Aizenshpis is an aid and a homosexual. The sister of Yuri Aizenshpis revealed new information about the death of the producer
Yuri Aizenshpis is called one of the first producers in Russia. It was he who opened the Kino group to the general public and brought Dima Bilan to the big stage. Aizenshpis died 8 years ago, but there are still a lot of rumors around his name.
A fabulous amount was seized
Aizenshpis’s sister, Faina Shmilyevna, still remembers her brother almost every day. Although in childhood, according to a relative, they did not have to communicate so often. After all, Aizenshpis spent his entire youth in prison.
“We had completely different childhoods,” recalls Faina. “While I was growing up, he was in prison. My parents were very worried, but I probably didn’t realize everything.
Yuri Shmilevich ended up in places not so remote for currency fraud and speculation on an especially large scale. In Soviet times, this was a serious article. Relatives still remember: the first time he was detained right at the entrance on Christmas Day - January 7, 1970. Having sold the gold at a profit, he returned home. A fabulous sum of sixteen thousand rubles and seven thousand dollars, as well as imported equipment, was confiscated from him at that time. Aizenshpis was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released early after serving seven years. However, less than a month later he was again put on trial for profiteering - and received eight years.
According to Faina Shmilyevna, the relatives could not even imagine that after this Yuri would become a famous producer. Although his organizational skills showed up in his youth. Already at the age of 20, he worked as an administrator with the rock group Sokol.
Stashevsky's departure was a blow
Having freed himself, Yuri Shmilevich began to engage in show business. At first he helped the Kino group and Viktor Tsoi, then he found Vlad Stashevsky. In a matter of months, he turned an unknown boy into a real idol, whom the whole country coveted.
“My brother never shared his difficulties, although of course there were plenty of them in his work,” says Faina Aizenshpis. “But this topic was closed, he always answered our questions: “It’s better not to talk about this.” Yura was a demanding and tough person in his work, but at the same time a very fair person. With us, he was completely different: calm, reasonable - we had ordinary family relationships.
Joseph Prigogine once admitted: Aizenshpis had no luck with artists. Having achieved fame, they betrayed him. At first glance, they parted with Stashevsky quietly and calmly. Vlad decided that he could work independently. Yuri Shmilevich let the singer go, but deep down he was very worried. The departure of Vlad, in whom he had poured his whole soul, was a real blow. Unfortunately, he was far from the first - many whom Aizenshpis brought into the public betrayed him and left him with nothing.
“Once my brother told me that an unknown boy came from somewhere and he was messing with him,” continues the producer’s sister. – It was Dima Bilan. It was Yura who helped him rise; his ascent took place before our eyes.
Until the last time we heard his heartbeat
There are still a lot of rumors surrounding the death of Aizenshpis. According to the official version, he died of a heart attack, but in show business they believe that this is not so.
“I had a heart attack,” sighs Faina Shmilyevna. “I was at the door of the intensive care unit where he was taken.” We spent the whole day there, I still remember everything in the smallest detail. We heard the heartbeat - everything is loud in the intensive care unit!
Those close to the producer do not hide the fact that Aizenshpis never really thought about his health. His players were much more important to him. For example, before his death he was very worried whether Bilan would receive well-deserved awards at one of the prestigious music awards. Dima took the awards and dedicated them to his first producer, who lived only 60 years.
“I think the prison did its job,” says Faina Aizenshpis. – So many years of life were actually lost. Every day is a struggle for existence, health is ruined. Everyone told him that he needed to rest and work less. But he didn’t listen to anyone, for him it was a normal existence. Therefore, if his brother were alive, he would not change anything.
Producer Yuri Aizenshpis
On July 15, famous producer Yuri Aizenshpis would have turned 73 years old, but 13 years ago he passed away. He is called the first Soviet producer, since it was he who coined this term. Thanks to him, they achieved incredible popularity in the 1980-1990s. groups “Kino”, “Technology” and “Dynamite”, singer Linda, singers Vlad Stashevsky and Dima Bilan. Aizenshpis was one of the brightest and most controversial personalities in the world of show business; no one denied his professionalism, but among artists he earned the nickname Karabas-Barabas.
Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis was born in 1945 in Chelyabinsk, later the family moved to Moscow, where Yuri received an economic education. While still studying at the institute, he began producing, although at that time such a concept did not yet exist. Everyone knows about Aizenshpis’s projects of the 1980-1990s, but few people know that back in the 1960s. he organized semi-underground concerts of rock groups and was the administrator of the Sokol group, which toured the Union very successfully. 
Producer Yuri Aizenshpis
Natalya Vetlitskaya and Yuri Aizenshpis
At the same time, Aizenshpis engaged in activities that were then considered illegal, and later became known as business. Thanks to currency manipulation, he soon became an underground millionaire. “I bought foreign currency or checks,” said Aizenshpis, “with them in the Beryozka store I purchased scarce goods and then sold them through intermediaries on the black markets.” In those days, the dollar cost on the “black market” from two to seven and a half rubles. Let’s say, a synthetic fur coat could be bought at Beryozka for $50 and sold for 500 rubles.” 
