Poet and Dementiev. Biography of Andrey Dementiev. It would be interesting for you to meet

Are you interested in the biography of Andrei Dementyev? Then this article is for you. We will talk about the life, work and extensive activities of this poet. The biography of Andrei Dementyev is of interest to many today, and this is not surprising - he is a prominent public figure in our country. We invite you to get to know him better.

Family of Andrey Dementyev

This man was born in 1928, on July 16, in Tver. His father is Dmitry Nikitovich Dementyev (born in 1901), an agronomist. The mother of the future poet is Maria Grigorievna Orlova (born in 1908). He has three children: Marina Andreevna Demchenko (born in 1954), Natalia Andreevna Dementyeva (born in 1960) and Dmitry Andreevich Dementyev (born in 1969).

Training and first literary activity

While still a schoolboy, Dementyev wrote poetry and attended a literary club. Many years of this poet’s life are associated with the city of Tver (formerly the city of Kalinin) and the Tver land in general. It was here that he was born, graduated from high school here, after which he studied at the Kalinin Pedagogical Institute. Then Andrei Dementyev continued his literary education in Moscow, at. Gorky (from 1949 to 1952). After studying here, Andrei returned to his hometown, where he worked in regional newspapers. From 1953 to 1955 he wrote articles for the newspaper Kalininskaya Pravda, from 1955 to 1958 for Smena, then worked on radio. From 1958 to 1961, Andrei Dementyev was the editor-in-chief of a book publishing house.

First poetry publication

The biography of Andrei Dementyev continued with the fact that in December 1948 his first poetic publication took place (in a regional newspaper and in the Kalinin almanac called “Native Land”). The young poet became the first laureate of the Prize. L. Chaikina. Many of his works conveyed his love for his native land. These are, for example, songs known throughout the country: “Alyonushka”, “I simply can’t live without the Volga”, “Father’s House”.

Collections of poems

The first collection of poems by this poet is called "Lyrical Poems". It was published in Kalinin in 1955. The author himself later said about his first book that it was uneven, since life itself was ambiguous and uneven. A. D. Dementyev published many collections of his poems: in 1958 - “Native”, in 198 - “The Sun in the House: Selected” and “Excitement”, in 1988 - “Poems”, in 1996 - “Emergency time of love”, etc. In total, Andrei Dmitrievich is the author of more than 40 books of poetry. In terms of reader popularity, his poetry today ranks first among the twenty best books, based on data from bookstores in Russia. Books by A. D. Dementyev, such as “There are no unloved women”, “Lyrics”, “Favorites”, “Turns of Time”, “My fate is on the edge”, “I live openly” have gone through 40 editions over the past few years. 300 thousand copies exceeded their total circulation. The poems of this poet have been translated into French, English, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Hindi, Romanian and other languages. And publications of his books appeared in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Uzbekistan and other countries.

Songs based on poems by Andrey Dementyev

More than a hundred songs were written to poems by A. Dementiev. In addition to the above mentioned, these are “Swan Fidelity”, “The Ballad of a Mother”, “Apples in the Snow”, “Confession”, “Natalie”, “Stuntmen”, which are included in the classics of Russian pop music of our time. Since 1974, all these songs have invariably become laureates of television competitions held in Russia and abroad. Dementyev's co-authors were famous composers - E. Martynov, A. Babajanyan, R. Pauls, N. Bogoslovsky, E. Doga, A. Kovalevsky, A. Khoralov, P. Aedonitsky, V. Migulya. The poet himself explains his love for this genre as a family tradition. The fact is that in his house they loved song very much; Andrei Dementyev’s mother and grandfather had beautiful voices, and they often sang Russian folk songs.

Work in the magazine "Youth"

Andrei Dementyev's biography also includes work in a magazine called "Youth". He gave him 21 years of his life (from 1972 to 1993). From 1972 to 1981, he was first deputy editor-in-chief, then worked as editor-in-chief for 12 years. During his time, the circulation of this literary and artistic publication reached an unprecedented size - 3 million 300 thousand copies. Thanks to Andrei Dementyev, "Youth" discovered many talented writers. This magazine published stories, novels, poems by future recognized masters of literature - A. Arkanov, V. Aksenov, B. Akhmadulina, V. Astafiev, Yu. Drunina, B. Vasiliev, V. Voinovich, A. Voznesensky, V. Maksimov, E. Evtushenko, B. Okudzhava, V. Nekrasov, L. Filatova and others.

