This man is called the first music producer of the USSR and Russia. It was he who, in the wake of Perestroika, introduced the audience to the first cult rock band “Kino”, and then, again, he was the first to deprive the state of its monopoly on the publication of records and music albums.
Note that his talent as a businessman and organizer manifested itself much earlier, only then did such activities fall under criminal charges. So in total, the future famous producer Yuri Aizenshpis spent almost 17 years behind bars.
Concert director
In 1961, Yuri Aizenshpis, like many young people, was interested in sports and music. His parents, who had been hanging around Moscow barracks all their lives, finally got an apartment on Sokol. In this metropolitan area, the future producer met the members of his first musical group. The young guys named their team “Falcon”. In a roundabout way, they obtained records with recordings of “imported stars” - Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, the Beatles, learned their compositions, and then performed them themselves.
At first, “Falcon” performed only in the nearest cafe, occasionally in the area’s House of Culture and on dance floors. But 20-year-old Yuri Aizenshpis, who decided to become the director of the group, already understood that you can earn big money only if you become legal.
"Golden" black marketeer
Violation of the rules on foreign exchange transactions was in another case. Having entered the institute, Yuri Aizenshpis, driven by his commercial inclinations, decided to turn to his other youthful hobby - sports. Among his friends were the guys who now played football in the Dynamo team, went abroad to friendly matches and received checks that in the USSR could be sold in the only currency store, Beryozka.
In those days, a dollar on the black market, that is, from hand, cost from 2 to 7.5 rubles. Yuri Aizenshpis, first through “old friends” and then through his own well-established channels, bought checks, purchased them at Beryozka, and then sold the purchased scarce goods at three times the price.
Using the proceeds from rubles, he bought currency from foreigners through hotel administrators and waiters, and then again checks. For example, an imported fur coat could be purchased at Beryozka for $50, and sold to a capital movie star for 500 rubles, purchased a dozen Panasonic radios for $35, and in Odessa sold the entire batch to the same huckster for 4,000 rubles. But this was not enough.
In the late 1960s, Vneshtorgbank began selling gold in Moscow for foreign currency. On this wave, Yuri Aizenshpis took up gold farming. Many nomenklatura workers, especially from the Transcaucasian republics, had large and very large money, but they could not afford to flash currency and generally flash with so much cash in the capital. And Aizenshpis bought gold bars in dollars at a branch of Vneshtorgbank and sold them to Caucasian party workers (officially, 1 kilogram of gold cost $1,500).
If he purchased dollars on the side for 5 rubles, then a kilogram of gold cost him 7,500 rubles. Another thousand had to be paid to a foreign student, who had the right to legally conduct transactions with currency, because an ordinary citizen of the USSR should not have had it. But Aizenshpis sold 1 kilogram of gold to a Republican party leader for 20,000 rubles.
The gain was mind-blowing, and it really drove many black marketeers crazy. Once, a burnt-out gold businessman from Armenia, in order to facilitate his accounting, handed over several of his “colleagues” to the authorities. Then, in the stagnant year of 1970, many criminals convicted on “economic” charges “the first time” received 5-8 years in prison, but Yuri Aizenshpis was sentenced to 10 years of strict regime, and besides, with the confiscation of all property, even his parents’ apartment .
From scratch
After 7 years, the former concert director was released on parole. There was no trace left of the old connections; we had to start “commercial activities” anew. Together with a certain friend, Yuri Aizenshpis decided to buy $4,000 “from hand” on the Lenin Hills. But the seller brought counterfeits and he had been under surveillance for a long time by criminal investigation officers. So after 3 months of freedom, the future famous producer again found himself in the dock. As a result, to the 8 years of imprisonment under the “currency article”, he was added another 3 years, which had previously been “knocked off” for the first term and sent to serve in Mordovia, in the notorious Dubrovlag colony, which had the unofficial name “Meat Grinder”, because every Every day, for “unknown reasons,” 3 to 5 people died there.
Seven years later he was released on parole. There was no trace left of the old connections; we had to organize “commercial activities” anew. Together with one friend, Yuri Aizenshpis bought $4,000 from his own hands on the Lenin Hills. But the seller had long been under the surveillance of criminal investigation officers and brought counterfeits. So, after three months of freedom, the future famous producer again found himself in the dock. As a result, to the 8 years of imprisonment under the “currency article”, he was added another 3 years, which had previously been knocked off (when he was serving his first sentence), and he was sent to Mordovia to the notorious Dubrovlag colony, which had the unofficial name “Meat Grinder”, because every day there, for “unknown reasons,” 3-5 people died.
Under the hood of the KGB
In 1985, Yuri Aizenshpis was again released on parole and returned to Moscow. Now he acted extremely carefully. Through a young Muscovite, the wife of an employee of the Arab diplomatic mission, Aizenshpis not only established a safe channel for the purchase of foreign currency, but also imported clothing and electronics, since the Arab was engaged in export-import. But the KGB always kept an eye on any foreigner in the USSR, and soon Yuri Aizenshpis found himself under surveillance.
In the summer of 1986, when he was driving around the capital in a new Zhiguli, he was stopped by police. When inspecting the car, it turned out that in the trunk there were several imported audio recorders and one super-scarce video recorder with video cassettes. So, at the instigation of KGB officers, Yuri Aizenshpis ended up in a pre-trial detention center. However, the case did not come to trial, since the Arab managed to leave the USSR in time, and without the main defendant, the “high-profile” speculative case soon fell apart. And then Perestroika struck. After serving almost 1.5 years in a pre-trial detention center, Yuri Aizenshpis was released and never returned to prison.