Viktor Tsoi and Yuri Aizenshpis
In 1970, Aizenshpis was arrested and convicted under the articles “Speculation on an especially large scale” and “Violation of foreign exchange transactions.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property. In 1977, he was released, but spent only 3 months in freedom. Then he was arrested again for currency fraud and imprisoned. He served his sentence until 1985, and in 1986 he again went to jail for two years. 
The man who is called the godfather of domestic show business
After his release, Aizenshpis again began producing, and in the early 1990s. he was already called one of the “show business sharks.” In the 1989-1990s. he worked with the Kino group, which was already known before him. After that, he preferred to start working with artists “from scratch,” turning unknown young performers into real stars. In 1991-1992 he collaborated with the Technology group in 1992-1993. - with the Moral Code group, in 1993 he began working with Linda, in 1994 with Vlad Stashevsky, in 1999-2001 with singer Nikita, since 2000 he has been managing the affairs of the Dynamite group. His last project was Dima Bilan. 
Producer with the group *Dynamite*
Producer Yuri Aizenshpis
Many artists called him a tough and unprincipled man who did not disdain illegal and unethical methods of promotion, for which Aizenshpis received the nickname Karabas-Barabas of domestic show business. His wards had to obey him unquestioningly, and the producer received the main income from their performances. But at the same time, the result of cooperation was a win-win: all the artists became super popular. 
The man who is called the godfather of domestic show business
Singer Vlad Stashevsky and his producer
The producer did not deny that his methods were quite harsh: “Promoting” an artist is the functional responsibility of the producer, and for him there is no concept of “good” or “bad.” The main thing is the goal. At any cost. Through diplomacy, bribery, threats or blackmail. Ultimately, these are just emotions. But when moving towards the goal, you must act like a tank.” At the same time, Aizenshpis did not attribute the merits of others to himself - he admitted that at the time he met him, the Kino group was already quite popular, but, according to him, he helped them move from the circle of “fans of Leningrad basement rock” to the all-Union level. Thanks to him, Tsoi was talked about in the press, on radio and television, and the group entered the big stage. 
Vlad Stashevsky, Yuri Antonov and Yuri Aizenshpis
Group *Technology*
The situation was different with “Technology,” which Aizenshpis “promoted” from scratch: “My second project showed that you can take guys of ordinary, average talent and also make stars out of them. I was basically dealing with amateur performances... Only two or three songs could be shown. These are the songs I liked. Maybe I was the only one who liked them, because the concerts with their participation attracted no more than two or three hundred people. But I felt perspective in them. First, I instilled in them confidence in their abilities: look, guys, you are working with me - you are already stars. This confidence gave them the opportunity to liberate themselves. And when a creative person relaxes, he has a surge of strength, he begins to create something genuine. So are they. After 4 months they became the group of the year and maintained the highest rating the entire time we worked together.” 
Aizenshpis often heard accusations against him that the artist’s talent is the last thing that interests him. They say that working with vocalists of Vlad Stashevsky’s level is an absolutely futile endeavor. Aizenshpis ignored such statements and did not deny the difference between his projects: “If Viktor Tsoi was a natural musician, then Stashevsky was a product of show business.” And his colleague, music producer Evgeny Frindlyand, not being a fan of the work of his charges, said: “Yuri Aizenshpis is a Master, a Professional with a capital P and, perhaps, was not looking for outstanding talents and obvious nuggets, but as a real and very talented artist on “ white sheets” of ordinary performers himself created paintings - magnificent and bright projects! Authors, directors, stylists, cameramen, PR people - he captured these people with his every “crazy” idea, hypnotized them, and they did the impossible.” 
Dima Bilan - Aizenshpis's latest project
Otar Kushanashvili wrote about him: “I heard about him that he is a Legend and a Tank. It turned out that he really is a walking mythology, but a tank is pale: Yu.A. – a fighter, an excavator, a bulldozer and a factory all at once. When he works, he is unbearable, because if you don't want to work, he will turn your life into a storm. His merits, his deeds are heterogeneous, but the height he has achieved is unique; who else will dare to conquer it? He works every single day: this is a rare certification lately, don’t you think?”
The years spent in prison undermined the producer's health. In addition, his workaholism and habit of not sparing himself led to complete nervous and physical exhaustion. On September 20, 2005, Yuri Aizenshpis died of a heart attack at the age of 60.
