Nani Bregvadze: “My grandchildren call me Nani. Well, not a grandmother?! Nani Bregvadze - biography, information, personal life of singers and a jealous husband

TBILISI, July 21. /Corr. TASS Tengiz Pachkoria/. The name of the Georgian singer, People's Artist of Georgia and the USSR Nani Bregvadze is widely known in Georgia, Russia and many other countries. On July 21 she turned 80 years old. The popularity that came to her back in the 1960s does not fade, the singer continues to be active concert activities and is not going to leave the stage. She celebrates her anniversary in Tbilisi with family members, relatives and friends.

In a conversation with a TASS correspondent, Nani Bregvadze said that anniversary creative events dedicated to her 80th birthday will be held in Tbilisi and Moscow in December this year. “I was born in July 1936, but at this time it is always very hot in Georgia, and besides, it is the holiday period, so anniversary evening concerts dedicated to my 80th birthday will take place later," she explained. According to her, "now preparations are underway for upcoming anniversary events."

To the question “What is the secret of her creative longevity?” the singer replied: “I always try to be in shape - both as a singer and as a woman who should please people with her singing and communication. My voice does not leave me. I will sing and please people with this as long as I have the voice and strength ".

Nani Bregvadze was born and raised in Tbilisi. Her father Georgy Bregvadze was an actor, and her mother Olga Mikeladze came from a noble princely family. Nani’s great-grandmother sang in her salon, and her aunt was a professional singer and sang in a popular Georgian choir. Nani herself, at the age of 6, began singing both Georgian and Russian songs. Bregvadze says: “I was often asked, “How can one explain such a passion for Russian romances?” and I, without getting tired, answered: “This is from the family, from my loved ones, who sang both Georgian songs and Russian romances.” Nani graduated from music school and technical school in Tbilisi, then here at the State Conservatory, at the same time she sang in the amateur pop orchestra of the Georgian Polytechnic Institute.

In 1957, this orchestra and she became laureates World Festival youth and students in Moscow. As a student at the Tbilisi Conservatory, she began singing in the Tbilisi pop orchestra "Rero", in 1964 she toured with the Moscow Music Hall in Paris, then for the first time she performed in the world famous hall"Olympia" and received good feedback from Charles Aznavour himself. In 1965 she was invited to the famous Georgian vocal-instrumental ensemble "Orera", in which she was a soloist for 15 years and performed on tour in 80 countries. IN last years Nani sings with her daughter, famous singer This Mamaladze, and granddaughter - Natalya Kutateladze. Their joint concerts took place in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Cyprus and other countries.

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Name: Nani Bregvadze

Surname: Georgievna

Place of Birth: Tbilisi, Georgia

Height: 175 cm

Zodiac sign: Cancer

Eastern horoscope: Rat

Activity: singer

Nani Bregvadze - great Georgian singer, People's Artist of the USSR (1983). Performer famous compositions“Snowfall” and “Red Rowan”, she was one of the first on the Soviet stage to revive the traditions of Russian and gypsy romances.

Nani was born on July 21, 1938 in Tbilisi in creative family. Her father, Georgy Efremovich, acted in films and played in the theater, her mother played the piano excellently, and her parents paid great attention to the creative upbringing of the child. The girl began to sing almost the same time she learned to speak. Already at the age of 6, Nani sang well the romances “Kalitka” and “Don’t leave, my darling” with a guitar.

After graduating from music school, the girl decided to continue improving her piano skills and became a student at a local specialized college. For several years she dreamed of becoming famous pianist, although she was also interested in singing. Nani’s mother was able to convince her of her choice of specialty because she drew attention to her daughter’s vocal talent.

In 1956, Nani began performing with the orchestra of the Polytechnic Institute, and already next year the team became a laureate of the World Youth music festival in Moscow. Talents young singers assessed famous artists, among whom was Leonid Utesov himself. After the composition “I put out the candle” performed by Nani, the artist noted: “This girl, if she continues to sing, will become a good singer.”

Despite her successes in vocal music, in 1958 Bregvadze continued musical education piano class at the State Conservatory in hometown. However, she could not leave singing and in 1959 she became one of the soloists in the Tbilisi State Pop Orchestra “Rero”, where she worked for 5 years.

At one of the performances, the singer with a very soulful voice was noticed by representatives of the Moscow Music Hall and invited her on tour to Paris, where Bregvadze had the opportunity to sing in the well-known Olympia Hall. Upon returning home, she received an invitation to become a soloist of the Orera ensemble, with which the Georgian singer subsequently worked for 15 years and toured over 80 countries.