STORIES
Talented producer (Yuri Aizenshpis)
The group “Kino”, “Technology”, “Moral Code”, singer Linda, Vlad Stashevsky, Katya Lel, Dima Bilan... Many fans of these and some other Russian pop stars did not know and do not know that Yuri Aizenshpis lit them up.
Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis (1945-2005) was one of the brightest Russian show business producers. It was Aizenshpis who introduced the concept of “producer” into Russian show business, was one of the first producers in Russia and convincingly proved that “anyone can be made a pop star.”
“I call Aizenshpis the best producer. He worked all his life. He started with me... He and I are one of those who stood at the origins of Russian show business...
He was a very decent man. Tough, but respectable. He knew a lot about promotion. A large number of his wards achieved great heights with him. Many of his wards were not very grateful. But when they left him, everything went dark.
His life made a great impression on me. Serve 17 years and become the number one producer. He hardly ate, didn’t sleep, and kept working. In the last years of his life he did not have a single healthy organ. He worked all his free life, and did not laze around like some. This is a great man."
(Alexander Tolmatsky, producer of Decl, Oleg Gazmanov, group “Combination”)
Yuri Aizenshpis was born immediately after the war, on June 15, 1945, in Chelyabinsk, where his mother, Muscovite Maria Mikhailovna Aizenshpis (1922-1991), a Jew by nationality, was evacuated. Father - Shmil Moiseevich Aizenshpis (1916-1989) - a Polish Jew who fled to the USSR to escape the Germans, was a veteran of the Great Patriotic War.
The surname Aizenshpis translated from Yiddish means “iron peak.”
"I am Jewish. My mother is Jewish and my father is of the same nationality. And what from this? Absolutely nothing... I don’t revere Judaism, I don’t know its traditions and I’m not interested in its history. I don’t consider Jews the smartest, the most persecuted, or any exceptional people at all. They say that Jews in Russia have always been oppressed. I don't know, I'm not sure. In any case, just as my family was spared the Stalinist repressions, anti-Semitism did not affect me at all. Neither at school nor later in life did I hear offensive words like “kike” or “kike face” thrown at my face or back...
Many people talk about anti-Semitism and Zionism. These political phenomena somehow passed me by. I didn’t feel anything like this either at school or at college. And I didn’t feel it in prison.”
(From the book “Lighting the Stars” by Yuri Aizenshpis)
Hobbies
Since childhood, Yuri was very fond of sports. He was interested in athletics, handball, and volleyball. He could well have become a champion in one of these areas, but he had to leave the sport due to a leg injury.
“At school I was surrounded by athletes who in the future became champions of the Union, champions of the Olympic Games. I grew up among them, I’m proud that I knew many of them, and attended training camps together. But at the age of 17, due to an injury, I dropped out of big sport.
At that time I was into jazz. I had a tape recorder that I bought with my savings. My first recordings are jazz compositions by the world's leading musicians. John Coltrane, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong... I could name about a hundred such names. He knew various styles - avant-garde jazz, jazz-rock, popular jazz. Then I was drawn to the origins of rock music, to the founders of such a movement as rhythm-blues. The circle of music lovers was small, everyone knew each other. If my friends had a record, I would rewrite it.
Then there were “black markets” that were constantly being dispersed. Neither exchange nor buying and selling was allowed. The discs could be confiscated, they could be prosecuted for profiteering. Records came to us from abroad through the strong barriers of customs laws and regulations. Some performers were simply banned. It was impossible to bring Elvis Presley, or, say, the Bary sisters. Well, it’s amazing. Nevertheless, the records were brought and stuck with connoisseurs.”.
After school, Yuri Aizenshpis entered the Moscow Institute of Economics and Statistics with a degree in economic engineering and graduated in 1968. And, since his sports career was closed for him due to injury, he chose show business, despite the fact that at that time there was no such concept in the Soviet Union.
Impresario of the first Soviet rock band
A graduate of MESI, Yuri Aizenshpis did not like his boring specialty. He was drawn to music. At the age of 16, he organized underground concerts for the first Soviet rockers.
20-year-old Yuri began his promotional and production activities back in 1965 with the Beatles’ project “Falcon” - the first rock band in the country. Even then, his courage and business acumen were evident.
“When Beatlemania swept the whole world, echoes of it appeared here too. My fellow musicians and I created the country's first rock band. We lived in the Sokol metro area, and the group was also called “Falcon”. Now this group has already entered the history of the domestic rock movement. Initially, Beatles songs were performed in English. Then it was believed that the culture of rock music could only exist in such an international language as English.
Knowing my activity and organizational talent, my friends appointed me as something of an impresario. For all of us, the matter was new, unknown, and we looked like blind kittens. Nevertheless, the group grew both creatively and financially.".
Together with the group, he got his first job - at the Tula Philharmonic. Since the musicians toured a lot, Aizenshpis’s monthly income reached 1,500 rubles (Soviet ministers then received only a thousand).
Yuri even then developed an original scheme for selling tickets for performances by the Sokol group. After a verbal agreement with the director of a club (or cultural center) in which his group was going to perform, Aizenshpis bought all the tickets for the evening film screening in this club, and then distributed them at a higher price, already as tickets to a concert of the group.
“A musician cannot live without communicating with the audience. But in order to perform, it was necessary to undergo tariffication in some government agencies. Then I had the idea to organize a meeting of the Sokol group in a cafe with friends, like-minded people in music and lifestyle. Subsequently, other groups followed this path. This was the very first such party. Everyone was happy. Then, during the complete stagnation, nothing bright happened. We decided to make these meetings permanent. My responsibilities included technical support and organization of concerts. The number of people wishing to come to us quickly increased. This was taking on simply menacing proportions. So a lot of people stayed behind the doors.".