On July 15, one of the most controversial characters in Russian show business, Yuri Aizenshpis, would have turned 65 [discussion]
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In the last weekly, we started a story about the most controversial producer of domestic show business - Yuri Aizenshpis. From the biography of Yuri Shmilevich it is clear that in many ways he, without fear of anything, even prison, went ahead to earn money, which he then invested in show business. And, as those who worked with him assure, today’s face of our stage - with all the pros and cons - is in many ways the same as Aizenshpis saw him in his time. Today we continue our story about him. About tough character“Yuri Shmilevich tried to control our every step, he had many “ears and informants” in the company,” one of his charges, singer Nikita, told KP. - He tried to get involved in literally everything, even advised which girl I should be friends with. The one I had seemed unsuitable to him, so he matched me with another. But once I made it clear to him that I would not tolerate such excessive control, he was offended. He wanted to be friends, to be closer, but I, a reserved person, was passionate about music. He usually gave everyone advice on which parties to go to and which not to. I didn’t go to parties at all, but sat in the studio and wrote songs for myself. He and I often had clashes. He just screamed at me. But I also showed my teeth. One day he insisted that I sing a song that I didn't like. It came to a conflict. Finally I was convinced to make concessions to him. And I... recorded a song with a Georgian accent. Yuri Shmilevich sat down to listen to the recording and shouted: “It’s not Nikita singing, it’s some Georgian?!” For several more minutes the walls of the studio were shaken by his screams. In his book, Yuri Shmilevich wrote that I was jealous of him for Bilan. No, I wasn't jealous. Although I didn’t understand why he was making the second Nikita out of the new Bilan. Everything that was worked out on me, he rolled out as a carbon copy in the promotion of Bilan. Apparently, he wanted to quickly return the money and make money. Shmilevich really counted on me, but I bucked - I wanted to write electronic music, but he insisted that I remain in a pop image. As a result, Shpis decided to let me go. By this point, he began to even more actively promote Bilan, who did not argue with him. Although Dima required large financial investments. I wrote my own songs, and I wasn’t paid for it. - They say Aizenshpis took revenge on you, cut off oxygen?- I heard such conversations... But I had no other way - I didn’t see any development with Aizenshpis... - I wrote songs for Aizenshpis’s wards. It must be admitted that Aizenshpis was incredibly demanding of his subordinates. He himself caught fire with the idea and demanded the same “spark” from everyone around him, says “dynamite” Ilya Zudin. - One day I brought a disc with a new recording, but the disc wouldn’t turn on. Aizenshpis decided that I simply didn’t do the work and was trying to blame everything on the equipment. He yelled at me without choosing words. I heard such insults that I could not stand it - I slammed the door and promised to break off all contacts with this person. However, after a while he called: “Well, I got excited. Let’s come and make peace!” It turned out that the disk miraculously worked, and Yuri was convinced that I had not deceived him... He was tyrannical. Before my eyes, he threw various objects at people. Most often it hit the head. People left with bruises. But they endured - becoming an enemy of Aizenshpis, you know, is more expensive for yourself! He could make trouble for those who wanted to cross his path. But he was quick-witted... On tour in Jurmala, Aizenshpis broke the camera of a photographer who was taking “spy pictures”. The fragments hit the face of the photojournalist, who wrote a statement to the police. We “made our feet” from this “Jurmala”, fearing that Aizenshpis would be imprisoned. He could be cruel. But at critical moments he acted according to concepts. When my father died, he opened his bag, took out, without looking, an armful of dollars and handed it to me: “Bury your father with dignity.” Then I never thought about this money and did not reproach it...
"Blue Lobby" The name of Yu. A. is associated with the emergence of the “blue lobby” in showbiz. Allegedly, at first the cool guys brought their mistresses to the producer to promote them, and then they started bringing... lovers. - For some reason, in recent years, Yura began to promote some slender boys for some reasons of his own. He chose cute boys with sexy characteristics, as he imagined,” Artemy Troitsky told KP. - I did not support him in this direction and told him about it, he was upset. Partly because of this, we almost stopped communicating with him. They often argued, even because of Bilan... I heard rumors about “Shpis”’s unconventional orientation. But I can’t blame him for anything specific. He had a wife and son. I don’t know why they got divorced. When for some reason he dyed his noble gray hair blue-black, it seemed wild to me... “My fellow dancers were afraid of Aizenshpis,” producer Vitaly Manshin told KP. - I noticed that Aizenshpis reacted calmly to girls, but with the boy dancers he quickly found a common language. I still couldn’t find him a backup dancer for Dima Bilan. Sent two girls. He rejected them. I offered him the guys from the Mirage ballet. Aizenshpis liked them. He went on tour with them and Bilan, and upon returning the guys rushed to me with wide-eyed eyes: “No, we won’t work with Aizenshpis!” Then I agreed with three guys from the ballet “Dance Master” (one of them was an ex-member of “Reflex” Denis). The guys somehow hesitated and asked me about Aizenshpis: “Won’t he pester us?” But the guys with normal orientation work with him! However, after a few days of working with Yuri, Denis came running back to me: “No, I can’t do that.” Apparently, something was happening there... He lured away the dance group from me, apparently managing to win over one dancer-leader. -Are you hinting at Aizenshpis’s own unconventional orientation?- I didn't tell you that! You know, I still want to live. I don’t want them to come and shoot me in the head. - So he died?!- His friends remain. Therefore, I will not speak badly about him... - Spending time in prison could have influenced Aizenshpis’s orientation. If all other producers in those years promoted exclusively mistresses, wives, girls (if a boy singer appeared, then most often he turned out to be the son of some producer), then Aizenshpis was drawn to promote guys. Many people talked about his “blue lobby”. Nowadays this will surprise few people. I know that he did wrong concerts and received good money from cool people for inviting stars to them,” Alexander Stefanovich, ex-husband and promoter of Alla Pugacheva, told KP.
