Once upon a time, the “huckster” Yurka Spitz was a well-known speculator and black marketeer throughout Moscow. At the same time he put together his first group - the Soviet version of the Beatles. After that there were searches, arrests, sentences... He spent 17 years and eight months in prison - almost a third of his life. Aizenshpis was never shy about his criminal past, and when meeting Mazaev he even introduced himself: “Recidivist producer.” When an amnesty was declared for political prisoners and speculators, and currency fraud became currency transactions, Aizenshpis was once again convinced that he was serving time for no clear reason. But he ruined his health in prison so much that he worked on pills for the rest of his life...
The result was a heart attack. They gave him a couple of hours, but he lasted two days. And even on the day of his death he demanded: “Put me on my feet! Bilan is awarded “Singer of the Year”!” He did not live to see the award ceremony for only a few hours. Friends will later say: he was a man who lived with his heart, maybe that’s why it hurt.
He was a music producer when there was no such word in our language. ABOUT creative life The eminence grise of Aizenshpis - from Kino to Dima Bilan - will be told by presenter Vadim Takmenev in the documentary part of the program. No less eloquently, his “children” will tell about the life of their Shmilich: the groups “Technology”, “Dynamite”, “Moral Code”, Vlad Stashevsky, Dima Bilan.
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. Fought during the Great Patriotic War, 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, I was friends with my classmate Vladimir Aleshin and went to the same school with him sports school.
IN teenage years 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 collection that was unique in Moscow vinyl discs- 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 society and all its participants 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 concert tickets 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” ( last job group "Kino"), 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 figures show business, with whom many stars considered it an honor to do business with. He had enormous connections and opportunities. Laureate of the national Russian music award"Ovation" in the category "Best Producer" in 1992 and 1995.
Participated in the organization 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 - CEO Media Star company.
His latest project became later 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 it creative process, and although show business presupposes a show at the forefront, for me creativity is more important, business comes second. This is 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 bad heart. 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 USSR"
“Viktor Tsoi and others. How the stars light up"
What is our life? A game...
Yuri AIZENSHPIS: “17 years in prison is too heavy a punishment for the mistakes of youth. During all this time I had three contacts with women”
On September 20, the legendary producer died. Last interview he gave "Boulevard"
Aizenshpis first on the territory Soviet Union tried Western show business technologies.
Aizenshpis was the first to try Western show business technologies on the territory of the Soviet Union. He brought Viktor Tsoi to the stadiums, made the rock group “Technology” mega-popular, created Vlad Stashevsky out of nothing and from the same thing - Dima Bilan. It was Yuri Shmilevich who introduced the concept of “producer” into Russian show business and convincingly proved that anyone can be made a pop star. In 1970, Aizenshpis was convicted and served a total of 17 years. After his release in 1988, he took on his most famous project - the Kino group led by Viktor Tsoi. With his help, Kino became the main group of the Union. After the death of Tsoi, Aizenshpis was the first to break the state monopoly on the production of records and published the last work of “Kino” - the mournful “Black Album”. The years spent in prison did not pass without a trace. The producer hid his diagnosis until the last moment, although, by and large, Aizenshpis died due to a number of serious illnesses. But the root cause was cirrhosis of the liver due to hepatitis B and C. Yuri Shmilevich was admitted by ambulance to one of the Moscow clinics with severe gastrointestinal bleeding. Doctors did everything possible to prolong the life of the terminally ill producer, but a severe attack resulted in a myocardial infarction.
"MEDICINE COULD NOT HELP ME, AND I GOT PASSIONATE IN MUSIC"
- Yuri Shmilevich, you are a famous producer, but your name means nothing to the average person.
I have never strived and do not strive for popularity. I've already been through all this. I'm just doing what I love - producing. By the way, during the Soviet Union, I became the first to call myself a producer. I officially declare this to you. I try not to give interviews or participate in television programs - for this I need to be divorced.
Since I managed to get you into an interview, let’s talk about the word “first” in your life. Is it true that you were the first in the Union to create a rock band, the first to use Western technologies to promote an artist, the first to break the state monopoly on publishing records?