Usually there were more people wanting to listen to live music than there were seats in the hall, which sometimes made the situation tense. Therefore, in the 60s, Aizenshpis became the first in the Soviet Union to hire security to ensure order at concerts.
With the proceeds from the sale of tickets, he bought foreign currency, with which he purchased from foreigners branded musical instruments for the group and first-class sound equipment for equipping the stage (quality and purity of sound were always very important for Yuri). At that time, all foreign exchange transactions were illegal in the USSR, so he took a great risk by making such transactions.
“At first there was nothing criminal in my activities. Another thing is the ideological question. To those who monitored the education of young people, we seemed to be a kind of saboteurs, corrupters. The group has already stirred up entire layers - they began to invite us to institutes. That’s when the Komsomol and some officials from law enforcement and financial agencies became wary. They said: you don’t have the right to perform, your repertoire is not approved. Indeed, according to the then existing regulations, the group was illegal.
But we have developed. Technical equipment required constant modernization. Previously, instruments and amplifiers were homemade. Over time, when the level of the group became high, proprietary equipment was needed. I am a creative person. Once I hear a good sound - live, clear, real - I can no longer listen to another reproduction. I bought the most advanced equipment at that time. And here for the first time I encountered real criminal law. And he began to step over it. Started doing business. Today this is a respectable occupation, but then...”
Speculator and gold dealer
In 1968, 23-year-old Aizenshpis resigned from the Philharmonic and went to work as a junior researcher at the USSR Central Statistical Office with a salary of 115 rubles. But he rarely showed up at work. Using connections with store directors, he obtained scarce food orders for his colleagues. Therefore, they turned a blind eye to his constant absences. Such a free regime helped Aizenshpis lead a second, parallel life, which brought him completely different incomes.
Aizenshpis's guide to the world of currency fraud was Eduard Borovikov, nicknamed Vasya, who played on the Dynamo football team. “I bought foreign currency or checks, with which I purchased scarce goods in the Beryozka store and then sold them through intermediaries on the black markets.” In those days, the dollar cost on the “black market” from two to seven and a half rubles. Let’s say, a synthetic fur coat could be bought at Beryozka for $50 (from 100 to 350 rubles) and sold for 500 rubles.”.
His first major independent business was the purchase of Panasonic radios in the Beryozka currency store. These were elegant four-band products in two models - $33 and $50. Aizenshpis decided to take 25 Panasonics to Odessa, where they were still a curiosity and cost much more than in Moscow. And he was right – the receivers went flying.
In 1969, two outwardly imperceptible, but very remarkable events occurred in Moscow. First. A certain Mamedov, the first secretary of the Oktyabrsky district party committee of the city of Baku, opened a savings book in the capital in the name of his wife and put 195 thousand rubles on it - the then earnings of an ordinary worker for 108 years. And second. In the same year, a commercial office of Vneshtorgbank opened on Pushkinskaya Street, where they sold gold of the highest standard in bars weighing from 10 grams to one kilogram. Any citizen could purchase gold, but only for foreign currency.
What did these events have to do with Aizenshpis? The most direct. As the first event eloquently showed, the USSR was already rotting, and the shadow economy and corruption flourished in it, especially in the southern republics. In Azerbaijan, for example, positions were sold almost openly: theater director - 10 thousand rubles, secretary of the district party committee - 200 thousand, minister of trade - a quarter of a million. Buyers of positions, in order to justify their expenses, engaged in extortion and embezzlement. The money received had to be invested somewhere. It’s best to buy something “imperishable” – currency, diamonds or, as the second event suggested, gold.
The rich corrupt officials from the southern republics of the Union were traded in Moscow by about a hundred gold traders who dealt in currency and gold on a large scale. Aizenshpis also managed to find his theme. A kilogram of gold in that same Vneshtorgbank office was sold for one and a half thousand dollars. Even if you buy dollars for 5 rubles, a kilogram bar costs 7,500 rubles. Plus one ruble per gram was paid to foreign students who bought gold from the bank. As a result, 8,500 rubles per kilogram ingot. And it was sold to enterprising guys from Baku for 20 thousand rubles. A total of 11,500 rubles in profit - a gigantic profit, if you remember that the nurse then received 60 rubles a month.
Trade in the precious metal was brisk. Aizenshpis had to buy almost every day from one and a half to three thousand bucks at the rate of 2-3 rubles per dollar. Every evening he came into contact with a large number of people - taxi drivers, prostitutes, waiters and even diplomats (for example, the son of the Indian ambassador). “The volume of transactions I made reached up to a million dollars.”
“My business was connected with currency and gold - the most terrible, execution article. But the feeling of being right prevented me from correctly assessing the situation. There was no fear, not even a sense of danger. I thought that what I was doing was natural and normal. But much around, on the contrary, seemed unnatural and incomprehensible. Why is the initiative of one person stifled by government agencies - be it trade, production, culture? Why does the state dictate what to sing? I thought about this, but could not find an explanation; the worldview absorbed in the family, at school, at the institute got in the way. Somewhere deep down I knew I was right. And that my business (they didn’t say “business” back then) is my personal business. In short, I started with music and ended in prison. I served a total of 17 years.”.
