Leonid Nikolayevich Agutin, Russian: Leonid Nikolaevich Agutin; born July 16, 1968 in Moscow) is a Russian singer and songwriter. He has been active since at least the 1990s. He has released ten albums as well as three compilation albums. Agutin was born in Moscow on July 16, 1968. Nikolai Petrovich Agutin was his father, and Lyudmila Leonidovna Shkol’nikova was his mother. His father was a singer with the Soviet band VIA (Golubiye Gitary) and he worked as a manager for popular Soviet musical groups such as “Veseliye Rebyata (Happy Kids), Poyuschiye Serdtsa (Singing Hearts) and “Pesniary (Songsters). Agutin, a young man, received a regular school education and also studied piano at the Moscow Jazz School “Moskvorechie”. Later, he served as an officer in the Russian-Finland army. Agutin started touring former Soviet republics in 1991 as an opening act for other artists. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Culture two years later. Agutin was married to Anzhelika Varum in 1997. This was his second marriage. Agutin is the father of two daughters: Elisaveta, who is married to Varum, and Polina, who is married to Maria Vorobyeva, a Russian ballerina. He also enjoys playing billiards and collecting crosses. A self-proclaimed believer in the predictions made by astrologists, he is also a believer. Agutin began touring the Soviet Union in 1991 with a band. Agutin participated in the 1992 Yalta international music contest and was awarded the prize. He also won a Jurmala contest in 1993. In 1994, Agutin’s first solo album, Bosonogiy Malchik (“Barefoot Boy”), was released. It was a huge success that launched his career. He was awarded the Russian Grammy Awards for “Singer of the year”, “Song of the year” and “Album of the year”. The album featured the hits “Hop hey la la ley” (“Sound of the Tall Grass”) and “Golos visokiy travy”. Agutin’s second album, “Dekameron”, was released in 1995. Agutin’s second album, “Dekameron”, was another commercial success. Along with Philipp Kirkorov and Valeriy Meladze and Lubeh Agutin were the most popular recording artists in Russian Grammy voting. Agutin’s 2005 album Cosmopolitan Life was released with Al Di Meola, the guitarist. It gained worldwide success thanks to the Montreux Jazz Festival. The festival was followed by a documentary made by Rudy Dolesai and Hannes Rossacher in Austria about Di Meola and Agutin. It was called Cosmopolitan Live and it was released on February 8, 2008.