It's all true. In the early 60s, when I was still a student, my friends and I created the first rock band in the Union, “Falcon”. Everyone lived in the Sokol metro area, so they decided to call the group that. I took on organizational functions: getting instruments, organizing concerts. Everything happened underground, but I managed to promote the group so much that it was known not only in Moscow, but also far beyond its borders. Moreover, in the Western press "Falcon" was compared to the Beatles.
- Who did you learn the wisdom of producing from?
Oh, back then there was no such thing as a producer. There were impresarios and directors. But neither one nor the other suited me. These are all administrative functions, and I considered myself a creative person. And in general he was a terrible music lover.
- Why creative person and the terrible music lover entered the economics institute?
It does not interfere. I received a degree as an engineer-economist. He was seriously involved in athletics and had high achievements. But he suffered a serious meniscus injury. Soviet medicine could not help me. I had to give up sports, and I became interested in music: jazz, rock, pop... Love resulted in collecting music records.
By the age of 18, despite the Iron Curtain, he managed to collect huge collection very rare vinyls - about seven and a half thousand pieces. Moreover, the original recordings, and not a reprint. Believe me, it was an expensive pleasure: each record cost about 150 rubles - this is the salary of a Soviet engineer. So, unlike many modern musicians, I know a lot about the evolution of jazz-rock-pop music.
- How did you get collection records?
Thanks to friends. I talked with foreign diplomats.
- Was the ordinary Soviet citizen really on short leg with foreign diplomatic corps?
I was a very contact person. Well, there are such enterprising people who make the necessary connections with the right people. I had many friends who were children of ambassadors. At that time I knew very well the son of the Indian ambassador, the daughter of the French ambassador, the son of the Yugoslav ambassador...
At that time, such acquaintance was a dangerous activity, since it was associated with buying and selling. This could be seen as a crime. And, in the end, they saw it. I was put behind bars.
- Where is your collection now?
When I was prosecuted, everything was confiscated. Today I restored the collection, only now not on vinyl, but on CD. It’s a pity that the first collection was never returned... After all, now music records are not as exclusive as before, today any record can be bought.
"IN PRISON I SAT WITH THE SON OF THE HEAD OF THE KGB INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT"
From the autobiographical book by Yuri Aizenshpis “Lighting the Stars. Notes of a Show Business Pioneer”: "Being involved in buying and selling music CDs, I developed a taste for money and beautiful life. Then came jeans, equipment, furs. Then gold and currency. It was in 1965 that I first saw and touched American dollars...
In 1969, an office of the USSR Vneshtorgbank opened in Moscow, where they sold gold bars... Almost every day gold was bought for me in this amazing office... But the most time-consuming work was purchasing the maximum possible amount of currency. And I was constantly engaged in this matter, day and night...
Fartsellers bought me currency all over the city. Up to a dozen taxi drivers brought me their foreign currency earnings, even foreign currency prostitutes or prostitutes supplied me with “greens”... By the way, in those years I used the services of prostitutes not only in commercially. Sometimes in their immediate specialty with discounts."
- Why were you arrested?
Article 88 and 78 of the Criminal Code: “Smuggling and violation of the rules of currency transactions.”
- How did the arrest take place?
Well... (Silent for a very long time).
- If you don’t want to talk, we can change the subject...
It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that this is a conversation for more than one hour. I was hired on January 7, 1970. I was 24 years old then. The apartment was searched. They arrested him, took him to a detention center, and sentenced him to 10 years. I served my time, was released, and a few weeks later I committed major operation for the purchase and sale of 50 thousand counterfeit dollars. He was imprisoned for another seven years.
- Why didn’t your diplomatic friends help you?
What do you mean "helped"? Society was not so corrupt then. In prison I sat with the son of the head of the KGB investigative department. And there were many such examples. Now you can close a criminal case for money. It was very difficult then.
- What turned out to be the worst thing during that period?
Never mind! Believe me, the only thing that helped me endure cruel punishment, - self-confidence and great love for life. 17 years in prison is too harsh a punishment for the mistakes of youth. Although I don't consider these to be mistakes. There were just such laws, we lived in such a state. Now it’s not a crime to go abroad and bring back what you like - equipment, clothes, currency.