Imprisonment
At the end of 1969, a prominent currency trader, Genrikh Karakhanyan, nicknamed Vorona, was arrested in Moscow, and on January 7, 1970, it was Aizenshpis’s turn. During his arrest, there were 15,585 rubles and 7,675 dollars in his apartment, that is, the salary for more than twenty years of work at his native research institute (as Yuri himself admitted in one of his interviews, he had even saved up more than 17,000 dollars and over 15,000 rubles). The main indictments in the Aizenshpis case were 154, part 2 (speculation on an especially large scale), and 88, part 2 (violation of foreign exchange transactions). Based on their totality, in the case of the first term, they usually gave no more than 5-8 years. But Aizenshpis received a ten. Moreover, a strengthened regime and confiscation of property. According to the court verdict, he was confiscated not only currency, gold, mohair (the list took seven pages), but also a collection of vinyl records of 5 thousand discs, and most importantly - a room of 26 square meters in the apartment where he lived with his parents and why - then I made a separate personal account.
After serving time in Krasnoyarsk, Tula and Pechora, Aizenshpis was released on parole in May 1977. But Yuri Shmilevich breathed the air of freedom for only three months, because... I'm back to my old ways again. Already in August, having bought 4 thousand dollars from foreigners, he and his companion were arrested on the Lenin Hills. Former track and field athlete Aizenshpis started to run. Along the way, he managed to throw away all the dollars, rubles and even the keys to the apartment.
It didn't help... This time he was given eight years. Plus the fact that he did not serve out his term of parole. A total of ten again. He served his second term in Mordovia, in the notorious Dubrovlag. The zone was called the “meat grinder” because almost every day someone was killed there.
“When Solzhenitsyn describes the nightmares of Soviet reality, as he calls them, I say: if only he had lived in the conditions in which I lived. He served his sentence among those convicted on mostly political charges. I was sitting among inveterate criminals. And this is truly a nightmare. Every day blood is shed, every day there is lawlessness, chaos. But they didn't touch me. I am a sociable person, I adapt to any conditions. I could become friends with the general who was sitting with me. He could have been talking to a total anti-Soviet guy. I could listen to an adherent of Marxist-Leninist ideology. I could talk to the last criminal and find a way into his soul.".
Despite the fact that more than half of the prisoners were starving, he circumvented this problem. Thanks to his entrepreneurial talent, he managed to arrange the secret transfer of bribes to the prison, which could make his existence in the zone more bearable than for many other prisoners. At least he wasn't starving.
Despite the fact that in prison Yuri was not kept in one place and was transferred to other zones, he knew how to adapt to each place and always had a high standard of living.
“There are 70 percent of prisoners there who are starving. I wasn't hungry. How? Money does everything, of course, unofficially. This is what my phenomenon is, my peculiarity. No matter what environment I found myself in, and I had to visit different colonies, different zones, different regions - everywhere I had the highest standard of living for an ordinary prisoner. This cannot be explained only by organizational skills, it is a phenomenon of character.".
Last sentence
In August 1985, Aizenshpis was released again on parole - for good behavior, the sentence was reduced by a year and eight months. Returning to the capital, he again took up his favorite speculation. I met a woman in a restaurant who was married to an Arab who often traveled abroad. A new friend suggested that Yuri Shmilevich update his wardrobe. The items offered were of higher quality than in the notorious “Beryozka”. First, Aizenshpis dressed himself, then he dressed his friends, and then he turned the resale of fashionable clothes into a business. His monthly income was several thousand rubles. Not comparable to what he had in gold, but still 5-6 times more than the ministers and secretaries of the Central Committee.
The troubles began when the resourceful Arab fell under the KGB cap. Tracking all his connections, the security officers found Aizenshpis. In October 1986, Aizenshpis arrived at the next meeting near the Mossovet Theater in a newly purchased Zhiguli car of the sixth model. Here he was detained by police officers. In the trunk they found several Grundig cassette recorders, a couple of super-scarce VCRs and video cassettes.
Aizenshpis was incredibly lucky that his Arab accomplice managed to escape abroad in time. Without the main defendant, the criminal case, through the efforts of lawyers, successfully fell apart. Yuri Shmilevich left the prison bunks in April 1988, after serving in a pre-trial detention center for about a year and a half. This was his last prison sentence.
Return
In total, Yuri Aizenshpis served 17 years for something that any citizen can do now. Despite such a long prison term, Aizenshpis did not become embittered, did not lose his human appearance and did not become a criminal. He subsequently received a formal apology from the state.
“The world changed while I was away. A new generation has appeared. Old acquaintances may not have forgotten me, but I didn’t know where to find them. Having freed myself, I fell into a state of terrible depression. A lot of time has been lost. Friends have achieved something. And I had to start everything from scratch. No money, no apartment, no family. When I was imprisoned, I had a girlfriend. What happened to her? Don't know.
I was afraid that I would never see my parents again. Fortunately, I saw it. They even caught my new takeoff. My father had his own opinion about this. My parents are war veterans, have awards, and are communists. It seemed abnormal to them that their son was interested in music and rock that they did not understand. My father thought I was guilty. The mother may have had doubts, but she did not admit it. She is internally a freer person, very courageous, very real, like millions of ordinary communists who went through the war and all the difficulties. She herself is from Belarus. Despite her health, my mother went to Minsk for a rally of partisans. And she died among her own people - where she was born. She outlived her husband by only a year.
I probably should have some kind of anger towards this system, towards everything Soviet. Serving 17 years in prison would make anyone angry. But I have no anger. In the most difficult period for myself, I managed to concentrate and gather my will. Maybe because it was already hardened. After all, it still exists - the struggle for existence. For survival."
