| Dima Bilan was born on 24 December 1981. He spent his childhood in Karachaevo, Cherkezia. When he was one, his family moved to his grandmother’s place in the city of Naberejnie Chelni in Tartarstan.
“I was supposed to attend kindergarten there with my sister there. But unlike her, I seldom attended because I had the chance to stay at home. My grandmother, being crazy about me, used to watch get up to all sort of tricks.”
Dima’s extraordinary musical ability was noticed around that time when he arranged concerts for neighbours in the stairway. When he was six years old, his family moved to Kabardina, Balkaria where he went to school with his sister. He took part in morning performances, recited poems and sang songs.
“I received my first round of applause in the second grade in the school canteen during lunch. During a long break, I stood up and began to sing ‘Prekrasnoe Daleko’ (‘Wonderful future’). The noise died down and even people I had just played tricks on were staring at me with open mouths. The song ended and after a second’s pause there was a storm of applause.”
Musical school
After several months, a teacher from a local musical school came into the classroom to listen to the pupils. Delighted by Dima’s song ‘Vo pole bereza stoyala’ (‘Birch in the field’), she announced that the boy must study music. But Dima’s parents wanted their son to keep his feet on the ground and follow a respected profession. So his musical education did not begin straight away. While studying in the fifth form, he was admitted to the musical school at once - but only after the permission of his parents was granted. Dima’s sister helped to settle the problem. She promised to stay with her brother and their parents had to give in. And so Dima began to study the accordion and became soloist in the children’s choir.
Dima’s debut
Then there were children’s competitions, festivals and local concerts. When he was in the tenth form, Dima visited Moscow to take part in the Chunga-Changa festival, dedicated to children’s creativity and Urea Entina’s and David Tuchmanov’s thirty-year partnership.
Dima remembers his arrival with horror: everything was new and strange, and there was no one there to meet him. Plus, it was cold, rainy, and it took them all day to find the festival. But the ten-day program was full of excitement, meetings and joyful experiences. Dima received a diploma from Iosif Kabzon, before returning home. After a month, on the eve of 1999, he unexpectedly received an invitation from Alla, the girl he had met during the festival. She invited him to welcome the New Year in the capital. It was Dima’s second trip to Moscow after leaving secondary and musical schools.
Dima lived at Alla’s place for two years. He had to earn his living working in the evenings in a clothes shop. And in the mornings he went to classes. It was a hard time.
Meeting with Yuri Aizenshpis (producer)
In his third year, Dima and his girlfriend Sasha Savelova met Yuri Aizenhshpis.
“I understood it was a chance not to be missed and I just began singing. He noticed me. Knowing that there were thousands of hopefuls like me, Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis gave me his telephone number. Later we met in the studio.”
After Dima had sung his song, everyone acknowledged his extraordinary talent. Next stage was the Jurmala festival.
The preparation for the contest, the selection rounds in Metelica and continuous work on his own material took several months, during which time he released his song ‘Bum’.
Having passed all the selection rounds successfully, Dima left for the festival. Jurmala became a real trial of strength: there was no time for entertainment there. Rehearsals on stage lasted all day and continued in the hotel room. The result of the stubborn struggle was fourth place.
In autumn, the video clips of his first songs appeared on TV. The video for ‘Night hooligan’ took Dima’s career to a new level. The song reflects Dima’s state of mind at that time and, after it, Dima became very well-known.
Work became more interesting: by the time of his final exams in Gnesink, Dima had already released three singles: ‘Bum’, ‘Night hooligan’ and ‘You and only you’.
For his last exam, the singer came directly from the studio where he had been recording his fourth track ‘Ya oshibsya, ya popal’ (‘I was mistaken, I was lost’). In 2003 Dima left Gnesinsk and in summer 2004 he received a diploma from Iosif Kobzon. Deciding to attain more qualifications, he entered GITIS (the State Institute of Theatrical Art).
Jurmala
In summer 2003, he was touring together with the group Dynamite. At the Jurmala festival as a special guest, Dima shot his new romantic video for the song ‘Ya tak tebya lublu’ (‘I love you so much’) with Igor Krutoy’s daughter Vika.
‘Night hooligan’
At the end of October Dima’s debut album ‘Ya nochnoy xooligan’ was presented in the Arlekino entertainment complex. The album featured pop compositions with elements of R&B and 2Step. Otpetiye moshenniki (Inveterate swindlers), Slivki (Plumps), Fabrica (Factory), Korni (Roots) also took part in the show. There was also huge dancing support from Grupa zachvata (Special Control Group) on stage. Dima’s duet with Darina, the young R&B singer, sounded great. They sang the song ‘I can not live without you’ and a video of the song was later released.
