The beginning, solo career 1965–1976 in
Yaroslavl, November 1975 Pugacheva finished college in 1966 and subsequently toured with the group Yunost' (
Youth) in western
Siberia. The following year she began working as a piano accompanist at the State Circus Musical college. She provided the leading vocals to a number of bands, including Novy Elektron (
New Electron), part of the
Lipetsk State Philharmonic Society, in 1966, Moskvichi (
Muscovites) in 1971,
Oleg Lundstrem's band in 1972–73, and
Vesyolye Rebyata (
Merry Folks) in 1974–75. She recorded songs throughout that period for numerous movies. In 1974, she came in 3rd place in the All-Union competition of musicians. In 1975, she received the Grand Prix of the
Golden Orpheus international singing contest in Bulgaria, performing the song "Harlequin" by
Emil Dimitrov. The
Amiga label released her winning song as a single in
East Germany. Subsequently, in Bulgaria, the
Balkanton label released the live recording of "Harlequin" from the festival as a single. A year later, Pugacheva returned to the
Golden Orpheus to perform a concert outside the competition. The Balkanton released the live tracks as Pugacheva's first album
Zolotoy Orfey 76. The single "Harlequin" has sold 14 million copies. In that same year, Pugacheva recorded a number of songs for the musical drama-comedy
The Irony of Fate as the singing voice of Nadja, the female protagonist. In 1976, Pugacheva performed at the international music exhibition
MIDEM in
Cannes (France).
The Woman Who Sings, 1977–1980 in 1976. Pugacheva went on to work on the
musical film The Woman who Sings in cooperation with the band Ritm (
Rhythm) in 1977. She played the leading lady, a famous pop singer who sacrifices her personal life for her career. The soundtrack, which was co-written by Pugacheva and composed of pop songs, culminated with the dramatic title
ballad "Zhenshchina, kotoraya poyot". The Soviet audience, regarding the film as autobiographical, brought the soundtrack to reach
record audience of the year in 1979, as it was bought by 55 million people. The soundtrack was first released in 1977 as part of the double album
Zerkalo dushi (
Mirror of the Soul), which was a collection of her songs from 1975 to 1977. The
Victor label released a collection album
Alla Pugacheva in the same year in Japan. In 1978, performing the song "Vsyo mogut koroli" ("Kings Can Do Anything"), Pugacheva received the Amber Nightingale prize at the Sopot International Song Festival which at the time meant automatically winning the Grand Prix of the
Intervision Song Contest. In 1980, the Kansan label of Finland released her above-listed works as the compilation album
Huipulla (
At the Top). Also, the release of Pugacheva's album took place in
West Germany. In July 1979 in Moscow, Pugacheva performed in a duet with
Joe Dassin. In the mid-1980s, Pugacheva toured Finland, Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, as well as the Baltic countries, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Her performance was a success. Therefore, in 1985, in Finland, in the port of
Kotka, the ceremony of launching the ferry "Alla", named in honor of Pugacheva, took place. At the same time, she performed with the Swedish pop group
Herreys and the Norwegian pop group
Bobbysock. In September 1987, Pugacheva's single "Find Me" entered
ZDF-Hitparade in Germany. In 1986, she performed in
Chernobyl for the liquidators of the nuclear power plant accident. In 1987, Pugacheva was the
headliner of the
Sanremo Music Festival along with
Whitney Houston. In 1989, Pugacheva performed at the
Country Music Festival (
Nashville, USA). In 1991, she performed at the music festival in
Ariccia. In 1994, she performed at a rock music festival in
Tallinn.
Voice of Asia, 1995–2006 in 1995 In 1995, Pugacheva was the headliner of the
Voice of Asia music festival in
Almaty along with
Toto Cutugno was also a headliner. She represented Russia in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1997 with the song "Primadonna", finishing in 15th place out of 25 places. In 1997, together with the Econika Corporation, the singer launched her own brand of shoes under the Alla Pugachova brand. The shoes became the most successful non-song business project of the singer, along with the
perfume "Alla", produced for many years since 1990 by the French perfume company "Sogo". From 1998 to 2000, Pugacheva made an international tour with the “Yes” program for large halls, including stadiums, and the “Favorites” program for chamber halls, such as theaters and cultural centers. Over three years, she gave more than 150 concerts in Eastern Europe, as well as in Germany, Greece, Israel, Britain and the United States. She also released
video clips for her hits from this period, such as “Autumn Leaves”, “Call Me With You”, “A candle was burning on the table”, and received the
Golden Gramophone award, awarded by
Russian Radio. In 1999, she guest starred at the historic concert of the
Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles in Moscow at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. Pugacheva had sold a quarter of a billion records by 2000; in 2003, Pugacheva released the album “Live in Peace, Country!”, and in 2008, “Invitation to Sunset,”, albums received
gold disc status in Russia from
IFPI; in 2023 one of her songs were used for
Atomic Heart for the intro. From 2005 to 2019, Pugacheva awarded a cash prize from personal funds in the amount of $50,000 to young talented performers from Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Central Asia, including rock musician
Koop Arponen from Finland,
Tina Karol from
Ukraine,
Marina Lucenko from Poland, Stas Shurins from
Latvia,
Monika Linkyte from
Lithuania, Maxim Erzhan from
Kazakhstan and others.