“No matter what happens, I will never leave the country. Despite what I had to endure here, I am a patriot by nature. Like a bird that was born in this area, it will die in this area.”.
Show business shark
Once free, Aizenshpis found himself in the thick of perestroika. Soon, his friend Alexander Lipnitsky (stepson of Vadim Sukhodrev, Brezhnev’s personal translator) introduced him to the then rock party. At first, he headed the directorate of the Interchance festival, slowly studying the backstage and hidden springs of homegrown show business, and soon began producing domestic musical performers.
Yuri Shmilevich outlined his credo extremely frankly: “Promoting an artist is the functional responsibility of the producer. And here any means are good. Through diplomacy, bribery, threats or blackmail". This is exactly how he acted, earning the nickname “show business shark.”
His formula for success in show business: “The result is the product of the talent of the performer, the talent of the producer, the time spent by both, the money invested, mutual desire and luck.”.
There were many unknown musical performers who dreamed of making it onto the big stage. Aizenshpis looked for those who could hook the viewer, who had at least some more or less attractive repertoire. First, through the media, mainly through television, he promoted them and made them famous, and then organized tours.
Victor Tsoi
After his release from prison in 1988, Yuri got a job at the creative association “Gallery”, created by the city committee of the Komsomol. At first, Aizenshpis organized concerts of young talented performers. In 1989, he became the official producer of the Kino group, after which the group quickly reached a new level of popularity.
At the time of the start of cooperation with Aizenshpis, the Kino group was already quite famous. The most creatively and conceptually successful album, “Blood Type,” had already been recorded and mixed at home, after which, according to critics, Tsoi could not write anything for at least 2 years. Therefore, working with Kino also brought Yuri Shmilevich to a new stellar level of production activity and allowed him to earn authority in his business.
“For the first time after my release, I worked in a creative youth association. Like mushrooms after rain, they began to appear in the fields of all kinds of Komsomol and Soviet organizations. It was a kind of roof. The concept of “manager” had not yet appeared.
One of my first actions was organizing a concert of Leningrad rock bands. They performed then mainly in cultural centers, and I took them to the big stage.
And so I met Viktor Tsoi. In principle, this is not an accident. I found him myself and convinced him to work with me, convinced him that I was not an accidental person in music. He told me what he had experienced. This somehow had an effect on him, although I was a complete stranger to him, and Victor is not the kind of person who makes contact easily.
Our acquaintance turned into friendship. Then the friendship grew into a creative union. I don’t want to attribute unnecessary laurels to myself. Of course, Tsoi and the Kino group were known before our meeting. But they are known among fans of Leningrad basement rock. And I decided to make a rock star out of him. And it was a success. The work was carried out on the radio and in the press. On television, Tsoi appeared for the first time in the program “Vzglyad”, which was then watched by the whole country. The release was made by Mukusev. I convinced him that millions of teenagers need Choi now.
Internally, Tsoi is a very interesting person, unlike anyone else. His second wife greatly influenced him. She is an esthete, from film circles and was a very good friend to him. I think she also did a lot to create the image that is known to the broad masses. He became from the hungry, angry Tsoi, imposing and mysterious. That’s how I recognized him – a mature performer who had already starred in “Assa”. And managed to help him turn into a superstar, or maybe even something more.".
After the tragic death of Tsoi in 1990, Aizenshpis released the last “Black Album” of the Kino group. Moreover, for the first time in post-Soviet history, he does this independently of the absolute monopolist in the recording market - the Melodiya company, having taken out a loan of 5 million rubles for this. The posthumous album was released in a circulation of 1,200,000 copies and brought Yuri Shmilevich 24 million rubles.
"Technology" (1991-1992)
The next stage of Aizenshpis’s career was the “Technology” group. And if “Kino” already had a certain initial speed at the start of working with him, then the producer sculpted the success of “Technology” practically “from scratch”, being already an experienced sculptor.
“My second project, “Technology,” showed that you can take guys of ordinary, average talent and also make stars out of them. I was basically dealing with amateur performances. Among the numerous motley ensembles was the Bioconstructor group, which later split into two subgroups. One was called "Bio", the other was still just hatching its musical concept. Only two or three songs could be shown. These are the songs I liked. Maybe I was the only one who liked them, because the concerts with their participation attracted no more than two or three hundred people. But I felt perspective in them.
First, I instilled in them confidence in their abilities: look, guys, you are working with me - you are already stars. This confidence gave them the opportunity to liberate themselves. And when a creative person relaxes, he has a surge of strength, he begins to create something genuine. So are they. After 4 months they became the group of the year and maintained the highest rating the entire time we worked together. Now their popularity is falling. There are many objective reasons for this, including, I believe, our breakup. So even a superstar without a talented producer cannot do anything today.
We can say that show business is an already established industry - the same industry as car production or iron smelting. Here, too, there is its own technology and its own laws.”.
Ovation Award
In 1992, Aizenshpis received the Ovation Award as the country's best producer. And from this year to 1993 he was the producer of the groups “Moral Code”, “Young Guns”, singer Linda.
"Young Guns" (1992-1993)
The short history of the “domestic Guns’n’Roses,” as they were called in the press, is equally instructive and typical for both musicians and producers. Having released a couple of bright hits, the group simply exploded from the internal confrontation of the members. “Each of the Young Guns musicians wanted to be a leader, they constantly argued, fought, and broke instruments. It was my fault that I didn’t stop them in time.”.