Alexander Tolmatsky: “Krutoy took away leadership from Aizenshpis”- I call Aizenshpis the best producer. He worked all his life. “He started with me in the 70s,” Yuri Shmilevich’s former friend Alexander Tolmatsky, producer of Decl, Oleg Gazmanov, and the “Combination” group, told KP. - Since the late 70s, Yura Aizenshpis and I were among the first to engage in underground concerts, trade (then speculation) in musical instruments and records. Yura, in addition to this, also took up currency trading, for which he sat down. We also ran discos. He and I are one of those who stood at the origins of Russian show business. Everything else is a new generation that appeared in the 90s. Until 2000, Aizenshpis and I were leaders in the music market. In my company “Mediastars” he worked as the director of Aizenshpis, and among my founding partners was the then director of the Muz TV channel, who quietly sold the channel to Igor Krutoy, after which my company lost its leadership position, and Igor Krutoy gained influence in the music market. Compared to him, Pugacheva was more likely an organizer rather than a producer. And Kobzon is not a producer, but an artist. - They say Aizenshpis communicated with crime bosses?- You know, all the “authorities” in different fields communicate with each other, it’s just the way it is. Aizenshpis was respected by everyone. He never did anything in secret. He was a very decent man. - Is it true that Aizenshpis brought the “blue lobby” into show business?- There is such an opinion (chuckling). He was often surrounded by boys. I will not comment on this point. But he knew a lot about promoting singers! At the end of his life, Aizenshpis was very worried about Dima Bilan, who became friends with Yana Rudkovskaya. Yura came to visit me and talked about his experiences, he was afraid that Dima would be taken away from him. Those experiences affected Yura’s deteriorating health. Many of his wards were not very grateful. But when they left him, everything went dark. CHAPTERS FROM THE BOOK The Temptation of Dima Bilan * * * The singer wrote about his relationship with Aizenshpis in a book that will be published in the fall. A fragment from it was provided to KP by Dima Bilan’s PR manager. “During the filming of the video “I want to become an oligarch,” we met two respected people - one is very famous in the business environment, the other in the world of show business. Yuri Shmilevich and I received a very tempting offer - namely, to “buy” my contract and about my transfer from StarPro to another production company. The situation was made more acute by the fact that another producer offered a very large sum of money, which doubled all of Yuri Shmilevich’s expenses for my promotion. For me, absolutely fabulous horizons opened up - the prospect of working with the best Western composers and musicians, and therefore becoming both a more popular and wealthier person.
What do you say? - Yuri Shmilevich asked me, after listening to the details of the transaction from the other party. - And you? - I asked him a counter question. “This is a very generous offer,” Yuri Shmilevich praised. -You need to think it over. Carefully and with a cool head. I took time to think... ...Businessmen ordered me a very expensive car in St. Petersburg, which I could not even dream of at that time. They drove it and placed it right under the window of my rented apartment - at that time I lived on Sokol in a rather modest two-room apartment. In the morning I looked down, saw the beauty sparkling with bumpers and realized that all this could become mine as soon as I signed the necessary papers... - Yuri Shmilevich! - I called one fine day. - Are you sure that you must accept this offer? “Let’s meet and talk,” Aizenshpis immediately responded... ...We met in one of the cafes, each took a cup of coffee and sat silently for a while. “You understand one thing, Dim,” Yuri Shmilevich began to explain. - I cannot offer you the same conditions as these people. And for us to reach the same level that you can have with them now, it will take us several years... - But we can, right? - I looked up at my mentor. Yuri Shmilevich was silent. He... was ready to agree with any decision I made. - I don’t want to leave you! - I said. - I feel very comfortable, positive, and easy to work with you. We have been together for a long time, and a lot has happened, but I don’t know these people at all. I am sure that they will fulfill absolutely all their promises to the end. But I’m not sure that I can work with them... I looked at Yuri Shmilevich, and it seemed to me that joy flashed in his eyes. The prickly gaze softened, the face brightened and even somehow became younger... “Okay,” he answered briefly. - Thank you for your friendship. * * * For the first couple of years, Yuri Shmilevich and I – or rather he personally – tested each other’s strength. Aizenshpis constantly provoked me, threw some offensive things at me and at the same time carefully watched how I would react. There were a great many negative situations in dealing with him, since Yuri Shmilevich definitely needed to be pushed to that very boiling point, beyond which a person loses patience and begins to actively protest. This was a kind of “test”. Each of his artists or employees at least once reached the final brink when he decided to quit and declared: “That’s it, I don’t work here anymore!” Some left forever, some eventually returned, but it was in such extreme conditions that the Aizenshpis talent forge existed. Moreover, as it seems to me now, Yuri Shmilevich’s “education program” definitely included this item - testing by scandal. Perhaps this also had some sacred meaning, because endless concerts and multi-day tours really eat up so much energy, emotions and nerves that not everyone can survive such stress. They trained us, that is.
