Valeriya

Valeriya's 2016 studio album Okeany served well to "prove the singer's intention to remain a 'a healthy man's perfect female singer'," but her "'formula of happiness' here is here being pronounced with the strictness of a harsh pedagogue," according to critic Alexey Mazhayev. The material for her 2017 studio album K solntsu (Towards the Sun) has been provided by the team of young, unknown songwriters, including Cyrill Yermakov from Belarus, "but if the idea was to bring in the feeling of freshness, it succeeded only in fragments," according to Mazhayev. Highly successful though proved to be the singles "Minor Infarctions" and "The Heart Is Broken". The video for the latter gathered 112 million views on the YouTube in the first week.

Valeria's 2013 studio album Po serpantinu featured four duets (with Valery Meladze, Nikolai Baskov, Alexander Buynov and, notably, Goran Bregovich, one of her all-time favourite artists). Most of the reviews, though, centered on the Russian chanson-tinged title track and "I Will Be Waiting for You", the latter included into the comedy Polar Flight soundtrack. It was followed by the Best Of compilation Eto vremya lyubvi (This Is the Time of Love), which included "Ty moya" (You Are Mine), the duet with her daughter Anna Shulgina.

Valeriya was a member of a jury in the Russian version of the TV show X-Factor and has been invited as a judge to the International contest for young performers New Wave in Jurmala. In January 2009 Valeriya took part in Midem 2009 Rusia! Time for Partnership! day, co-organized with trade publication Billboard Russian Federation. She gave a show at The Midem Opening Night Party Russia at "Palais des Festivales" in Cannes.

In March 2009 Valeriya was invited to join as a special guest Simply Red's "The Greatest Hits" Tour in the UK. She also took part in the Russian National Final for Eurovision 2009 with the song "Back to Love" and later finished second behind "Mamo" by Anastasia Prikhodko. In 2010, Valeriya joined forces with Avon as a celebrity judge for Avon Voices, Avon's first ever global, online singing talent search for women and songwriting competition for men and women.

In 2008 Valeriya became a goodwill envoy for the Russian Federation on behalf of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an agency she has teamed up with for the past year to combat human trafficking. Valeriya's anti-trafficking clips has appeared on Russian television.

Valeriya's 2007 album Out Of Control (recorded in two versions, English and Russian) featured collaborations with several well-known producers and musicians, including Ray St. John, David Richards and Chantal Kreviazuk. One of the tracks, a cover version of the Bee Gees's "Stayin' Alive" was recorded with Robin Gibb.

In April 2006 Valeriya released the album Nezhnost moya (My Tenderness) which was followed by an international tour which was concluded with a sold-out show at the Olimpisky Stadium in November.

In 2005 Valeriya was awarded the Honoured Artiste of Russia title and ranked 9th in the Forbes magazine list of 50 most highly paid people in movie, sport, literature and music industry. At that time she founded De Leri, the jewelry and perfume lines of her own. Her 2006 autobiography Life, Tears and Love for the first time revealed the shocking details of her marriage with Shulgin.

The same month she signed a contract with Iosif Prigozhin and his company NOX Music. On 8 October 2003 she released the album Strana Lyubvi (Loveland), which sold better then all her previous albums put together. In 2004 Valeriya received the Best Female Artiste awards from the two main national music channels, Muz-TV and MTV Russia. Among her accolades are numerous Golden Grammophone and an MTV RMA awards.

In 1997 Valeriya released the album Familia. Chast 1 (Family name. Part 1), followed by Glaza Tsveta Neba (Eyes the Colour of Heaven, 2001) but the conflict with Shulgin led to her unexpected retirement from the stage. In April, 2003 the contract between the singer and her manager was legally terminated.

In December 1995 she released the single "Moya Moskva" (My Moscow), followed a year later by the full-length, Anna. The album, all songs of which had been written by her then husband and manager Alexandr Shulgin, provided a breakthrough for the singer. Later that year she started teaching at the Gnesin Academy of Music herself.

In 1989 Valeriya recorded two albums. Her first English-language disc, The Taiga Symphony came out in 1991 via Shulgin Records. Pobud' so mnoi (Stay with me), a collection of traditional Russian romances, was released by Lad Records a year later. In 1992 she won the first prize in a national TV contest Morning Star. Also that year she won the international contest Bratislavskaya Lira and received an Audience Choice Award at Yurmala-92.

In 1985 Valeriya enrolled in the Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow which she graduated 1990. Among her teachers there were professor Iosif Kobzon and Gelena Velikanova.

Valeriya (Russian: Валерия ) is a stage name of Alla Yurievna Perfilova (Russian: Алла Юрьевна Перфилова , born April 17, 1968 in Atkarsk), a Russian singer and fashion model, Valeriya, who is a recipient of the titles People's Artist of Russia (2013) and People's Artist of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (2016), has also won numerous prestigious awards, including Golden Gramophone (thirteen), Pesnya goda (thirteen), Muz-TV (four: Best Performer in 2004, 2010 and 2015, Best Video, 2014), and MTV Russia Music Awards (two, Best Performer, 2004, Best Song, 2005). She has been a member of the Council for Culture and Art under the President of the Russian Federation since 2012.

Valeriya was born on April 17, 1968 in a small town of Atkarsk in the Saratov Oblast, into a family of classically trained musicians. She studied piano at the only musical school in the town where her father Yuri Ivanovich was a director and her mother Galina Nikolaevna was a teacher. Since her early childhood Valeriya knew that she wanted to be a singer.