Linda (1993)
In 1993, Aizenshpis noticed the young talented performer Svetlana Gaiman on the Jurmala stage and helped the singer take her first steps on the big stage. Soon the name of the singer Linda becomes known both to the audience and in musical circles. At this time, the songs “Non-Stop”, I want your sex and the very first hit “Playing with Fire” (for which Fyodor Bondarchuk shot the singer’s first video clip) appeared. The collaboration between the artist and producer lasted less than a year, after which their creative paths diverged. Composer Maxim Fadeev was brought in to change the arrangement of “Playing with Fire,” who then wrote music for Linda for some time.
Vlad Stashevsky (1993-1999)
A sex symbol of the mid-nineties, a favorite of girls of all ages, Vlad Stashevsky, in collaboration with Yuri Aizenshpis, released 5 albums, each of which became a national bestseller. Yuri and Vlad met at the Master nightclub, where the Young Guns group produced by Aizenshpis performed. Yuri Shmilevich heard Vlad humming songs by Willy Tokarev and Mikhail Shufutinsky on an out-of-tune piano behind the scenes, and asked where he studied music. As a result, they exchanged phone numbers, and after a while Aizenshpis called Vlad and made an appointment. Arriving at the place, Stashevsky met Vladimir Matetsky. Together with Yuri Shmilevich, they arranged an audition for Stashevsky, and within a week the first song for his repertoire was ready. It was called “The Roads We Walk.” Stashevsky's first performance in public took place on August 30, 1993 at a festival in Adjara.
The debut album “Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” became the first release of the newly created company “Aizenshpis Records”. In 1996, Stashevsky’s third album “Vlad-21” sold 15,000 copies in the first week alone, which was an astronomical figure for the very young Russian CD market. In the same year, the performer rises to the top of another, unusual chart: the magazine expert recognizes him as the “most pirated” artist of the year. In 1997, at the invitation of the US Senate, Vlad Stashevsky gives a solo concert in Brooclin park in front of an audience of more than twenty thousand.
Other projects and achievements in show business
In 1994, Yuri was one of the organizers of the international music festival “Sunny Adjara”. Participated in the establishment of the Star Award.
Based on the results of his creative activity in 1995, Aizenshpis again received the Ovation Award.
Then he was the producer of singer Inga Drozdova (1997), singer Katya Lel (1997), singer Nikita (1998-2001), singer Sasha (1999-2000), and the group “Dynamite” (2001).
In 2001, Yuri Aizenshpis was invited to take the post of general director of the largest production company at that time, Media Star.
Aizenshpis's latest project is Dima Bilan (2002).
Different roles of Yuri Aizenshpis
In 2005, he played a small role in the film “Night Watch”. He also proved himself as a writer, becoming the author of the autobiographical book “Lighting the Stars.”
Personal life
Yuri had a wife, Elena Lvovna Kovrigina, with whom he lived in a civil marriage and with whom he had a son, Mikhail, in 1993.
Death
Yuri Aizenshpis died on September 20, 2005 from a heart attack at the age of 60.
He was buried near Moscow, at the Domodedovo cemetery.
Producer Yuri Aizenshpis
On July 15, famous producer Yuri Aizenshpis would have turned 73 years old, but 13 years ago he passed away. He is called the first Soviet producer, since it was he who coined this term. Thanks to him, they achieved incredible popularity in the 1980-1990s. groups “Kino”, “Technology” and “Dynamite”, singer Linda, singers Vlad Stashevsky and Dima Bilan. Aizenshpis was one of the brightest and most controversial personalities in the world of show business; no one denied his professionalism, but among artists he earned the nickname Karabas-Barabas. 
Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis was born in 1945 in Chelyabinsk, later the family moved to Moscow, where Yuri received an economic education. While still studying at the institute, he began producing, although at that time such a concept did not yet exist. Everyone knows about Aizenshpis’s projects of the 1980-1990s, but few people know that back in the 1960s. he organized semi-underground concerts of rock groups and was the administrator of the Sokol group, which toured the Union very successfully.
Producer Yuri Aizenshpis
Natalya Vetlitskaya and Yuri Aizenshpis 
At the same time, Aizenshpis engaged in activities that were then considered illegal, and later became known as business. Thanks to currency manipulation, he soon became an underground millionaire. “I bought foreign currency or checks,” said Aizenshpis, “with them in the Beryozka store I purchased scarce goods and then sold them through intermediaries on the black markets.” In those days, the dollar cost on the “black market” from two to seven and a half rubles. Let’s say, a synthetic fur coat could be bought at Beryozka for $50 and sold for 500 rubles.”
Viktor Tsoi and Yuri Aizenshpis 
In 1970, Aizenshpis was arrested and convicted under the articles “Speculation on an especially large scale” and “Violation of foreign exchange transactions.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property. In 1977, he was released, but spent only 3 months in freedom. Then he was arrested again for currency fraud and imprisoned. He served his sentence until 1985, and in 1986 he again went to jail for two years.
After his release, Aizenshpis again began producing, and in the early 1990s. he was already called one of the “show business sharks.” In the 1989-1990s. he worked with the Kino group, which was already known before him. After that, he preferred to start working with artists “from scratch,” turning unknown young performers into real stars. In 1991-1992 he collaborated with the Technology group in 1992-1993. - with the Moral Code group, in 1993 he began working with Linda, in 1994 with Vlad Stashevsky, in 1999-2001 with singer Nikita, since 2000 he has been managing the affairs of the Dynamite group. His last project was Dima Bilan. 
Producer with the group *Dynamite*
Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis was born in 1945 in Chelyabinsk, later the family moved to Moscow, where Yuri received an economic education. While still studying at the institute, he began producing, although at that time such a concept did not yet exist. Everyone knows about Aizenshpis’s projects of the 1980-1990s, but few people know that back in the 1960s. he organized semi-underground concerts of rock groups and was the administrator of the Sokol group, which toured the Union very successfully.