PERSONAL IMPRESSION He either blacklisted journalists or recognized them as his own I was personally acquainted with Yuri Shmilevich. We felt sympathy for each other and communicated tenderly. Then they often told me about the cool and even cruel character of the producer. He could be very rude to journalists, and would do dirty tricks to those who criticized his charges. I couldn’t help but believe in these stories, but Yuri Shmilevich turned to me “not with thorns, but with leaves”... We met in Sochi at a hotel. I was on a business trip, he was on vacation. In shorts, some unimaginable colorful shirt and a smile from ear to ear, like the Nutcracker, Aizenshpis immediately attracted attention. Moreover, the first impression - shock from his eerie appearance - instantly grew into interest in this man. He knew how to bewitch. He couldn’t sit still; everything around him began to spin and sparkle. He immediately ordered the table to be set for me. He immediately rustled the pages of magazines that had come from somewhere. Aizenshpis quickly explained that he met a fashion designer here and decided to collaborate with him. I have already agreed with a local magazine that will publish a photo of Dima Bilan in the costumes of that designer. “Are you going to write about Dima? Agree, it’s a good hotel, my friend runs it. You say, you want to go to Maxim Galkin’s concert, we’ll do it, the director of the Festival is my friend,” Yuri Shmilevich listened to me in one ear, and pressed his cell phone to the other, communicating with some producer and praising the performance of his singer in Sochi, on which he actually didn’t go to. He killed a dozen birds with one stone while running, trying to introduce everyone, make friends and spin them into one common cause. “The main thing is that it is beneficial and interesting for everyone,” Aizenshpis told me. - Are you saying that our PR manager doesn’t give information? I'll smear them all over the wall! Yes, help yourself! I eat according to the fashionable Volkov diet. The salad is specially prepared for me here. I have diabetes. I lost my health in the zone. But I want to live. I deny myself the pleasure of eating delicious food... Look at the photo of Bilan, isn’t he very sexy?!” I nodded. I didn't argue with him at all. In each of our subsequent conversations, he did not forget to ask me when I would write about Dima Bilan. I jokingly made an excuse: this is a very important matter, and I need to prepare well. And along the way, I asked him for small news from the world of show business. Then I learned that Shpis subjected any publication about Bilan to a thorough analysis, after which it either blacklisted the author or added it to its own. Neither the first nor the second happened to me. And all because I never wrote ANYTHING about Bilan. Perhaps this circumstance allowed Aizenshpis and I to communicate without problems until the end of his life... I called him on his mobile two days before his death. I barely recognized his voice. He wheezed that he was very ill in the hospital. But he immediately said that nothing would break through, not for the first time. “I’ll recover a little and go back into battle, Dima needs to do a tour,” he hissed into the trumpet. “Call the PR manager, they’ll tell you something, tell me, I told you to.” And two days later a message came that he was gone. The official diagnosis is heart. There were rumors - AIDS. There is a version that this is the result of stem cell treatment. He was a pioneer in everything. Aizenshpis explained his success like this: “We can say that show business is an already established industry, the same industry as car production or iron smelting. Here, too, there is its own technology and its own laws... The show is a spectacle. The word “concert” is not suitable, it is associated with the classical genre, be it a symphony orchestra, Zykina or Magomayev... Show business two or three years ago brought in a lot of money. Now the whole society is sick and the area where I work is sick. The amount of money spent on big shows today is not justified by the cost of tickets. Advertisers and sponsors are needed. I believe that the advantage in business belongs to those in whose genes the blood of a business person flows. Real business is for the talented. This is art. What helps me is my ability to work, my taste, which hasn’t failed me yet, and my knowledge of the matter.”
Aizenshpis never hid the fact that he considers both “Tender May” and “Na-na” “perfect machines for making fabulous money.”
Strategy for new victories
As an excellent businessman, Yuri Shmilevich was a stranger to snobbery and was keenly interested in the successes of his “competitors.”
As soon as “LM” “went forward to the body,” Aizenshpis was puzzled by the strategy for new victories. The plan he developed turned out to be simple and easy.
Item “number one”:
Tsoi should “become a lot” in quality.