Working on television

The poet Andrei Dementyev was closely associated with television in his activities for many years. Starting from the end of 1980, he worked as the host of the programs “Newlyweds Club”, “Good Evening, Moscow”, “Sunday Meetings”, “Family Channel”, “Bravo”.

In the period from 1997 to 2001, the poet Andrei Dementyev worked in Israel as the chief of the Russian Television bureau. Together with his colleagues, during this time he created three television films that were dedicated to the Holy Land, Israel.

Andrei Dmitrievich Dementiev actively participates in various television programs, together with Kira Proshutinskaya he hosted the program “The People Want to Know” (talk show) on TVC. Since March 2001, A.D. Dementyev has also been a political commentator working for Radio Russia. He hosted his own weekly program called “Turns of Time,” which is rightfully considered one of the highest-rated programs on this radio station. The poet in it talked with his friends and contemporaries about everything that was happening in the country and in their lives.

For this program in 2005, Andrei Dmitrievich Dementiev was awarded the Grand Prix of the Inspiration festival. The success and originality of "Turns of Time" are explained by the fact that this is a conversation on equal terms between interlocutors, and not a monologue of heroes. Over the course of three years, the following people visited Dementyev: I. Kobzon, V. Vasilyeva, I. Glazunov, L. Roshal, A. Sokolov, M. Plisetskaya, N. Baskov, A. Voznesensky, A. Gradsky, M. Gorbachev, Z Tsereteli, I. Krutoy, R. Shchedrin, A. Shilov, E. Evtushenko, N. Slichenko, O. Feltsman, G. Seleznev, V. Zhirinovsky, V. Ryzhkov, S. Stepashin and others.

Many Soviet poets are no longer of interest to the modern reader as before. However, this does not apply to Andrei Dementyev. Interest in the work of this poet, in his journalistic and social activities, continues unabated. Thousands of letters coming from readers, TV viewers and radio listeners to Dementyev speak about this.

Social activity

A.D. Dementyev was the chairman of the examination committee at his native Literary Institute for several years. He participated in all major poetry workshops. From 1981 to 1991, A.D. Dementyev was Secretary of the Board of the well-known Writers' Union of the USSR.

This poet has been actively involved in the work of various public organizations in Russia for more than 40 years, whose activities are dedicated to charity and peacemaking, strengthening cooperation and friendship between peoples, establishing harmony throughout society, as well as fostering a respectful attitude towards the history of our country. This man was also one of those who participated in the creation of the Soviet Peace Fund. In Moscow, under his direct leadership, Olympiads are held for foreign schoolchildren who study the Russian language. Hundreds of students, representatives of dozens of countries around the world take part in them.

Awards received by Andrey Dementyev

Andrey Dementyev is an honored artist of our country. In 1985, he was awarded the USSR State Prize for his book “Excitement.” In 1981, Andrei Dmitrievich was also awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize. Prize named after He received the Lermontov Prize in 2003, and in 2005 the Alexander Nevsky Prize. In addition, this poet was awarded the Order of Lenin and some other awards of the Russian Federation and the USSR.

In 1998, A.D. Dementyev was awarded the “Symbol of Peace” memorial sign for his active participation in charitable and peacekeeping activities. He was awarded the Gold Medal in 2002, the highest award given by the Russian Peace Foundation. Andrey Dmitrievich is an honorary citizen of Tver. He loves reading, songs and classical music, historical films. The poet is also interested in gymnastics, swimming and football. Now Andrey Dementyev lives and works in Moscow.

Personal life

The personal life of this poet, by his own admission, was stormy. Andrei Dementyev was married three times. His wife, classmate Alice (first wife), was as young as the poet himself. He married her when he was only 19 years old. True, the young people almost did not live together, since Dementyev left for Moscow, entering the Literary Institute, and his wife remained in Kalinin, after which she moved to Romania to live with her father. After 2 years they divorced. The poet married for the second time at the age of 26, when he was already working. In this marriage, Marina was born, the daughter of Andrei Dmitrievich, who now lives in St. Petersburg. The poet married for the third time at a fairly mature age - more than 30 years old. He lived in this marriage for quite a long time and had a son. Then, however, the family broke up. Andrei Dmitrievich fell in love with Anna Pugach, a young employee who is 30 years younger than the poet. She became his muse for all the remaining years.

