Vitas

This article deals with the Ukrainian artist; for the same Lithuanian first name see Vitas (first name) .

Autograph

Vitas , actually Witalij Wladassowytsch Hratschow ( Ukrainian Віталій Владасович Грачов , born February 19, 1979 in Odessa , Ukrainian SSR ), is a Ukrainian pop singer ( baritone , falsetto ), who sings mainly in Russian . Vitas is also active as a composer , actor and fashion designer . He became known by his stage name, the short form of his first name. The styles of music he offers are pop, influenced by techno and, again and again, classical music.

Brief description

Vitas gained fame primarily through his numerous appearances on Russian television and the presence of video clips and concert recordings on the Internet. Since a concert he gave in the Kremlin Palace in 2002, he has also toured China , South Korea and Japan . His hit Opera # 2 (2000) achieved worldwide popularity , which was distributed over the Internet, especially YouTube , primarily in recordings of concert versions, but also as a clip, and was viewed well over 12 million times from April 2006 to 2012.

Life and career

Born in the USSR to Russian parents, Vitaly grew up in Odessa . He showed great interest in music from an early age. The young Vitaly’s grandfather taught him to play the accordion , and he began writing songs as a child, such as the refrain of his most famous hit Opera # 2 , which he said in an interview in 2007 that he thought it up when he was ten Performed publicly for the first time in a children's production at the age of twelve. Later he also had regular music lessons, mimicked the pop singer Michael Jackson and tried his hand at breakdancing . He attended a school in Odessa specializing in artistic education and was cast in various theater productions as a teenager. He was “discovered” during a visit by producer and manager Sergei Nikolajewitsch Pudowkin, who asked Vitas if he wanted to move to Moscow . This invitation came on the basis of Vitaly's acting talents: Pudovkin had not yet heard his singing voice. Vitaly traveled to Moscow with demos of his music and began to work there with Pudovkin.

In a speech in December 2000, Vitas was with Opera # 2 by its unusually high, strong and distinctive falsetto (see countertenor ), the whistle register reached regularly, which made him famous, which has since been one of his trademarks, and in many of his performances also extensively to A hearing comes, as in the clip Lucia di Lammermoor (2006), a paraphrase of the mad scene in this opera by Gaetano Donizetti .

On March 29, 2002, he appeared for the first time as a concert soloist (with background choir and traditional orchestra) in the sold-out State Kremlin Palace , making him the youngest artist to date to work there as a soloist. As early as 2001, the enthusiasm for Vitas' voice and personality had inspired the Italian songwriter Lucio Dalla to invite him to Rome, where he took part in the rehearsals of the Tosca film by Benoît Jacquot , an adaptation of the Puccini opera. Then Dalla invited Vitas to participate in the interpretation of his Caruso homage ("In Memory of Caruso"), both artists performed in a joint concert in the Kremlin Palace ("San Remo in Moscow").

Vitas presented his second solo program "The Songs of My Mother" (which among other things reflects the death of his mother after a serious illness in 2001) in November 2003 in the "RUSSIA" concert hall in Moscow. Two albums "The Songs of My Mother" and "Mama" were released on the occasion of these performances. The album "The Songs of My Mother" contained songs that were already part of the basic stock of Russian pop, while the album "Mama" only contained the new songs composed by (or for) Vitas. From March 2003 to February 2007 he gave 264 concerts in Russia, Australia , the USA , Canada , Israel , Germany , Kazakhstan , Lithuania , Latvia , Estonia , Georgia , Tajikistan , Ukraine , Belarus .

The album A Kiss As Long As Eternity was presented on October 8, 2004. Vitas' producer Pudovkin signed a contract with the Taiwanese label Avant Garden Records in August 2005 , which planned to release a Vitas album in Taiwan in September 2005, but these plans were not carried out due to a breach of contract by Pudovkin in November 2005. In 2004-2005 Vitas became the most popular touring artist in Russia. His premiere "The Songs of My Mother" was considered "the best musical event of the year." The producer Pudowkin organized a tour with the program "The Songs of My Mother" in Russia, the USA, Canada, Australia from 2004 to 2006, Germany, Kazakhstan, Israel and the Baltic States. Vitas gave more than 250 performances with this program in 2004. In June 2006, Vitas was invited by CCTV to participate in the “The Year of Russia in China” program in Beijing. There he presented two of his songs, "Star" and "Opera # 2".