By the will of fate, deprived of the opportunity for Razin and Alibasov to send the “second”, “third” and other “numerous casts” of “KINO” to “cities and villages” (at least, Tsoi was already visualized by the “respectable public” perfectly), Aizenshpis decided to participate wards wherever possible...
And “wherever you can’t”... Poor fellow “KINO” took part in such “sessions” (those who lived in the early 90s, I think, remember this very well), the name of which even for a self-respecting rocker to say “bad”, as well as to stand on one scene with representatives of “popsni”.
"Star party"
We remember the “star cast” of the Donetsk “MuzEko-90”: “Stalker”, “Pesnyary”, “Bravo”, “Na-Na”, “Moral Police”, “Mirage”, trio “Meridian”, Igor Talkov, Tatyana Ovsienko, Igor Nikolaev, Vyacheslav Malezhik, Irina Otieva, Larisa Dolina, Sergey Krylov and many others...”
How “Bravo” and Talkov ended up on this list is still a mystery to the author! How “KINO” is already clear...
Hence - and...
Point two:
Tsoi should be “closer to the people.”
“Fuck reflection!” Yuri Shmilevich may have even “hinted” to Victor. - “Do you want fame and money? Or remain “second”? For the reasons stated above, Tsoi did not want to remain second...
How to become “closer to the people”? That’s right, produce a product that people love.
Learn from your competitors...
What is he eating? “LM” and “Na-na”! So come on, work, Vityusha, write a couple of light, unobtrusive songs...
So the “cute” “Anthill” and “Red-Yellow Days” appeared in the “KINO” repertoire and were terribly “squeezed” into the “Black Album”.
At least Tsoi was smart enough to never perform them at concerts (the author, at least, heard these “masterpieces” only at “Cherny”).
In other words, there was a systematic “infatuation” of the group: a softening of the sound, the gradual imposition of a sugary major style in the melody and lyrics, the guitar rock “sound” was replaced by keyboard electronic “brain hammering”.
Point three:
Consolidation of the KINO tour schedule.
So Tsoi “becomes a lot” and in quantity. This is exactly what Viktor Tsoi boasted about before Kinchev: “eighty-seven concerts were charged!”
Now "KINO" instead of two "live" concerts a day (which is already cool in itself!) "labalo"... four!!!
Just like Vysotsky in his best years! How these “stresses” ended and what “methods of relaxation” led to, I think, was colorfully outlined in the previous part.
"The persistent unbearability of existence"
As Yuri Kasparyan later recalled, “the group was physically exhausted and seemed to be in some kind of weightlessness. It became dull and uninteresting.”
For what? The last concert at the Olimpiysky alone attracted more than 70,000 people. Tickets for it were sold in just two days at prices ranging from 20 to 100 rubles.
So calculate your income. And if there were “eighty-seven” of them, just like they “charged” “KINO”?.. That’s it!
"Sweatshop System"
“The harsh laws of showbiz,” the compassionate ones will sigh...
“Or is it Aizenshpis’s “sweatshop” style of work?” - let us doubt, in turn, and, abstracting from the history of the KINO group, we will consider the subsequent “projects” of Yuri Shmilevich.
So, immediately after the death of Viktor Tsoi and the “settlement” of matters with the “creative funeral” of the KINO group, the result of which was the release of the “Black Album” and the subsequent cynical “cutting of coupons” even on “deadly” topics, Aizenshpis already in April 1991 (8 (!) months after the tragedy near Jurmala) offers its services to Technologies.
With “Technology”...
Again, Yuri Shmilevich will “shout at all corners” that “Technology” (as well as earlier “KINO”) was “made” by him, which, of course, is again not true.
Thus, the debut album “Technology”, which later turned out to be a “breakthrough”, “Everything you want!!!”, was indeed recorded in 1991.
However, four video clips for the songs “Press the Button”, “Strange Dances”, “Joker” and “Cold Trail” were filmed back in the summer... 1990! . That is, in creative terms the group “did not suffer.”
Aizenshpis came again “to have everything ready.” And again he “ruined everything”, because already in the fall of 1992 “Technology” broke the contract with the new producer due to “wrong distribution of income”...
"Genetic slag"
Then there were “Moral Code”, “Young Guns”, Linda (1992 - 1993), “Dynamite”, Sasha, Nikita, Vlad Stashevsky (1993 - 1999).
All of them subsequently, according to Yuri Shmilevich, turned out to be “profoundly mediocre” (why then did you undertake their “promotion”?) and without his help they would not have achieved anything.
Only Dima Bilan had a chance to work with Aizenshpis “to the end” (Aizenshpis’s death in 2005), but his memories of working together could not be found.
Perhaps the winner of Eurovision 2008 simply “doesn’t want to wash dirty linen in public”, being a morally decent person...
"Transparent" work strategy
However, Aizenshpis’s working “strategy” is extremely transparent: “keeping his nose to the wind” of Russian showbiz, the most potentially hit group is selected from the numerous “space of options”.
