images of two carefree guys.

"Hands up!" at the dawn of glory

Sergey and Alexey recorded the first studio album, tracks from which became hits on long years. In just 9 years of collaboration, Zhukov and Potekhin recorded dozens of video clips and songs.

"Hands up!" now: Sergei Zhukov is left alone

In August 2006, the founder of the group, Sergei Zhukov, was left alone.

Sergey Zhukov now

He still performs, mostly in Russia, performing old favorites.

Sergei Zhukov was left alone

The musician is happy, they have three children. The family owns it. Business is going well.

Family and business of Sergei Zhukov

In 2012, Sergei released an album of 14 songs, “Open the Door for Me.” It was received quite well by critics.

"Hands up!" represented by Sergei Zhukov

In 2013, the single “Wings” was released, which Zhukov recorded together with the Azerbaijani singer Bahh Tee. He continues to give concerts, and recently finished another tour.

Remember old songs

Some time ago the musicians united and gave several joint concerts, but that was only once. The group no longer exists in its original composition.

What is Alexey Potekhin doing today?

In 2006 Alexey started a new music project called “Track&Blues”, but failed to achieve widespread fame. The young man produced the musicians Superboys and JWell. Under his leadership, 3 large collections of dance music were recorded. A few years later he created the group “Raise Your Hands Up,” with which he still tours.

Alexey Potekhin now

The musician is now 46 years old. He doesn’t like to talk about his departure from the popular team: “I get asked this question all the time, which is a little annoying. I left because I outgrew this project. I, an adult man, began to feel uncomfortable singing youth songs.”

Alexey has his own team

According to Alexei, Sergei was happy with everything. They hardly communicate with each other: “Try to call him yourself, he’s a VIP.”

Potekhin and Zhukov today

Group "Hands Up!" - one of the most famous and successful projects on Russian stage. Loud glory remains in the past, but their compositions are still heard on various competitions and festivals.

July 04, 2017

Alexey Potekhin and Sergey Zhukov have not communicated for a long time.

Soloist of the group "Hands Up" Alexey Potekhin/Photo: https://www.instagram.com/potekhinalex/

In the 90s, the group “Hands Up!” was incredibly popular. Sergei Zhukov and Alexey Potekhin toured the country, their songs “My Baby”, “I’m Already 18”, “He Kisses You” were known and loved by many. After the breakup of the group, the participants divided the entire repertoire among themselves. Sergei Zhukov continued to tour the country with hits, and Alexey Potekhin, together with Vladimir Luchnikov, created the group “Raise Your Hands Up”. According to the musician, he does not draw crowds of thousands of fans, but he is not worried about it either.

“We are not traveling along major cities, and most often to villages, Sergei Zhukov will not go there, for example. Like most of the people you see on TV. All they know is to walk along red carpets, put on masks, dance on skates and receive various awards in the form of plates, which are of little use,” admits Potekhin. When asked by journalists why the once popular “Hands Up!” team actually broke up, the man replies that the reason was disagreements between the participants.

“Everyone asks me why I left “Hands Up!” I will answer you: because we have all become adults. But Sergei didn’t think so, he was comfortable. He is comfortable now. He always wanted fame, but I didn't. Are we communicating? Ask him that. Although you are unlikely to get through to him. He’s a VIP,” the publication quotes the artist as saying.

Alexey Evgenievich Potekhin. Born on April 15, 1972 in Novokuibyshevsk Samara region. Russian musician, radio host, producer. Former member of the group “Hands Up!”

Older brother - Andrey Potekhin.

Everyone in the family loved music, to which early years Alexey also joined.

Studied at art school and basketball section.

He learned to play the guitar, composed songs, and worked part-time as a DJ at discos. At that time he was interested hard rock - Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Foreigner, The Cult, Metallica.

After graduation high school went to study in Samara at the river technical school, which he graduated in 1991.

He was a presenter at the radio station “Europe-plus” in Samara, where he hosted the program “Rhymes from Potekhin.” There on the radio in 1993 he met.