Vitas' premiere "Return Home" took place in March 2007 on the "Kosmos" stage. 20 new compositions by or for Vitas came out on the occasion of this premiere. A number of new tracks became his fans' favorites on the World Wide Web, such as "Crane's Crying", "Shores of Russia", "I Ask All Saints", "The Little Prince", "I Repeat Your Name". In October 2007 Vitas signed a contract with the American label Gemini Sun Records. Gemini Sun planned to release its previous titles on DVD and CD with new booklets and English subtitles in spring 2008.

Vitas was the only foreign artist invited to take part in the opening concert of the Olympic Games (July 29, 2008). On February 25th, 2009 Vitas sang in Romania.

After the official music video of his song The 7th Element, published in 2001, was shared in the online forum reddit in June 2015 , it went viral . Since then, it has suddenly been viewed over 50 million times on YouTube and distributed as a meme on various social networks . Between 2016 and 2017, the songs Sou l and Smile also appeared as memes on Facebook and Twitter, among others. Vitas thanked for the sudden attention.

On July 22, 2019, Australian DJ and producer Timmy Trumpet brought Vitas onto the stage during his performance at Tomorrowland in Belgium. Together they presented a new remix for The 7th Element as well as a joint song based on the theme In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg .

In addition to his career as a singer, the “Autumn Dreams” collection he presented on the stage of the Kremlin Palace on September 29, 2002 is also his work.

Private life

Vitas attached great importance to the protection of his privacy and for a long time avoided revealing it in interviews. Although Vitas and his management had previously denied that he was married, Vitas and his wife Swetlana married in 2006. They have a daughter, Alla, who was born in 2008. During a concert in Saint Petersburg in February 2010, Vitas sang a lullaby for his daughter. In January 2012, Vitas and his family were interviewed on the talk show "Let Them Talk". In March 2016, Vitas responded on the talk show to allegations made by a man who claimed he was Vitas' biological father . After backlash from Vitas 'friends and family, the DNA test revealed that he is not Vitas' father. After a car accident in Moscow on May 10, 2013, when Vitas hit a cyclist , Russian TV stations , so u. a. Pervy kanal and Rossija 1 published a picture of his driver's license , which the Moscow police presented to journalists. His correct date and place of birth were visible there. This made it known that his real date of birth is February 19, 1979 and his real place of birth is Odessa in the Ukraine and not, as previously claimed, Daugavpils in Latvia . Vitas has Ukrainian citizenship and not Russian.

Controversies about the authenticity of its range

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Again and again, doubts were expressed that Vitas actually had the extreme tonal range, it was assumed that his recordings were technically manipulated and that he did not sing live at all or only partially in his concerts. The artist and his producer responded to these reservations in a determined manner, but many fans also testify that they heard his voice at the concerts without a doubt and directly. Vitas has in fact acquired the vocal technique of the countertenors ( classical ), but - like Yma Sumac - he often changes between the different registers and strongly differing timbres of his voice.

Awards

year	category	piece
2001, 2002, 2003	Best selling single Russian Record Prize	"Opera # 2"
2001	“Komsomolskaya Pravda” and Internet Survey “FORUM 2001” Musical Discovery of the Year
2000, 2001, 2002	Three-time-laureate of the festivals "The Song of the Year-2000", "The Song of the Year-2001" and "The Song of the Year-2002"
2001, 2002	Two-time-laureate of the People Prize "Golden Gramophone"	"Opera # 2", "Smile!"
2001, 2002, 2003	Three-time laureate of the Musical Prize "PODIUM" for the most stylish achievements in pop music
2001, 2002, 2003	Russian “People's HIT” Prize	"Opera # 2", "Smile!", "The Star"
2001, 2003	Radio station "HIT FM" Prize "100 Per Cent HIT"
2002	National Musical Prize "Ovation" Soloist of the Year
2004	Russian Internet portal AFISHA.COM
2007	Order of Service to the Arts