I went through everything: a small cell where about 100 other convicts were sitting, and liquid soup instead of food, and... In general, that’s all. You know, in films and books this is very embellished and distorted. And I experienced it on my own skin, experienced it, felt it. Because I was in those places not for one or two years, but for 17 years and eight months.
- Was it really impossible to apply for amnesty?
- (Smiles). You speak in a very modern way. I was convicted on charges for which amnesty was not provided. I was a state criminal. All.
- Prison could not but affect your health...
While I was in the zone, my medical card was clean. That is, my health was excellent. Although those who served three to five years necessarily acquired professional prison ailments: stomach ulcers, tuberculosis, venereal or mental illnesses. God has had mercy on me.
- How did you fit into the prison hierarchy?
Fine. Those who have served time always have traces of beatings on their heads. If you cut my head bald, there will not be a single bruise, not a single scar. Because in the zone not a single hair fell from my head. This is my uniqueness. That's how I put myself.
"WHEN I WAS FREE, I FELL INTO A DEEP DEPRESSION, WHICH LEADED TO A HEART ATTACK"
- Sorry for the incorrect question, but how did a healthy man manage without women for 18 years?
- (Interrupts sharply. Very defiantly). Yes, that's it! During all this time I managed... three times... to have such contacts with women. It was very dangerous because these were employees... that is, female employees, civilian employees. If management had found out, she would have been fired and I would have been transferred to another zone. That's usually how it ended.
“When Solzhenitsyn describes the nightmares of Soviet reality, I say: if only he had lived in the conditions in which I lived. He served his sentence among those convicted under articles, mainly political. I sat among inveterate criminals: every day blood is shed, every day there is lawlessness, chaos. But they didn’t touch me. I’m a sociable person, I adapt to any conditions...
...There, 70 percent of prisoners are starving. I wasn't hungry. How? Money does everything, of course, unofficially. This is what my phenomenon is, my peculiarity. No matter what environment I found myself in, and I had to visit different colonies, different zones, different regions - everywhere I had the highest standard of living for an ordinary prisoner. This cannot be explained only by organizational skills, it is a phenomenon of character."
Today you are a wealthy person who borrows enough high position in society. Former cellmates don't bother you?
At first, people appeared, so to speak, who knew me and asked for help. I helped them. People I didn’t know also contacted me. But I refused them, because I was not obliged to help them out.
- After your release, they refused to cooperate with you because of your prison past?
At first, there was a certain discrimination towards convicts. But I didn’t notice this; such things are not done openly. Moreover, it was the height of perestroika at that time. And it turned out that almost the entire Soviet country consists of criminals.
- Do you have a complex today because of your past?
No! Khodorkovsky is sitting, prime ministers, presidents are sitting...
You know, in the zone I had friendships and relationships with people whose crime was horrifying. But people become criminals due to certain circumstances. It happens that a person is unable to control himself and commits a crime in a state of passion. But these are not fallen people. They just accidentally stumbled. Believe me, many convicted human qualities much higher than that of politicians.
- Are there any friends left from the zone?
Yes. I still keep in touch with them. But there are very few of them left, many of them have been in the next world for a long time.
You know, I have lost quite a large period of time in my life. It left a mark on my mind, but it didn't make me cruel. This is a feature of my psyche. There were also dangerous situations in the zone, but I avoided them. This strengthened my will. I came out of there a man capable of building his life in a new way. Which is what I did.
- So simple - you forgot almost 18 years in prison and started all over again?
Not right away. When I was released - April 23, 1988, I was already 42 - I looked around at the world and fell into a deep depression. He came out completely devastated: no family, no money, nothing. Friends managed to achieve a lot in life: some went into politics, some became businessmen, and reached great heights. And I - without a stake, without a yard. Basically, depression led to a heart attack.
- Why did depression occur after, and not during, imprisonment?
Because in the zone a person is always in tension. You can’t relax there, because the main thing is to get out into freedom. And when I left, a kind of relaxation set in along with depression.
From the book by Yuri Aizenshpis "Lighting the Stars...":"The world changed while I was gone. A new generation has appeared. Old acquaintances may not have forgotten me, but I didn’t know where to find them... A lot of time was lost... No money, no apartment, no family. When I was imprisoned, I had a girlfriend. I don’t know. I first got married and became a father only at 47 years old.