Immediately afterwards, Dima took part in the TV show’ Fear factor’ in Argentina. On it, he had to ride a bicycle on a thin rope 40 metres above the ground, eat a strawberry covered in flies.
At the end of March 2004, he shot a video for the song ‘Mulatto girl’ in a deserted elevator not far from Savelovski station.
Between Heaven and the Sky
In summer 2004 Dima Bilan went to Venice to shoot a video for ‘Na beregu neba’ (‘Between Heaven and the Sky’). The shoot involved several foreign professionals, including Giannenrico Bianchi, the Italian director, and a girl named Jari, playing the main heroine. Yuri Aizenshpis also took part in the shooting of the clip. After working all week, the singer fled to Turkey to have a deserved rest.
In September 2004 Dima starred in his first advertisement. He played a student chatting on a mobile phone during a lecture. It turned out to be very funny. By the way, the incendiary song ‘Mulatka’ (‘Mulatto girl’) plays in the advertisement.
On 14 October 2004, the second album ‘Between Heaven and the Sky’ was presented in the Infiniti night club. Songwriters Shaun Escoffery and Diane Warren helped to record this album: for more than 20 years, they have worked with stars like Céline Dion, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, Ricky Martin and others.
Bilan appeared at the club and performed two songs: ‘Voda, pesok’ (‘Water, Sand’) and ‘Kak Romeo’ (‘As Romeo’). There were a lot of VIPs there too: Vladimir Vinakur, Lev Leshenko, Marat Saphin, Pavel Bure, Kate Lel, Jasmin, the Prime Minister, Janna Friske, Blestyashiye, Ksusha Borodina, Ksenia Sobchak, Otar Kushanashvili, Dynamite of course and others.
Yuri Aizenshpis planned to release the album in English, so Dima began to study at ‘Mr. English’, Russia’s biggest school of English.
After several months, the shooting of the next video, ‘Ti doljna ryadom bit’ (‘You must be close to me’) started. Gosha Toidze, the producer of the clip, and Vlad Opelyanc, created a new style in Russian video-making. In the spring, Dima was photographed for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, FHM and Atmosphera.
At that time, Dima also began to work with La Scala Fashion Group and Franck Provost as well as preparing for ‘Euro view 2005’, the national Eurovision selection. Dima Bilan qualified for the Finals, but it was Natalia Podolskaya who went on to represent Russia in Kyiv. Despite this, Dima took part in several festivals in Russia.
One of these was ‘Pyat zvezd’ (‘Five stars’), organised by First Russia and MTV Russia who broadcast it across Russia and Europe. Dima had the honour of appearing as a guest of the festival. Soon after he recorded a new song, ‘Kak chotel ya’ (‘How much I wanted’). The video shoot took place in Panama with Gosha Toidze as the producer and Vlad Opelyanc as the director. The video turned out to be crazy, and the song entered the playlists of many Russian radio stations.
After his trip to Panama, Dima was invited to take part in a new TV reality show on the First channel. The show was called ‘Empire’ and it was shot near Warszaw. The following well-known people were participants: Jirinovski, Shandibin, Apeksimova, Janna Friske, Masha Malinovskaya and others.
On 20 September, at the age of 61, Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis died from heart attack.
“I am grateful to Yuri Shmilevich for everything he had done for me,” says Dima. “He was a great person and producer. He made a huge impression on my life and career.”
Triumph on MTV
On 21 September, the MTV Russian Music Awards took place in Vasilevskih. Dima received two awards: as Best Performer and as Actor of the Year.
The DVD ‘TI tolko ti’ (‘You only you’) was released which included parts of the actor’s albums, clips, photos and interviews. In October, Dima took part in the program ‘Serdso Afriki’ (‘Heart of Africa’).
On 3 November, Dima went to Lisbon to represent Russia at the Europe Music Awards. In December 2005, Dima received two golden gramophones for the song ‘Ti doljna ryadom bit’ (‘You must be close to me’) in Saint Petersburg and Alma Ata. During the shoot for ‘Novie pesni o glavnom’ (‘New songs about the main thing’) he received the First channel’s Grand Prix from a professional jury.
Dima was voted showbiz’s ‘Man of a year’. At the end of that year, he accepted an invitation from an American agency to record the soundtrack for the musical ‘Peter Pan’. In December, the video for ‘Ya pomnu tebya’ (‘I remember you’) was shot in the Botanic garden. It proved to be fantastic and magical and fitted with the atmosphere of New Year Eve.
All in all, 2005 turned out to be both triumphant and sorrowful for Dima. He will dedicate his album (due for release in April 2006) to Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis.
On 14 March 2006, Dima Bilan took part in ‘Zolotaya sharmanka’ during the ‘International Music Awards’ in Kyiv and received the award for ‘The singer of the year’. Dima’s song ‘Never let you go’ also received its premiere there. |