The famous Soviet and Russian poet Andrei Dmitrievich Dementiev did not live to see his 90th birthday in less than a month.

2018 continues to take away from our reality those on whom the culture of a huge country rested. These certainly include Andrey Dementyev, about whose death and who was supposed to turn 90 years old on July 16!

Let us note that, despite his age, Dementyev always looked impeccable: he had a perfectly styled hairstyle, fashionable suits, nothing in common with the generally accepted idea of ​​a “creator” with disheveled hair and poorly washed shirts.

Few people knew that fate had bent and broken Dementyev since childhood, and only a miracle and the decency of people allowed the famous Russian poet to become successful.

Andrey Dementyev: child of many talents

His parents, who lived in the Russian outback, in the Tver region, were extraordinary people. My father first trained as a hairdresser and theatrical make-up artist, and then, after Andrei was born, he graduated from Timiryazevka and went into science. Mom studied in an amateur opera studio. My grandfather, who sang in church, also had a wonderful voice.

And Andrei sang from childhood, not only after his parents, but also after the famous tenor Sergei Lemeshev, who was also born in those parts and became famous throughout the country.

The boy literally listened to records with operas, romances, folk songs and dreamed of a singing career.

And poetry... for the time being it was a way to conquer a classmate. After all, Andrei was the most ordinary boy, he looked at his girlfriends, and successfully played sports. And life could become so wonderful...

Moscow. 12/25/1978 Poet Andrey Dementyev. Source: Vladimir Savostyanov /TASS photo chronicle/

The difficult fate of the poet

It would seem that Andrey's father Dmitry Nikitich, should have been put on the “showcase of socialism”: rural intellectual! But one day a man told a joke while fishing and received five years in the camps and three years of loss of civil rights. They imprisoned uncles who were barbers, two of whom did not return, and they imprisoned my grandfather. For what - God knows.

The orphaned family lived a very difficult life. And the poverty only intensified when the war began: from their places the flashes of bombs over Moscow were visible. We saved cabbage soup from nettles in the spring, and mushrooms that Andrei sold in the summer.

The poet recalled that his father was a very honest man, and Andrei, who was very varied in his plans for the future, punctually indicated his repressed relatives in all questionnaires. The only thing that the family carefully concealed was that they were hiding their father, who had returned from the camps: he was forbidden to live in Kalinin (the name of Tver under Soviet rule - editor's note).

Andrei wanted to enter the medical academy, where students lived on state support, but the documents were turned down. I entered another institute, but found out that a fifth-year student there was expelled for revealing an “unreliable” biography, and as a result, he moved to the Kalinin Pedagogical Institute. And he continued to write poetry...

One day a front-line poet heard his poetry Sergey Narovchatov. He immediately called his friend, also a front-line poet Mikhail Lukonin, and both recommended the young man to the Literary Institute.

How "The Ballad of Mother" was born

Andrei Dementyev’s poems are known even by those who think they don’t know them. “Don’t you dare forget your teachers”, “Let someone else play the flute brilliantly, but you listen even more brilliantly”, “Never regret anything after all” - albeit in the form of quotes, but these and many others are heard today.

Nobody considered Dementyev to be a “Danish” poet. His work has always been about love, about feelings; it is no coincidence that more than a hundred magnificent lyrical songs were written based on his works. But one day the poet actually wrote a song for the occasion.

...In the mid-60s, war newsreels were brought to a Georgian village. And the elderly mother, who had long cried all her tears, saw on the screen her son, missing. He ran to the attack.

Having learned about this, Dementyev, who usually “swings” for a long time, wrote poetry. And along with the music Evgenia Martynova, the poet’s constant collaborator, “The Ballad of Mother” was born.

After some time, a woman from Tashkent wrote to the poet. They say, thank you, dear comrade Dementyev, but our Alyoshenka he didn’t disappear, he was buried in Hungary, we found his grave. What can I say... Everyone considered the words written by Dementiev to be intended for themselves personally.