After short negotiations, a production contract is signed with her.
A massive “combing” is organized across the country, during which the wards are “given off” and “ripped off”, like the sticky stuff from folklore.
As discontent grows, the contract is terminated and a new “victim” is sought from among showbiz...
"Beatle" syndrome!
This retrospective analysis suggests that a similar strategy prevailed regarding KINO.
It is possible that after working with Aizenshpis for two years, the “hunted” Tsoi stopped and looked around. “What we saw” was terrifying: a frenzied tour “chest,” work to exhaustion, musicians like draft horses, “immeasurable money,” on the one hand.
On the other hand, there is a change in the repertoire not for the better, “aggression”, simplification of texts and melodies, perhaps creative and vital stagnation.
In a word, “Beatles syndrome”! There is only one way out: stopping concert activities in principle!
No concerts - no need for a producer!
Aizenshpis is also no fool: he knew perfectly well how Epstein ended up.
With the complete cessation of concert activities, “KINO” needs him like a coward’s sleeve, because he himself writes neither music nor lyrics, is not associated with film production, and does not know or have any other strategic models for promoting “KINO.”
"Two bears in one den"
Thus, the option of eliminating the obstinate and unyielding leader of “KINO” with his subsequent replacement by a more flexible “headliner” could well have come to the “dashing wild head”.
Considering that “KINO” was Aizenshpis’s production “debut” after seventeen years of imprisonment, the latter simply did not know other models for resolving similar conflicts at that time.
Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis. Born on July 15, 1945 in Chelyabinsk - died on September 20, 2005 in Moscow. Soviet and Russian music manager, producer.
Father - Shmil (nee Shmul) Moiseevich Aizenshpis (1916-1989), born in Poland, then fled to the USSR to escape the Nazis. He fought during the Great Patriotic War and reached Berlin. The real name Shmul was confused by passport officers, who wrote it down as Shmil.
Mother - Maria Mikhailovna Aizenshpis (1922-1991), originally from Belarus, grew up in the village of Starye Gromyki, Andrei Gromyko's elder brother taught at her school. In 1941 she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Minsk University, but did not receive a diploma due to the outbreak of war. She fled to Rechitsa, later ended up in the Rechitsa partisan detachment, wrote leaflets, and ran a partisan newspaper. Then she joined the advancing Red Army. She was awarded medals and orders.
It is known that Yuri Aizenshpis’s parents met in 1944 at the Belorussky railway station in Moscow.
Younger sister - Faina Shmilyevna Nepomnyashchaya (Aizenshpis) (born July 22, 1957), teacher of history and social studies, teaches at the Lauder Etz Chaim School of Leadership No. 1621.
Aizenshpis’s mother was evacuated to Chelyabinsk due to pregnancy. There she gave birth to a son.
Parents worked in the Main Directorate of Airfield Construction (GUAS).
Until 1961 they lived in a wooden barracks, then they got an apartment in the prestigious Sokol district of Moscow. Since childhood, he was friends with classmate Vladimir Aleshin and went to the same sports school with him.
In his youth, Yuri was involved in sports - handball and athletics. I achieved good results, but due to a leg injury I had to leave the sport.
In 1968 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Economics and Statistics with a degree in economics engineering.
Worked at the CSO (Central Statistical Office).
I was interested in music. “In my youth, I was a terrible music lover, and I had a unique collection of vinyl discs in Moscow - about seven thousand. I didn’t just collect them, I felt everything.”, he said in an interview.
Since 1965, as an administrator, he collaborated with the rock group Sokol. In a roundabout way, he obtained records with recordings of foreign stars - Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, the Beatles, which were then performed by the Sokol group. At first, the group performed only in the nearest cafe, occasionally in the area’s House of Culture and on dance floors.
But Yuri Aizenshpis ensured that in 1966 the group came under the wing of the Tula Regional Philharmonic and all its members received official status - already as the VIA “Silver Strings”. Now the group could tour the country and recorded their only song, “Film, Film,” for Fyodor Khitruk’s cartoon “Film, Film, Film.”
Criminal record of Yuri Aizenshpis
Developed an original scheme for the team's activities. After a verbal agreement with the director of the club to hold a concert, the administrator bought tickets for the evening screening of the film and distributed them at a higher price. For the first time, I involved people who ensured order during the group’s performance.
On January 7, 1970 he was arrested. During the search, 15,585 rubles and 7,675 dollars were confiscated. During interrogations, the young director claimed that he dreamed of getting a branded electric guitar for the guys. That is why, with his own money, he bought tickets to the concert at the state price at the box office of the Palace of Culture, and then sold them on the street at a premium. Convicted under Article 88 (Violation of rules on currency transactions) and 78 (Smuggling) for 10 years.
He was released from prison in 1977 on parole.