Discography

Albums

Russian-Cyrillic	Russian-Latin	English	year
Философия чуда	Filossofija chuda	Philosophy of Miracle	2001
Улыбнись	Ulybnis	Smile!	2002
Мама	mummy	mummy	2003
Песни моей мамы	Pesni mojei mamy	The Songs of My Mother	2003
Поцелуй длиною в вечность	Pozelui dlinoju w wetschost	A kiss as long as eternity	2004
Возвращение домой	Vosvrashschenije domoi	Return home	2006
Vitas - Myth of the Shaking Soul Voice		The China release with the best of Vitas	2007
Krikom zhuravlinym, Возвращение домой II	Krikom schuravlinym, Vosvrashchenye domoi II	Crane's Cry, Return Home Part 2	2007
Хиты ХХ века	Chity XX weka	XX-th Century Hits	2008
СВЕТ НОВОГО ДНЯ	SWET NOWOWO DNJA	Light of a New Day	2008

Singles

Russian-Cyrillic	Russian-Latin	English	year
Опера №2	Opera No. 2	Opera # 2	2001
До свидания	Do swidanija	Good-bye	2001

Video albums

Russian-Cyrillic	Russian-Latin	English	year
Опера №2	Opera No. 2	Opera # 2	2000
Опера №1	Opera No. 1	Opera # 1	2001
Блаженный Гуру	Blaschenny Guru	Blessed Guru	2001
Улыбнись!	Ulybnis!	Smile!	2002
Звезда	Zvezda	The Star	2003
Мама	mummy	mummy	2003
Птица Счастья	Ptitsa Shastya	The Bird of Happiness	2004
Поцелуй Длиною В Вечность	Pozelui Dlinoju W Wetschnost	Kiss As Long As Eternity	2004
Берега России	Berega Rossii	Shores of Russia	2005
Лючия ди Ламмермур	Lyuchija di Lammermur	Lucia Di Lammermoor	2006
Криком Журавлиным	Krikom Shuravlinym	Crane's crying	2006
ЯМАЙКА	JAMAICA	Jamaica	2007
		China triumph	2008
		Tibetan plateau	2008
		7th element	2002

Web links

• Website (English, Russian)
• Entry in Discogs
• Vitas in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} News from the Russian television station Perwy kanal about Vitas' car accident in Moscow. Vitas' Ukrainian passport was shown (Russian)
2. ↑ Vitas is sometimes also known under the name Bumac , a transcription of his name from the Russian alphabet in italics ( Витас ).
3. ↑ At the beginning of 2012 there was an interview with memories and photos from his childhood . The same interview is also available with English subtitles .
4. ↑ In the song Friendship Vitas appears with his grandfather Arkady Dawydowitsch Maranzman (Аркадий Давыдович Маранцман).
5. ↑ Vitas Interview 2007 ( Memento of the original from April 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ In Opera # 1 several different falsetto positions are used in the chorus. The much more popular hit Opera # 2 is accompanied by an orchestra of strings and accordion (or organ ), is baritone (F minor) in both the verse and the chorus, but then changes to extreme falsetto register, so that Vitas here within a few Bars have a range of three octaves as demonstrated by Yma Sumac (from the small c to the c '' ', in the repetition he then sings that of the' '').
7. ↑ Only a few bars of the Arioso are quoted from Donizetti's opera, this also in the falsetto, and Vitas also uses the falsetto (mezzo) in the later video La donna e mobile (based on Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto ).
8. ↑ News on the Vitas website. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 28, 2010 ; Retrieved April 18, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Tommy O'Callaghan: The story of Vitas: How a little-known Russian singer became an overnight viral sensation on "Russian Beyond"
10. ↑ Vita's post on " Facebook "
11. ↑ Matthew Meadow: Timmy Trumpet Brings out Russian Legend Vitas During Tomorrowland Set on "Your EDM"
12. ^ News from the Russian television station Rossija 1 about Vitas' car accident in Moscow. Vitas' Ukrainian passport was shown (Russian)