"Dreams of Love" and leaving the stage, 2007–2014 show (Russian version of
The X Factor), 2012 On 20 July 2007, Alla Pugacheva became the artistic director of her own FM radio station "" in Moscow; she influenced the musical policy and also hosted her own programs "Hello, Alla", "Visiting Alla", "Alla is Looking for Talent". She left the station in November 2010 and the station's name was changed to "
Radio Romantika". From April 2009 to March 2010, Pugacheva made an international concert tour “Dreams of Love”, performing in 13 countries, including the United States, Germany, the Baltic countries, Israel, Bulgaria and others. The concert program included some hits from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Pugacheva opened the concert show with the song “I Sing”. On 5 March 2009 at a press conference, Pugachova announced the end of her touring activities after the tour. From 2011 to 2013, Pugacheva was a member of the jury of the Russian version of the British talent show
The X Factor (
Factor A). In 2014, in
Jurmala a concert was held dedicated to the work of Pugacheva, at which performers from the countries of the former USSR and the Baltic states performed cover versions of her hits; among the guests were
Ricky Martin,
Il Volo,
Alesandro Safina,
Ola and others. Pugacheva herself performed at the finale of the evening.
The end of the singing career and subsequent artistry, 2015–present ,
Belarus, 2016 In 2015, on
The Tonight Show,
Jimmy Fallon, after listening to Alla Pugacheva's single Superman, noted that he liked Pugacheva's performance. In the same year, Pugacheva gave an interview to the Kazakh TV channel
Khabar. The interview was conducted by Arman Davletyarov
. In 2017, she performed at a music festival in
Baku. On 17 April 2019, in Moscow, Pugacheva presented the solo concert “P.S.”. In 2021, she recorded the
soundtrack for the film
Chernobyl, directed by
Danila Kozlovsky. In May 2022, Pugacheva participated in the
Free Culture Forum in
Tel Aviv. The forum was also attended by Russian rock musicians
Andrey Makarevich and
Boris Grebenshchikov. In September 2022, she would attend former Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev's
funeral. In 2024, she visited the
Rendezvous music festival in Jurmala as a guest. Among the festival's participants were
Londonbeat and
Nemo.
Voice rating and art career appraisal In 2004, Polish
musicologist and
cultural critic Grzegorz Piotrowski noted Pugacheva's wide vocal range from
contralto to
soprano — her vocal technique combines different ways of operating the voice. Russian
music critic Alexey Mazhaev, in a review of Pugacheva's album "How Disturbing Is This Way", noted a combination of different
genres —
folk ("Stairs"),
reggae ("Hold Me, straw"),
blues ("That's how it Happened, Mom"),
gypsy style ("Old Song"). Mazhaev also noted that in 12 of the 16 compositions, the singer wrote the music herself, demonstrating completely different vocal techniques and acting skills. The French newspaper
France Soir gave a positive review of Pugacheva's performance at the
Olympia concert hall in Paris in 1982; also, a story about Pugacheva's performance was shown in the news on the
Soviet Central Television.
Jon Pareles, having attended Pugacheva's performance at
Carnegie Hall in 1988, noted the singer's versatility and vocal subtlety, while speaking about her music, he found that she was “Western-oriented in vocal styles, instruments (keyboards, electric guitars, trap drums), arrangements, song forms and rhythms. But even with their American and European trappings, the songs have an unmistakably Slavic tone, conveyed not only by the hard consonants of the Russian lyrics, but also by the shifting, theatrical moodiness and almost constant use of minor keys. She also performed in 2009 in a duet with Ukrainian singer
Sofia Rotaru, performing the song “
Not Gonna Get Us” from the repertoire of
t.A.T.u. Film work In addition to her musical career, she has several film roles, which were positively received by critics and received film awards. Her most famous roles are in such films as "
The Woman Who Sings" in 1978,
musicals “Old Songs about the Main Thing” in 1996, 1997, 2000, and “Chasing Two Rabbits” in 2003, "
Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors" in 2007, and recording the
soundtrack for the film "
Chernobyl" in 2021. == Influence on popular culture ==