Many artists called him a tough and unprincipled man who did not disdain illegal and unethical methods of promotion, for which Aizenshpis received the nickname Karabas-Barabas of domestic show business. His wards had to obey him unquestioningly, and the producer received the main income from their performances. But at the same time, the result of cooperation was a win-win: all the artists became super popular. 
The man who is called the godfather of Russian show business
Singer Vlad Stashevsky and his producer
The producer did not deny that his methods were quite harsh: “Promoting” an artist is the functional responsibility of the producer, and for him there is no concept of “good” or “bad.” The main thing is the goal. At any cost. Through diplomacy, bribery, threats or blackmail. Ultimately, these are just emotions. But when moving towards the goal, you must act like a tank.” At the same time, Aizenshpis did not attribute the merits of others to himself - he admitted that at the time he met him, the Kino group was already quite popular, but, according to him, he helped them move from the circle of “fans of Leningrad basement rock” to the all-Union level. Thanks to him, Tsoi was talked about in the press, on radio and television, and the group entered the big stage. 
Vlad Stashevsky, Yuri Antonov and Yuri Aizenshpis
Group *Technology*
The situation was different with “Technology,” which Aizenshpis “promoted” from scratch: “My second project showed that you can take guys of ordinary, average talent and also make stars out of them. I was basically dealing with amateur performances... Only two or three songs could be shown. These are the songs I liked. Maybe I was the only one who liked them, because the concerts with their participation attracted no more than two or three hundred people. But I felt perspective in them. First, I instilled in them confidence in their abilities: look, guys, you are working with me - you are already stars. This confidence gave them the opportunity to liberate themselves. And when a creative person relaxes, he has a surge of strength, he begins to create something genuine. So are they. After 4 months they became the group of the year and maintained the highest rating the entire time we worked together.” 
Aizenshpis often heard accusations against him that the artist’s talent is the last thing that interests him. They say that working with vocalists of Vlad Stashevsky’s level is an absolutely futile endeavor. Aizenshpis ignored such statements and did not deny the difference between his projects: “If Viktor Tsoi was a natural musician, then Stashevsky was a product of show business.” And his colleague, music producer Evgeny Frindlyand, not being a fan of the work of his charges, said: “Yuri Aizenshpis is a Master, a Professional with a capital P and, perhaps, was not looking for outstanding talents and obvious nuggets, but as a real and very talented artist on “ white sheets” of ordinary performers himself created paintings - magnificent and bright projects! Authors, directors, stylists, cameramen, PR people - he captured these people with his every “crazy” idea, hypnotized them, and they did the impossible.” 
Dima Bilan - Aizenshpis's latest project
Otar Kushanashvili wrote about him: “I heard about him that he is a Legend and a Tank. It turned out that he really is a walking mythology, but a tank is pale: Yu.A. – a fighter, an excavator, a bulldozer and a factory all at once. When he works, he is unbearable, because if you don't want to work, he will turn your life into a storm. His merits, his deeds are heterogeneous, but the height he has achieved is unique; who else will dare to conquer it? He works every single day: this is a rare certification lately, don’t you think?”
The years spent in prison undermined the producer's health. In addition, his workaholism and habit of not sparing himself led to complete nervous and physical exhaustion. On September 20, 2005, Yuri Aizenshpis died of a heart attack at the age of 60.
On September 20, Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis (1945-2005), one of the few real producers in this country, died.
Aizenshpis got into show business in his youth, but much of what he did then was on the verge of legality (). As a result, the guy went to a prison university and was able to fully return to work only at the age of 45.
Aizenshpis's first project was Viktor Tsoi, whose collaboration was interrupted by a tragic accident.
Artists left him with scandals, he abandoned them himself, and sometimes there was not enough money for further promotion.
Let's talk today about the “thwarted” projects of a producer who is considered super successful.
TECHNOLOGY GROUP (1991-1992)
Cooperation: The group members agree that Aizenshpis took them, like Tsoi, “ready-made.” There was no need to do anything - “Technology” had already successfully performed “Strange Dances” and “Press the Button,” which became the guys’ calling card.
Aizenshpis simply shot them a video for “Strange Dances” and charged the airwaves. In addition, he persuaded the participants to squint outwardly to “Depeche Mode.” Well, I also brought lighting equipment from abroad.
But filming clips and broadcasting cost money, which the participants in “Technology” did not seem to understand. Television editors demanded money for every sneeze, making Aizenshpis nostalgic for the days when Tsoi’s appearance on the Vzglyad program did not cost anything.
Reasons for the breakup: The crowd ruined “Technology”. Income was divided at the rate of 60% to Aizenshpis, 40% to the group. In principle, it was divine, but this 40% had to be split between four people and the amount turned out to be unimpressive. Why “Technology” blamed Aizenshpis for this is not entirely clear. Let's assume there are problems with arithmetic.
Wanting to wrest not only freedom, but also money from Aizenshpis, “Technology” turned to crime for help.
Aizenshpis said:
“Not only I, but also some criminal elements who undertook to judge us received a 15-page letter in red ballpoint pen with a bunch of accusations. I couldn’t just dismiss these people and agreed to meet. The shooting took place at one of the rented apartments near Sokol. In addition to me, who came in splendid isolation, and the brawlers from the group, several other very authoritative people in criminal circles came there. Seems like a protégé of musicians. And I even once sat with someone...