In 1966, the singer met Vakhtang Kikabidze, who also joined the Orera ensemble. Kikabidze not only sang, but played there percussion instruments. Joint tours brought the young artists closer together, and soon they became best friends. With Vakhtang and Nani, the team released several records, which almost instantly became classics of Soviet pop music.

In 1968, Nani was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR. In 1970, together with Kikabidze, she participated in the filming of the musical “Orera, Full Throttle Ahead,” which was dedicated to the ensemble’s trip to Australia. In 1974 she received the title People's Artist Georgia.

In 1980, Bregvadze decided to go on a solo voyage. With her heartfelt and tender songs, the artist brought back the love of many Soviet listeners for Russian and gypsy romances. Her fans loved such compositions as “Lost Love” and “I Remember the Waltz Sound.” And here business card Nani had a lyrical song about women's fate“Snowfall”, performed by her for the first time in 1981. After 2 years, the Georgian singer became People's Artist of the USSR.

In the nineties, Nani continued to delight listeners with her sensual performances, releasing albums such as “Romance, Romance” (1995) and “Concert in New York"(1997). In 1997, the singer created the Nani company, in which she began supporting young Georgian musicians. In addition, she was active participant public organizations"Women for Peace" and "Soviet Woman".

Since 2002, Bregvadze has been engaged in teaching activities, heading the department pop vocals at the Institute of Music MGUKI. In 2005, the singer released a new disc with previously unreleased songs based on poems by Bella Akhmadulina and Marina Tsvetaeva. Over the years, Bregvadze began to perform less and more time to devote to her family and well-deserved rest.

The artist's first and only husband was Merab Mamaladze. Due to the wife’s frequent tours, her husband constantly arranged scenes of jealousy for her.

In 1960, the couple gave birth to a wonderful daughter, Eka (Ekaterina), who later also became a famous singer in Georgia.

Nani’s marriage with Merab did not work out, and after long separations and litigation they separated. The singer became a grandmother 3 times and currently is already raising great-grandchildren Dmitry and Alexander.

The eldest grandson, Levan, is a dentist by training, currently working on television, his brother, Georgiy, is an architect. Granddaughter Natalya chose the path of her grandmother and is building a career as a vocalist.

Despite her advanced age, at the beginning of the year before last Nani performed at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg with festive concert“If a woman asks...” In the same year, she became a guest on Yulia Menshova’s talk show “Alone with Everyone,” and at the end of the year she gave an interview to Vladimir Pozner in his “Posner” program.

Nani Bregvadze – talented singer with a magnificent voice that is still heard by the whole world, she was born in the capital of sunny Georgia, Tbilisi, on July 12, 1936.

Childhood

And although there was no singer in the family before her professional musicians, from the first days of her life she was surrounded beautiful music. That's why she started singing even before she spoke. This is not surprising - Georgia is a very musical region. And Nani’s parents knew and loved the songs.

She most likely inherited her talent for singing from her great-grandmother, who was a fairly famous singer in Georgia. And his artistry and ability to act freely on stage come from his father, a professional theater actor.

By the age of six, Nani could sing romances beautifully and folk songs to guitar accompaniment. She will carry her love for Russian romance from childhood throughout her life - after all, a piece of Russian blood flows in her veins.

She went to music school at the same time as educational school, and by the time she graduated, she already knew for sure that she simply couldn’t imagine her life without singing and the stage. It was quite logical to enter School of Music. At the same time, she performed a lot with school and amateur concerts and dreamed of a big stage.

Wing sample

While still a student at the music school, Nani became a soloist in the student pop group at the Polytechnic Institute. She went with him to the first significant event in her life. singing competition, held as part of the World Youth Festival in 1957, which took place in Moscow.

With her inimitable voice, she literally amazed the capital and brought home a laureate’s diploma. And soon she received an invitation to become a soloist in a pop group at the Georgian Philharmonic. As a guest soloist of the capital's music hall, she made her triumphant debut in France, in famous hall"Olympia", which has seen many world-famous stars.

"Orero"

In 1964, she received a very flattering offer to work in the already famous and popular Georgian pop group “Orero”, which she gladly accepted. The ensemble was known for performing both Russian romances and Georgian folk songs in modern pop arrangements.

By and large, no one else was making such music at that time. This brought the team to the top of not only the all-Union, but also the international musical Olympus. The musicians have toured almost the whole world - in 15 years they have performed in more than 80 countries.

The group gained even greater popularity when Vakhtang Kikabidze became its second soloist. In such a fruitful creative union, several records were recorded, which almost immediately entered the gold fund Soviet stage. For more than 20 years, Nani Bregvazde was one of the most beautiful, talented and popular performers in the USSR.

