Celebrity (book)

The book was first published by Igor Bely in the Memories series, (Moscow) in November 2010 . ISBN 978-5-904935-03-0

The magazine " Roman-Gazeta " (Moscow) published "Celebrity" in number 4 for 2012 . ISSN 0131-6044

In the publishing house "Svinin and Sons" (Novosibirsk) "Celebrity" was released in February 2014 . ISBN 978-5-98502-144-8

1982 year. The young farceman Sergey is eager to record an album that reveals in a new way the talent of singer Alyosha Kozyrny, who became famous for his illegal performance of thieves' songs. The voice of the singer listens to the whole country, but no one knows in person. He is an underground celebrity. Trying to record a magnetic album , in the fight against the criminal "roof" , hiding from the KGB , the heroes of the novel roam the Soviet Union, having visited all the uncrowned capitals of illegal recordings of the Soviet Union: Leningrad , Odessa and Moscow . At the same time, the heroes go a moral way from a simple desire to hit the jackpot to the realization: what price is a person ready to offer fate for the right to realize his talent ? The final story takes place on the day of the funeral of the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev .

The heyday of the popularity of magnetic albums of bardic , thieves , yard, street songs fell on the 1970s. The “tape” wave of the underground media business in the USSR replaced the production of home-made phonograph records “ on the bones ”, in X-ray photographs , typical of the era of dudes . The performers copied Leonid Utesov , his manner of performing thieves and homeless songs. And the illegality of the distribution of semi-forbidden songs, freedom from censorship , only spurs interest in them.

"Celebrity" immerses the reader in the historical atmosphere of the early 1980s , when the thirst for creativity was stronger than prohibitions. In the 1990s, the direction was transformed into the Russian chanson genre, which remains an integral part of modern Russian show business.

The proliferation of household reel and cassette recorders makes the stars of “unofficial” singers and bards: Vladimir Vysotsky , Arkady Severny , and later Alexander Rosenbaum and Alexander Novikov. The Soviet public never saw the faces of many of the most popular artists of the underground genre. “Where, in what country can such a situation be encountered when a popular artist is not shot in films, songs are not recorded on records, and concerts that would have been attended by thousands of spectators are either forbidden or simply not arranged? Where, in which country can a popular artist die in poverty without even earning a decent suit for himself? ” Wrote Mikhail Sheleg about Arkady Severny.

The role played by the clerks of underground concerts, collectors Rudolf Fuchs , Sergey Maklakov , Vladislav Kotsishevsky and others was much less well known. These people identified the business component of magnetizdat by producing and distributing illegal recordings . They discovered the talent of many popular artists. At the same time, the fate of the underground producers themselves was not easy, many of them spent the Soviet time for economic crimes: as a rule, speculation.

The idea of ​​the book was suggested by the songs and the fate of Arkady Severny (Zvezdin). But all the events and heroes in the novel are fictional, and only have something in common with popular myths about the legendary singer. The appearance of the novel on the Internet caused controversy and mixed ratings among fans of Arkady Severny.

The first cover of the book was square, like a box of Svema magnetic tape.

Information about the novel "Celebrity" was published in the men's magazine "XXL" in number 6 of June 2010.

In the competition of the national literary award "Big Book" in 2011, 375 books participated. In the long list (40 books), the novel “Celebrity” was included along with the books of major publishers. The first prize was received by Mikhail Shishkin with the novel "Writer" (Astrel Publishing House), the second prize winner was Vladimir Sorokin for Metel ( AST ), the third - Dmitry Bykov with the novel Ostromov, or "Sorcerer's Apprentice" (PROZAiK publishing house) .

• Igor Efimov, Dmitry Petrov “Arkady Severny, Soviet Union!”
• Maxim Kravchinsky "Songs Banned in the USSR"
• Mikhail Sheleg “Arkady Severny. Two facets of one life . "
• Rudolf Fuchs “Songs on the“ ribs “Vysotsky, Severny, Presley and others.”

• A novel about the king of thieves song
• Novosibirsk journalist wrote a book about the legendary singer of the chanson Arkady Severny
• A new book is written about Arkady Severny
• Big Book Announces Long List
• Roman-Gazeta Magazine No. 4, 2012 on the Chronos website
• Celebrity (First novel about Arkady Severny) - Arkady Severny official site