The debriefing has begun. Having calmly listened to a whole stream of accusations, I answered each of the points so skillfully and reasonedly that I didn’t even leave a stone unturned. The criminal element admitted that I was right and did not side with the musicians. All that I lost as a result of this meeting was a mountain of promotional material for the group, all sorts of stupid posters and calendars with their arrogant faces.”
"YOUNG GUNS" (1992)
Collaboration: Not realizing that the time for pop was coming, Aizenshpis took another rock band under his wing, but quickly changed his mind. He did not have time to invest large sums of money in this project, for which he repeatedly thanked the Lord.
Reasons for the breakup: The initiator of the breakup was Aizenshpis, he got too wild musicians. The guys always shared leadership in the team, starting fights right at concerts, damaging equipment, and conflicts with the police. And this was not glory yet, and a breath of it would have blown the roof off without return. Realizing this, Aizenshpis broke the contract.
LINDA (1992-1993)
Cooperation: Aizenshpis was interested in Linda by his father, the banker Alexander Gaiman, or rather, by his money. First of all, Aizenshpis destroyed Linda’s duet with her friend, convincing her that it was easier to push through a solo project. Then he encountered the shyness of the future star. Aizenshpis gave her a description:
“Linda had long hair and could not speak coherently: an ordinary provincial Jewish girl whose dad has risen a lot. There was no talent at all, the girl just wanted to sing. And at the school, naturally, having felt the taste of profit, they began to enroll her in super talent. They simply deceived the parent for clearly selfish purposes so that he would hire expensive teachers.”
Reasons for the breakup: Naturally, the producer’s criticism strained the banker, and Aizenshpis did not know how to mold the artist into something acceptable. And then Max Fadeev appeared on the horizon.
The success of the first albums could not be repeated, although in 2004 Linda had another powerful promotion with producer Prigozhin at the helm.
VLAD STASHEVSKY (1993-1999)
Collaboration: Aizenshpis’s first project, which he put together from start to finish and was a great success. Taking a handsome, well-mannered guy, Aizenshpis ordered music and lyrics for him. Vlad shot very powerfully, at a certain moment all the airwaves were his.
The project lasted a long time, because Stashevsky understood what he owed to the producer and did not have grandiose creative ambitions. Everything was going great until Vlad married the daughter of the owner of Luzhniki, Olga Aleshina.
Reasons for the breakup: Aleshina began to blow in Stashevsky’s ear that it would be better to work without Aizenshpis, she would be the producer and all the money would go to the family.
Aizenshpis tried to stay cheerful:
“My “divorce” with Vlad is the first major one in our show business, which took place tactfully and peacefully. Without mutual claims, name-calling and boycotts. For the first time, two famous people, a producer and an artist, publicly announced that from now on they are ending their cooperation. We did this in the office of the Intermedia company, where we signed a statement for the mass media regarding the end of the five-year contract and about satisfaction with the results of our joint activities. To confirm this amazing fact, I cited such indisputable evidence of the project’s success as the release of five albums, one hundred songs, seventeen videos and five “Song of the Year” diplomas over five years.
It’s good that Vlad managed to return to normal life without any problems “a la Zhenya Osin.”
SASHA (1999-2000)
Collaboration: Aizenshpis tried to mold a really bright singer into a Russian Madonna (meaning an earthly star, not a heavenly one). The situation was made easier by the fact that Sasha came not alone, but with a budget. Very soon, songs like “It’s Just Rain” filled the airwaves.
Reasons for the breakup: The philanthropist, who gave money for Sasha, put her to bed, and then began to be jealous, while being married. Troubles arose constantly.
Aizenshpis recalled:
“There was a constant mess with broadcasts due to scandals. Everything has already been paid for, suddenly at the last moment there is a call: “Cancel everything!” I’m canceling with losses, it’s good that at least I saved some of the money. And suddenly the call came again: “Bring everything back!” And try to explain to him that this is not how it’s done!”
The investor fired Aizenshpis, and tried to block Sasha’s path to the stage.
NIKITA (1999-2000)
Collaboration: Like “Technology,” Nikita came to Aizenshpis with ready-made material and was not impressed at first. But after taking a closer look, the producer decided to invest in the boy. The songs “Flew Away Forever”, “You Descended from the Sky”, and the scandalous video “Hotel” will go down in the history of the Russian music industry in the strictest sense.
Unfortunately, Nikita thought of himself as an independent creative unit, and so it probably was, but at the same time, he clearly underestimated the contribution of Yuri Shmilevich.
Reasons for the breakup: They were voiced by Aizenshpis.
“There was always confrontation in our relationship. It would seem, why bother, you’re lucky, you’re working with a major producer, you get good money, an excellent prospect. But no, on all issues there is a different point of view, fantastic self-confidence and categoricalness and, as a result, constant conflicts.”
Two and a half years later, Aizenshpis and Nikita broke up.
“When I started working alone, in the first days I just wanted to hang myself. When I collaborated with Aizenshpis, I didn’t think about anything other than performances. And now I have to solve all the issues alone - from organizing tours to choosing concert costumes..."
Aizenshpis did not want to contact Nikita anymore. As a result, the promising singer slipped to the level of an artist in clubs in residential areas of Moscow.
Aizenshpis's latest projects, the Dynamite group and Dima Bilan, were successful.
Although by the time Yuri Shmilevich passed away, “Dynamite” was going through a crisis, since Leonid Nerushenko died, kicked out of the group. As for Bilan, he fell into a lawsuit with Aizenshpis’s widow as soon as the producer’s corpse had time to cool down.
These are the results of the professional activity of a non-trivial, tough and very talented person.