“Youth” by Andrey Dementyev

Many “thick” magazines were published in the Soviet Union. But it was not often that any of them were read out to the gills and passed from hand to hand. One of these was the magazine "Youth", which from the writer Boris Polevoy accepted Andrey Dementyev as editor-in-chief.

Andrey Dementyev was married four times. But he had no children from his first wife, with whom he started a family at the age of 19. But in subsequent marriages there were two daughters (one adopted) and a son, Dmitry.

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True, when the guy turned 26 years old, he committed suicide due to a tense relationship with his wife. The tragedy occurred when Dmitry was vacationing in the Caucasus. The day before his son’s suicide, Dementyev spoke to him on the phone. “Dima said: “Dad, I’m waiting for you.” I replied: “I’ll fly tomorrow...” I couldn’t wait... (Crying.) That’s all...” the poet said. “I am convinced: at that moment when the shot rang out, he still had time to regret it, but it was too late, and this pain will always be with me, until the last day,” Dementyev said in an interview with Gordon Boulevard.

The wife of the poet's son committed suicide a few years later... "She got sick - she already had something wrong with her psyche. Quite a long time passed - in my opinion, more than one year, and she suddenly did this. She left behind a grandson - Andrei Dmitrievich Dementyev is my complete namesake, who at the age of 19 played the main role in the film “Bold Days” with Gosha Kutsenko. Of course, I try to help him, to influence him somehow. He lives with his grandmother, with my ex-wife, Dima’s mother. As far as possible, Anya (Pugach, the poet’s wife. – Ed.) and I are trying to do everything to make him feel protected and not alone,” Dementyev later assured.

The poet has repeatedly said in interviews that he is indirectly to blame for the tragedy. “I think I’m to blame here (rubs his eyes full of tears). Not directly - as if gradually... When he decided to marry his girlfriend Lena at the age of 17, I intuitively felt (even though they went to kindergarten together!) that “This is not his girl,” Dementyev cried. “My premonitions were justified: they turned out to be completely different people, they began to tear apart, which went further and further...” the poet recalled.

The wife of the famous poet brought singer Sergei Zakharov to the hospital with night calls

For almost a quarter of a century, the wonderful composer and singer Evgeny MARTYNOV, who created “The Ballad of a Mother” (“Alexey, Alyoshenka, Son”), “Apple Trees in Blossom”, “Swan Fidelity”, “I Call You My Alyonushka”, “is no longer with us.” Tell me, cherry" and many other beloved songs. Nevertheless, serious passions still rage around his name and work. A clear confirmation of this was the recent evening in memory of Evgeny Grigorievich in the Rossiya concert hall, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the birth of his mother, front-line nurse Nina Trofimovna.

As always, I was invited to perform by Evgeniy’s younger brother, composer Yuri Martynov, who has been holding these evenings for many years,” said singer Anastasia Mintskovskaya. - The first person I met upon entering “Russia” was the deputy director of the hall, Igor Yator. “What are you doing here?” - he asked with horror and rolled his eyes at me, as if I had come to the club of men’s interests for my husband. “Actually, I came to sing at the evening in memory of Martynov,” I answered. “What are you singing?” - Yator clarified. I called it “Seagulls over the Water” based on the verses of Andrei Dementyev and “I Made It Up” based on the verses by Mikhail Tanich. “Dementyev forbade singing his songs,” said Igor. - Get out of here immediately! Do not sing under any circumstances!” “Otherwise what? - I asked. - Will I be cut off the air? Will they not be invited to concerts where Kobzon participates? I’m already cut out and not invited. Therefore, out of principle, I will sing.” “Well, I warned you,” he hesitated. As it turned out, Dementiev’s wife Anna Pugach called other participants in the evening with the same warnings. “Here I decide who should be and who shouldn’t be,” she said. Can you imagine what insanity! Pugach apparently didn’t dare call me. She knows that I only have three words for her, one of which is the preposition “on.” Some time ago, Dementiev himself invited Julian and me to participate in his creative evenings in Israel and at the Jewish Center in Moscow. At these evenings, I had a conflict with Kobzon over who should sing the song “And I don’t need it from you.” Then Pugach showed up in my dressing room and began to be indignant that I was behaving incorrectly with Joseph Davydovich. “Listen, your husband is a great poet. But you’re just with him. “You’re nobody at all,” I said and rudely asked her to leave.