In December 1994 they moved to Togliatti, where they tried to record songs in a studio. At the same time, they regularly travel to Samara to broadcast on Radio Europe Plus.

In Tolyatti, together with Sergei Zhukov, he created the group “Uncle Ray and Company”.

In May 1995 they find themselves in Moscow. We worked as DJs at the Moscow radio station “Rocks”, then held a series of discos in Tbilisi.

At the end of 1995, the musicians broadcast a cassette with several songs to Radio Maximum and signed: “This music will make you raise your hands up.” The cassette fell into the hands of presenters Olga Maksimova and Konstantin Mikhailov, who staged the song “ Good morning" and announced: "Young group "Hands Up!" Since then, this name has been assigned to the group - "Hands up!".

Then producer Andrei Malikov became interested in the group, and concerts and tours began.

Group "Hands up!" recorded the song “Baby”, which became popular, followed by the hit “Student”. The songs “Baby” and “Student” are in the top ten of the “Russian Radio” hit parade “Russian Hill”. In the spring and summer of 1997, video clips were shot for these songs. A session vocalist, Elizaveta Rodnyanskaya, a member of the Melissa group, was found to record the female parts.

In 1998, the group received six silver medals, three gold medals and one platinum disc for the huge number of copies sold. In 1999, the group became the winner of three diplomas at the second annual award of the Russian recording industry.

In 1999, the album “Without Brakes” was released, which sold 12,000,000 copies.

Their songs “My Baby”, “Sorry”, “Ay Yay Yay Girl”, “Alyoshka”, “Thought”, “Kind, Gentle, Affectionate”, “Little Girls”, “He Kisses You”, “Go Away” became hits. , "Whirlpool".

Hands up - Ay yay yay girl

In the late 1990s, the group created its own music label “Dancing Men” (“B-Funky Productions”), which began producing pop groups “Turbomoda”, “Boys”, “Revolvers”, “Shark”, singer Murphy.

In 2006, the group “Hands Up!” fell apart. About the reasons for his departure, Alexey Potekhin said: “Everyone asks me why I left “Hands Up!” I’ll answer you: because we all became adults, but Sergei didn’t think so, he was comfortable. He is comfortable now. I always wanted fame, but I didn’t.”

He admitted that although the whole country sang their songs, he did not earn much money: “The most interesting thing is that of all the two hundred and thirty songs that we wrote, everyone was only interested in the simplest ones. “La-la-la-la, all day I humming" – we became famous on such songs. Every girl in the country had “Hands Up!” cassettes, but on ours financial situation It didn't have any impact."

After the collapse of the group “Hands Up!” in 2006, Alexey Potekhin, together with his friend Vladimir Luchnikov, created a project called "Raise Your Hands Up". He began touring with the group. Released a collection dance music Potexinstyle-3.

Alexey also began producing young performers such as Superboys, J Well (ex-member of the Discomafia group). During the period 2006-2008, 3 collections of dance music Potexinstyle were released, combining many young performers and hits famous groups, such as “Demo”, “Turbomoda”, “Plank”, etc.

Then Alexey took up the TREC&blues project, to which he invited ex-vocalist of the Turbomoda group Vladimir Luchnikov and ex-member of the Svoi group Ruslan Achkinadze. In 2007, they invited former member TV show Dom-2 by Alessandro Materazzo, who toured with them in the summer of 2008 in southern Russia.

In 2013, the artist, together with his wife, presented new track"Summer Winter".

In 2014, a presentation of it took place at the Arena Moscow club solo album entitled “I Can’t Do Otherwise.”

In 2016, at a concert dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the group “Hands Up!”, Potekhin and Zhukov reunited on stage again. However, their communication never resumed.

For the 2018 World Championships in Russia, Alexey Potekhin wrote a song for “Buranovskie Babushki”.

Collaborates with a company engaged in the production of textile products.

Alexey Potekhin's height: 182 centimeters.

Personal life of Alexey Potekhin:

Was married twice.

The first wife is Irina Tomilova, a dancer of the “Hands Up!” group. We got married on April 13, 2002. Divorced in 2004.