Solo career

Your solo musical path Nani Bregvadze started in 1980. She calmly parted with Orero, keeping a good relationship both with Kikabizde and with the rest of the musicians, which is very rare in the pop world.

She was completely satisfied with working in a team: there was fame, money, foreign tours. But she dreamed of singing her own music, and in the group she had to work according to her rules.

In the repertoire of Bregvadze in the 80-90s there were not only Russian and Georgian songs, but also gypsy romances, which she also felt and performed superbly. By the end of the 90s, she realized that her purpose was to help young talented performers. This happened after she was invited to serve on the jury. international competition for young vocalists "Romansiada".

Impressed by the abundance beautiful voices and remembering how difficult it is to make your way talented musicians(especially in the period after the collapse of the USSR!), she created her own music agency, which supported aspiring singers and at the same time organized tours popular foreign performers in Georgia.

Modern Nani

In 2000, Nani Bregvadze began her teaching career and for a long time was a teacher at Moscow State University. She is also active social activities, participates in programs and promotions, dedicated to the fight for peace and women's rights. I tried to act in films several times.

Although rumor constantly attributed her to having affairs with Vakhtang Kikabidze, the singer lived her entire life with her one and only beloved husband, Merab Mamaladze. The couple has a daughter who also sings, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren. IN Lately Bregvadze performs less and less and devotes more and more time to her family, which is not surprising - in 2016 the singer celebrated her 80th birthday!

TASS/ Edisherashvili Sergey

There is nothing surprising in the fact that she started singing, says Nani Bregvadze. During the years of her childhood, the whole of Georgia sang: there was no family that would not while away the evening under good song at a welcoming table. But, of course, the singer is a little disingenuous: many Georgians sing well, but her voice gave listeners goosebumps.

Under mom's wing

Her first performances began as soon as Nani learned to speak. By the age of 10, she was already performing well “Kalinka”, “Caravan”, ancient folk songs and romances. One day a girl confessed to her aunt, a professional singer, that she gets goosebumps when she sings.

“Is this bad?” asked Nani. "What you. This means that you eat with your soul,” the aunt reassured.

RIA Novosti/Vasily Malyshev After school, the girl began studying piano at the conservatory (Bregvadze never studied vocals separately). And in her free time from studying, she sang with the pop orchestra of the Tbilisi Polytechnic Institute - it was in its composition that Nani conquered the jury of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow.

The young singer was praised by Leonid Utesov himself.

Nani Bregvadze remembers this time with pleasure: it was so happy and serenely calm. She had favorite hobby, close people nearby, interesting guests every evening. Interesting young people often came to the small apartment where the girl lived with her parents.

The guests behaved respectfully, joked and laughed a lot, and sang along with Nani and her family. Their mother invited them, and for the first time she drew her daughter’s attention to one of the guys - Merab Mamaladze.

By that time, he had quietly pushed other suitors away from Nani: she was aware that she was drawn to this tall and handsome young man. But when her mother directly raised the issue of marriage, the girl realized that she did not want to get married.

Her parents did not listen to her objections. There was no turning back: the Mamaladze family had already officially wooed Nani, their marriage was a done deal. The only thing Nani’s mother insisted on before the wedding was her daughter’s right to continue singing.

Merab, without hesitation, promised that he would not object to her career as a singer. They merried.

10 singers and a jealous husband

RIA Novosti/Vladimir Bogatyrev Keeping his promise was not easy for Merab. With all his love for Nani, the Georgian temperament did not allow him to accept that his wife was touring today in one city, and tomorrow in another. At the same time, she is surrounded on stage by ten incredible handsome men - favorites of the public.

In the 60s, Nani Bregvadze became the soloist of the famous Georgian ensemble “Orera” - and the only singer in its group. All the other performers were men - and young, handsome and temperamental men. There are few husbands who can easily come to terms with such a situation.

And Merab did not put up with it. As soon as Nani returned home from tour, he began to quarrel and get irritated over every trifle. I was jealous of my wife even for their common daughter Eka and parents. But as soon as they went somewhere together, the husband became a different person.

“Friends said: “Nani, don’t think, Merab loves you very much.” But I didn’t need that kind of love, I wanted respect, understanding, trust. I didn’t see this,” the singer said about their marriage.

One day she couldn’t stand it and suggested that her husband leave for a while. He agreed. She had barely caught her breath after the incessant quarrels when new news arrived about her husband: Merab had been arrested.

It turned out that he had put his signature on some fake trade documents. The husband of the Honored Artist of Georgia was facing several years in prison.