Phone to TV

I also had problems with Dementiev at previous evenings in memory of my brother,” admitted Yuri Martynov. - When the program was called after a song based on his poems “Swan Fidelity” or “I want swans to live,” his wife Anna Davydovna Pugach immediately appeared and, on behalf of the great Russian poet, made claims to me. Moreover, always material. Like, you have to pay for such a great name. “Who should pay you?” - I asked. “The swindlers who organize this,” answered Pugach. I had to explain to her that I myself am the organizer and sponsor, and in order to cover all expenses, I even refuse royalties due to me as my brother’s heir. Yes, there are two more heirs - Zhenya’s widow and his son Sergei. But they live in Spain and do not take part in anything. Moreover, they have not contacted me for 10 years. Or on Channel One as part of the “Good Health!” program. We made an issue dedicated to Zhenya. They called this program “I will give you the whole world” - after a song based on the poems of Ilya Reznik. Dementyev came to the shooting and threw a scandal at me: “Why is the program not called after my song?” Then he began to demand: “Let Luda Ryumina sing “Swan Fidelity”!” “But she never sang it,” I tried to explain. “She doesn’t even have a soundtrack.” As a result, Ryumina sang “Apple Trees in Blossom” to the verses of the same Reznik. Dementyev took this as an insult. “Yura, you set this up,” he was indignant. “Why did you forbid Ryumina to sing my song?”