However, almost immediately after his release he again became involved in currency fraud. Yuri Aizenshpis bought checks, stocked them at Beryozka, and then sold the purchased scarce goods. Using the proceeds from rubles, he bought currency from foreigners through hotel administrators and waiters, and then again checks. At that time, Vneshtorgbank began selling gold in Moscow for foreign currency. Yuri Aizenshpis took up gold farming. He bought gold bars with dollars at a branch of Vneshtorgbank and sold them to Caucasian businessmen.
As a result, he was arrested again and received 10 years of strict regime with confiscation of property (including his parents’ apartment).
I sat in the Krasnoyarsk-27 zone, where I launched a brisk speculation in tea, sugar and vodka. Then he began to occupy leadership positions at local construction sites.
The sentence was reduced and he was released in 1985. And a year later he found himself in a pre-trial detention center again - in the summer of 1986, police found several imported tape recorders and one video recorder with video cassettes in his car. But the matter did not come to court - Perestroika struck. After serving almost 1.5 years in a pre-trial detention center, Yuri Aizenshpis was released.
In total, Yuri Aizenshpis served almost 17 years behind bars. Later I received supporting documents on all counts.
In the 1980s, he worked for some time at the Gallery Gallery under the city committee of the Komsomol, organizing concerts of young performers.
Producer activity of Yuri Aizenshpis
From December 1989 until his death in 1990, he was the director and producer of the Kino group. In 1990, using borrowed funds, he released the “Black Album” (the last work of the Kino group), being one of the first to break the state monopoly on the release of records.
In 1991-1992 he collaborated with the Technology group.
Then he was a producer of the groups “Moral Code” and “Young Guns”.
In 1992-1993 he produced the singer.
In 1993-1999 - producer of the singer. According to some reports, Aizenshpis was helped in promoting Vlad Stashevsky by criminal authority Alexander Makushenko, known as “Sasha Gypsy.” The producer himself said about this project: “In the case of Stashevsky, I wanted to show everyone the role of a producer. For the first time I called myself a producer when I started working with Tsoi. When he died, I had to do something, and I decided to do such a project: to find a person who would absolutely I didn’t dream of a career as an artist, and to make him an artist".
Yuri Aizenshpis became one of the most authoritative Russian show business figures, many stars considered it an honor to do business with him. He had enormous connections and opportunities. Winner of the national Russian music award "Ovation" in the category "Best Producer" in 1992 and 1995.
He participated in the organization of the International Festival “Sunny Adjara” (1994) and in the establishment of the “Star” music award.
In 1999-2001 he promoted the singer Nikita, as well as the singer.
Since 2000, he has been promoting the Dynamite group.
Yuri Aizenshpis and the group "Dynamite"
Since 2001 - General Director of the Media Star company.
His last project was subsequently a popular singer.
“I don’t work for the sake of “thank you”. I work to satisfy my interests, and I like it. It can be compared to the work of a gardener who works in the garden all his life. I like the creative process, and although show business is at the forefront of the show “For me, creativity is more important, business comes second. This is really true. If I were a businessman, I would not have achieved the results that I have.”, - said Yuri Aizenshpis.
Death of Yuri Aizenshpis
On September 21, 2005, the MTV RMA-2005 ceremony was to take place, where Aizenshpis’s ward Dima Bilan was nominated in the categories “Best Performer”, “Best Composition”, “Best Pop Project”, “Best Artist” and “Best Video”. And on September 22, the presentation of Dima Bilan’s first DVD was planned. But the producer did not see the success of his protégé.
Yuri Aizenshpis had diabetes and a heart condition. On September 19, 2005, Aizenshpis was hospitalized at City Clinical Hospital No. 20 for examination, he felt better. But on September 20, 2005, around 20:00, Yuri Aizenshpis died of a myocardial infarction at the age of 60.
He was buried near Moscow next to his parents at the Domodedovo cemetery.
“I think that prison has done its job. So many years of life have actually been lost. Every day is a struggle for existence, health has been ruined. Everyone told him that he needed to rest, work less. But he didn’t listen to anyone, for him it was a normal existence.” , - noted his sister Faina Aizenshpis.
Yuri Aizenshpis's height: 165 centimeters.
Personal life of Yuri Aizenshpis:
Mikhail Aizenshpis was detained by police in February 2014 on suspicion of drug use; 1.5 grams of cocaine and a suitcase with money were seized from him.
After the death of Aizenshpis, Elena Kovrigina married Leonid Aleksandrovich Goyningen-Güne, director of television programs for TNT, Ren-TV, DTV channels. She sued Dima Bilan due to his failure to fulfill the contract and the use of a pseudonym invented by Aizenshpis.
Filmography of Yuri Aizenshpis:
2005 - Day Watch - guest
2005 - How idols left. Viktor Tsoi (documentary)
Bibliography of Yuri Aizenshpis:
“Lighter of the Stars. Notes and advice from a show business pioneer"
“From a black marketeer to a producer. Business people in the USSR"
“Viktor Tsoi and others. How the stars light up"