Despite them difficult relationships, Bregvadze achieved the transfer of Merab from cold Estonia to his native Georgia. I personally asked Eduard Shevardnadze, who was then the Minister of Internal Affairs, for him: “Let him die, but on his own land!”

Fortunately, Mamaladze did not die. A few years later he reappeared on her doorstep.

Second try

Opening the door, Nani did not recognize her former husband. He lost weight, rethought a lot of things, started doing yoga and seemed to have completely changed. But he still loved her - and asked her to give him a second chance.

Bregvadze agreed.

For the first time, an idyll came into their relationship: Merab accompanied her on tour, infected her with his passion for yoga, and even began teaching it to the entire Orera ensemble. This went on for several years - until the first serious family crisis.

Merab and Nani did not see eye to eye on the first husband of their daughter Eka: Mamaladze objected to her marriage. Quarrels and disagreements began again. One day, returning from a tour, Nani did not find her husband at home. It turned out that during her absence he left for another woman.

“Of course, I was both surprised and upset, but at the same time it became so easy, as if a stone had been lifted from my soul: “Thank God, I figured it out myself!”

Solo

TASS/Miklyaev Sergey Shortly before her husband left, Nani Bregvadze began solo career. It’s even more correct to say that her solo began in all areas of her life: on stage, in the house, in the family. A much bigger blow than the divorce from Merab for the singer was the death of her mother.

Long years she was a reliable support for her, no matter what troubles life faced.

After the funeral, Nani Bregvadze did not sing whole year— I couldn’t bring myself to go on stage. She was brought back to life by her daughter and beloved grandchildren.

Now the legendary Georgian singer is already a great-grandmother: her youngest grandson Georgiy gave her two great-grandchildren - Dmitry and Sandro. Eka's daughter and granddaughter Natalya followed in Nani's footsteps - they also became singers.

Even after 80, Nani herself regularly appears on stage. Every day of her life she thanks fate for the fact that she has a favorite thing - singing.

After graduation music school and music college she entered the Tbilisi State Conservatory named after Vano Sarajishvili, from which she graduated in piano in 1963.

As a student, in 1957 Bregvadze became a laureate of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, performing the song “I put out the candle” accompanied by an amateur pop orchestra Georgian Polytechnic Institute.

In 1959-1964, she sang in the Tbilisi State Orchestra "Rero" under the direction of Konstantin Pevzner of the Georgian State Philharmonic.

In 1964 she toured with the Moscow Music Hall in Paris, where she performed at the Olympia Hall.

Returning to her homeland, Bregvadze received an offer to become a soloist of the vocal and instrumental ensemble “Orera”, in which she subsequently worked for 15 years.

She toured with the ensemble in France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada. In addition to modern Georgian pop songs (“Khevsur ballad”, “Song is my joy”), she performed lyrical songs Soviet composers: “Oh, this red rowan tree”, “Sing, my guitar”, “What are you whispering about, trees?”, ancient Russian romances.

Since 1980, the singer began her solo career. The songs “Ivushka” and “Snowfall” received the greatest fame in her performance.

The singer’s repertoire includes hundreds of widely known and beloved songs and romances by the public: “Waiting”, “I remember the sound of a waltz”, “Only once in a life does a meeting happen”, “I dreamed of a garden”, “Don’t leave, you are my darling”, “Charming eyes”, “I loved you so much”, “And finally I will say” and many others.

Most of the songs and romances performed by Bregvadze were included in the records and minions recorded by the singer: “Nani Bregvadze Sings” (1971), “Orera Ensemble” (1973), “Romance, Romance” (1995), “Concert in New York” (1997 ) and others.

In 2005-2006, the singer recorded a disc with compositions that she had not previously performed, based on poems by Marina Tsvetaeva and Bella Akhmadulina. She also prepared a cycle of songs based on poems by Vyacheslav Malezhik.

Songs performed by her can be heard in the films “Melodies of the Verian Quarter” (1973), “Night Visit” (1974), “Open the Windows” (1981), “Thank you for the bad weather” (1981), “Accept the challenge, gentlemen!” ( 1982), “Blue Cities” (1985). In addition to the painting “Orera, full speed ahead!” “ Bregvadze starred in the films “Necklace for My Beloved” (1971), the TV series “Streets of Broken Lanterns-8” (2006), played leading roles in the film “I am Pele’s Godfather!” (1991) and the film almanac “Love with an Accent” (2012 ).

In 1997, Bregvadze created and headed the Nani company, the purpose of which is to support aspiring singers in Georgia, as well as organize performances for foreign performers in the republic.

In the 2000s, the singer was engaged in pedagogical activity. For several years she was a professor and head of the department of pop and jazz singing at the Institute of Music at the Moscow University of Culture and Arts.