But this time the discontent of Dementiev and his wife resulted in open conflict. At first they didn’t like the artists I invited. “Again you are collecting these “downed pilots” - Anastasia, Yulian, Nadzhiev,” they grimaced. - We need to change them. There is a new good singer, Evgeniy Yuzhin. The Basques are simply nothing compared to him.” I met them halfway and included Yuzhin and their other protégés, the Respublika group, in the program. Then Dementyev demanded that his colleague Ilya Reznik be removed from the program. “This is a poetic swindler,” said Andrei Dmitrievich. “If he takes part in the evening, I won’t be there.” At this point I couldn’t stand it. “I have no control over your legs,” I said. “But I won’t choose between you and Reznik.” But the main stumbling block was the song “White-Winged Flight” based on the verses of Igor Kokhanovsky, after which we decided to name the program. This song has a very interesting story. In 1975, Zhenya, like many, was shocked by a newspaper publication about how a drunken company led by the chairman of a collective farm shot all the swans on the lake. He told poets he knew about this - Kokhanovsky, David Usmanov and Dementyev. And all three wrote poems on this topic. Zhenya failed to compose music for the poems of Kokhanovsky and Usmanov. No matter how hard my brother tried, it came out looking like something similar - either the screensaver from the program “In the Animal World” or Oleg Ivanov’s song “Leisya, my song.” As a result, Zhenya created his own original melody and gave it to Dementiev for subtext. This is how the well-known “Swan Fidelity” appeared. But Zhenya really liked Kokhanovsky’s poems. He kept coming back to them and asking me to come up with something with them. In the end, I understood why Zhenya couldn’t make music for them. In the chorus he switched to a minor key, as in “Swan Fidelity.” And I moved it to major. And it turned out to be a wonderful song, sung by Nikolai Baskov.
Dementiev and Pugach didn’t understand it at first and thought that the name of our evening, “White-Winged Flight,” was inspired by “Swan Fidelity.” And when they realized that this was a song based on Kokhanovsky’s poems, something unimaginable began. They sent me a telegram: “Due to the fact that the evening is called the words of an unknown song by Martynov and has little to do with his creative collaboration with Dementiev, do not put Dementiev on the playbill, and joint songs only with approval.” Then we wrote letters to the “Russia” hall and to the Russian Society of Authors, prohibiting our evening. But this had no effect. By law, neither Dementiev nor anyone else can prohibit the performance of legally published songs. Then they ran to Kobzon and told him that something terrible was being prepared. After which I received a call from Joseph Davydovich and said that he refused to participate in this disgrace. They refused to perform without Dementyev and Yuzhin with the group “Respublika”, whom they so forcefully imposed on me. Anna Davydovna tried to intimidate other participants in the concert with criminal prosecution. Sergei Zakharov even had a hypertensive crisis after her nightly calls. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital. But everyone else, fortunately, came and sang everything that was supposed to be sung.
In principle, it was possible to spend the evening without Dementiev’s songs. Zhenya had 27 co-authors-poets, among them Voznesensky, Rozhdestvensky, Kharitonov, Tanich, Dobronravov, Derbenev, Shaferan, Plyatskovsky. And he was indirectly related to many songs of which Dementyev is listed as a co-author. For example, everyone knows the songs “The nightingales are singing, pouring out”, “Father’s Letter”, “You bring me the dawn”, “Tell me, mother”, “If you are young at heart”. The texts for them were written by David Usmanov, an entertainer from Rosconcert, who worked in the same touring crew with Zhenya and spent a lot of time traveling around the country with him. But under the authorship of Usmanov, most of these songs were not passed by the artistic council. And in order to overcome this obstacle, he took as a co-author Dementyev, who was the editor of the magazine “Yunost”, secretary of the Writers’ Union and party leader. Using the same scheme, the texts for Zhenya’s songs were written by Alexey Pyanov, Andrei Dmitrievich’s deputy in the editorial office of Yunost. And in 1979, Zhenya had a quarrel with Dementiev. Then at the artistic council they “cut down” all their new songs. They said the poems were no good. Zhenya called Andrei Dmitrievich and asked him to go with him to a reception with the Chairman of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Lapin and help resolve this issue. “I’m not going anywhere,” Dementyev said. “They are fools, but my poetry is great.” My brother got so angry that he threw the phone at the TV. It happened before my eyes. After that, until Zhenya’s death, she and Dementiev practically did not communicate.
The only thing is that Zhenya turned to Andrei Dmitrievich several times and asked when he would return him 70 thousand rubles, which he lent in 1978 to build a dacha and buy a car. Then my brother’s fees flowed like a river. If ordinary people had a salary of 150-250 rubles, then Martynov, starting in 1974, did not receive less than several thousand a month. There was nowhere to spend this huge money at that time. Zhenya had lunch and dinner every day at the Sofia restaurant, which was located in the same building as the editorial office of the Yunost magazine. He constantly treated the same Dementyev and many others there. “If someone comes without me and says that I invited him, give him food and drink! – he warned the Sofia employees. “And then I’ll come and cry.” Seeing that his brother was living in grand style, everyone began to ask him for a loan. And not 500 rubles, but 20-50 thousand. Moreover, the positions were occupied by people who could not be refused - heads of music editorial offices of radio and TV, editors of the Melodiya company, etc. Once in Sofia, in front of me, an ordinary employee of the Yunost radio asked him for 10 thousand. “Leva, you are the first to ask for such a modest amount,” Zhenya was surprised. – I just lent your boss 50 thousand. And Dementyev – 70 thousand. Can you at least explain why you need so little?” “My wife is nagging me: everyone borrowed a lot of money from Martynov, and you are his friend, you drink with him and still haven’t borrowed anything,” Lyova opened up. “But you will never return these 10 thousand,” Zhenya said and took out his wallet. - I have a thousand. Take it as a sign of our friendship and you don’t have to return it!”

The brother looked into the water. None of the debtors ever paid him back: some disappeared, some died. I remember how he called the widow of one of the editors and reminded her of a receipt from her husband for 40 thousand. “Zhenya, shame on you!” - the widow was indignant, making it clear that it was useless to demand anything from her. I’m not sure that Dementyev also repaid him the entire debt. As his brother said, the dacha that Andrei Dmitrievich built with borrowed money soon burned down. Fleeing from the fire, his previous wife Galina jumped out of the window and broke her leg. And hopes for future royalties, from which the poet expected to pay off his brother, according to him, did not come true. As scary as it is to admit it, everyone was interested in Zhenya’s death. Speaking at his wake, Dementyev said: “We all owe it to Zhenya.” Then everyone at the table laughed and said: “Especially you.” Despite all this, I don’t blame Dementiev for anything and don’t want to quarrel with him. I care about all the authors who collaborated with Zhenya. And I would be glad to see Andrei Dmitrievich again at our evenings. But his wife can’t calm down. Through RAO he is demanding 800 thousand for allegedly violating Dementiev’s copyright. He is filing some statements about my alleged non-payment of royalties for the publication of the disc “The Ballad of the Mother”. Although I have a license agreement signed by Dementiev that he transfers copyrights free of charge. I am very sorry that Andrei Dmitrievich is being manipulated and, speaking on his behalf, they are putting him in a stupid position.

Was there a dacha?!

Andrei Dmitrievich cannot answer the phone,” said Anna Pugach, who answered Dementiev’s mobile number, in a stern voice. – Why on earth are you calling and asking questions about Martynov’s evening?! Why did Dementyev have to take part in it? Is this his responsibility? Andrei Dmitrievich has done so much for Zhenya’s memory. It was he who spent the first evening dedicated to him. As soon as Zhenya passed away, there was a huge program on Channel One, where Andrei Dmitrievich sat in an empty hall and talked about him, about their friendship, about their work. And at the first request of his brother Yura, he always came and performed at memorial evenings. He did not take any money for his performances, although tickets were sold for these evenings. Neither Dementyev nor I even thought about talking about it. Memory is sacred. But now Andrei Dmitrievich has decided, for hygienic reasons, to no longer have any dealings with Martynov’s brother. Yuri Grigorievich is an unsanitary person. As an heir, he behaves inappropriately. He believes he has the right, after 25 years, to rewrite history, compose songs, and come up with some supposedly found melodies left over from his brother. He does not coordinate with Dementiev either the repertoire or the composition of the participants in the evenings he hosts. Andrei Dmitrievich wanted his songs to be performed by young guys who had already successfully proven themselves in them - Evgeny Yuzhin and the Respublika group. Yes, they were on the poster. But they didn't even call. I don’t want to confirm this, but I was told that Yura began twisting the guys’ arms and demanding money from them. After that, dirt was thrown at us about some material claims, about a dacha allegedly built at Martynov’s expense, etc. In fact, Dementiev doesn’t even have a dacha. And he did not make any fortune on Martynov. When Zhenya, as a boy, at Kobzon’s invitation, came to Moscow and came to Dementyev with a song based on his poem “The Ballad of the Mother,” Andrei Dmitrievich was already the deputy editor-in-chief of “Yunost” and an accomplished poet. Here Yuri Grigorievich just lives off his brother’s songs - he holds evenings all over the country, releases discs and DVDs. I’ll tell you a secret - as an heir, he owns only part of the copyright. There is also the widow and son of Zhenya Martynov, to whom he does not inform about his projects. Before saying anything about money, he still has to settle accounts with his widow and son. And Andrei Dmitrievich, at 86 years old, continues to work - he publishes books every three months, writes new songs with Pauls, Dobrynin and other authors. And it does not depend in any way on the remuneration for Martynov’s songs. The 5-10 thousand rubles that RAO pays for them is simply ridiculous. What benefit could there be?! And even more so, Dementyev does not make any material claims to Yura. His interests as an author are protected by RAO. They make sure that all required royalties are made. And Andrei Dmitrievich does not interfere in all this. There is no need to involve a worthy person in some petty and vile consumer affairs! Don’t think that this is a threat, but as a producer, as a wife and as a person who has worked with Dementiev all his life, I will look after his interests if his name is somehow smeared or there is some kind of defamation of facts!

Russian and Soviet poet, radio and television presenter, editor of the legendary magazine “Youth”.

Childhood and education

Andrey Dmitrievich was born on July 16, 1928 in Tver. His father, a native of the Tver village, during his life managed to work as both a hairdresser and a make-up artist in the theater, and after the birth of his son he became a researcher. Even in the pre-war years, Dmitry Dementyev published a book on agricultural topics, and was also engaged in editorial activities in the newspaper “Rural Life”.

A simple peasant who fell into the circles of the intelligentsia was accused under Article 58 of counter-revolutionary activities for making unflattering statements about the ruling circles and sent to a forced labor camp.

While his father was serving his sentence, Andrei’s mother, Maria Grigorievna, grabbed any job and barely made ends meet. In his poems, Dementyev recalled with trepidation and warmth his childhood years spent on Tver land near the banks of the Volga. Here he went to secondary school No. 6, from which he graduated at the end of the war. Part of the school years fell during the difficult war years, when not a single lesson was complete without reports from the front. While still a student, Andrei Dmitrievich wrote poetry and attended a literary club.

After graduating from school, Dementyev dreamed of practicing military medicine, but his father’s tarnished reputation did not allow him to develop in this field. For the same reason, the Institute of International Relations remained beyond dreams. Then his choice fell on the philological department of the local pedagogical institute. The general public saw the poet’s first creation, entitled “For a Student,” in 1948 on the pages of the newspaper “Proletarskaya Pravda,” when Dementyev was a second-year student. Here he became the first laureate of the Lisa Chaikina Prize.

Literature and poetry gradually became an integral part of the student’s life, and in 1949, right from the fourth year, on the recommendation of his friends - famous poets of that time, he transferred to the famous Literary Institute. A.M. Gorky. Immersion in his native element inspired the young poet even more, because among his teachers were famous Soviet writers: Samuil Marshak, Konstantin Paustovsky and Alexander Tvardovsky.

Literary activity of Dementyev

After graduating from the capital's institute, Andrei Dmitrievich returned to his hometown, where he began working as an employee of the editorial office of the Kalininskaya Pravda newspaper. At the age of 27, he was appointed head of the Komsomol life department of the Smena newspaper, and at the same time his first collection of poems, entitled “Lyrical Poems,” was published. The author would later say that this book was uneven because life at that time was ambiguous.

After Dementyev was appointed editor of the regional broadcasting committee and actively participated in the work of the local literary association. Dementiev’s first 5 books, published from 1955 to 1963, were published in his hometown. Among them is a collection of poems “Native” about love for the small homeland.

Today the poet has more than 50 collections in his collection. Dementiev's work is filled with romance and compassion. The author also wrote poignantly about love - many poems are dedicated to tender feelings for a woman. The total circulation of the writer's books amounted to more than 300 thousand.

Dementiev is the winner of a number of literary awards and prizes. Popular songs performed by Russian pop stars have been created based on his poems.

Work in the press and on television

In 1967, Andrei Dmitrievich returned to the capital and was appointed to work in the agitation and propaganda department of the Komsomol Central Committee. Despite the fact that his father had 5 years of Gulag behind him, he was able to enter the ranks of the bureaucracy.

At the same time, he became part of the editorial team of the Soviet socio-political magazine “Yunost”, the new issue of which was awaited in every Soviet family. Four years later, Dementyev replaced the writer Boris Polevoy as editor-in-chief. Under Dementyev, the circulation of Yunost reached record levels - 3.3 million copies. Dementyev devoted 21 years of his life to the publication. Under him, the magazine became the starting point in the work of many famous writers of that time: Bella Akhmadulina, Evgeny Yevtushenko, Bulat Okudzhava and many others. The magazine was an exceptional publication because it contained materials that were not available to the general public.

Dementiev’s ability to interest the public was appreciated and he was invited to work on television. In the late 80s, he was the host of popular television programs: “Newlyweds Club”, “Good Evening, Moscow”, “Sunday Meetings” and others.

At the end of the 20th century, he worked in Israel for several years as director of the Middle East representative office of RTR. During this time, he and his colleagues made several films related to the Holy Land and Israel.

Returning to Moscow, he tried himself on Radio Russia as a political commentator, and then became the host of the author’s radio program “Turns of Time.”

On June 26, 2018, at the age of 90, the writer died in the hospital, where he was admitted after a long illness. Andrei Dmitrievich did not stop working even in old age - he hosted a radio program and traveled to different cities and countries with creative evenings.

Personal life of Andrey Dementyev

Over the 89 years of his life, the writer was married four times. Andrei Dmitrievich’s first wife was his classmate Alisa. The young people legalized their relationship when they were 19 years old. The writer himself calls this marriage inferior, since three months after his marriage he left to study in the capital.

Dementiev married for the second time at the age of 26. From this marriage a daughter, Marina, was born, who now lives in St. Petersburg.

The third time the writer tied himself to family ties, when he was already over 30. From his third marriage, he had his wife’s daughter (adopted) and a son, Dmitry, who tragically committed suicide by shooting himself in front of his mother. The poet's only son left behind his grandson Andrei, who today acts in films and plays in the theater.

The poet’s fourth wife was Anna Pugach, who was 30 years younger than him and worked in the magazine “Youth”. Dementyev lived with her until the end of his days.