Love passed me by. I did not experience this feeling in adulthood and in mature forms... As for the thought of marriage... In my youth there were options for interesting marriages, but they did not attract me. For example, with the daughter of a Yugoslav diplomat. After my release, there was another promising option - the daughter of one of the leaders of Vneshtorg, who wanted to pay for my marriage to his daughter with a Zhiguli car. I refused...
Now that I have a family, with whom I don’t even live, a son, a certain position in society, I somehow don’t want to have serious affairs... If my mood and desire allow it, then why not have free sex?”
In the year of liberation, you became a producer for Viktor Tsoi and his Kino group. Really famous musicians your criminal past doesn't bother you?
I met Tsoi two years before his death. Then I wanted to return to what I did in my youth - producing rock bands. It was a pleasure meeting Victor. It's doubly nice because we immediately found mutual language. You know, real fame came to Tsoi when we started working together.
We were introduced by a mutual friend Sasha Lipnitsky. The Kino group was known only in the music community and was a member of the Leningrad rock club. I had no doubt that only television and radio would make Kino popular. But at that time there were no commercial radio stations, only state ones. There was no television that would provide extensive coverage of musical events. There were only two musical television programs - “Morning Mail” and “Ogonyok”. It was impossible to get on air; at that time it was believed that “Kino” was an amateur performance.
I started by popularizing Cinema. With the help of his connections, he managed to promote the group to the then popular program “Vzglyad”, and then to “Morning Mail”. Well, I slowly connected the press.
Victor recorded two albums under me, and died under me. I was directly involved in organizing the funeral. And he fulfilled his wish - he released the last “Black Album” of the Kino group.
"STASHEWSKI WAS AN ARTIFICIAL ARTIST"
- Yuri Shmilevich, where did another of your charges, Vlad Stashevsky, disappear?
Oh. (Sighs). Many people ask me about this. He had some creative efforts after me. But they turned out to be fruitless. This suggests that an artist needs a producer. Even for the talented. Vlad, unfortunately, is a product, unlike my artists today.
- What does “product” mean?
This is when, with the help of technology, I produced a finished show business product. Roughly speaking, many years ago I did with Vlad Stashevsky what they are doing now at the Star Factory. He was an artificial artist.
- Why did you volunteer to work with him?
I just wanted to prove to myself and those around me the importance of a producer. When our contract ended, Vlad felt like a big star. I thought that I could continue to exist in show business on my own. That's all.
- Has your current ward, Dima Bilan, caught star fever yet?
He is a man of a different upbringing and, unlike Vlad Stashevsky, he is a real talent, not a synthetic product. I met Dima at a concert-presentation of a youth magazine. As always, there were a lot of people wandering around behind the scenes strangers. How they get there is still a mystery to me. Among these people was Dima. I immediately noticed him among the crowd: an interesting, lively young man who danced and sang along all the time. He came up to me and said: “And I know you. You are Yuri Aizenshpis.” “It’s very good that you know,” I answer. And gave him the phone number. But we met much later. I put it off every time: starting is always difficult, and there was no time. When he finally came to the studio, we started talking. It turned out that Dima is studying at the faculty of academic vocals at the Gnessin School. That is, in front of me was a person who was professionally studying vocal skills. This was enough for me to start working with him.
- How much money does it take to produce a show business product?
On average from 700 thousand to one and a half million dollars. Although there are artists in whom five million dollars have been invested.
However, a lot depends on the artist’s potential. Every day hundreds of girls and boys call me, come to my office, to the studio and say: I’m talented, I sing soooooo much, I even have an album recorded. Everyone has the same diagnosis - they imagine themselves to be stars. But in reality it turns out that they are far from reaching the heights of stardom, but also from simply performing well.
- But what about the statement that a performer is, first of all, appearance plus charisma?
For me, the main thing is vocal abilities.
- How long does it take for investments to make a profit?
In the case of Dima Bilan, it is too early to talk about this: there is constant reproduction and creation of clips. You know, I'm generally a creative person. Therefore, business in this matter is a secondary matter. I don’t save money, but spend everything on quick and high-quality promotion of the artist. I think Dima will soon pay for himself...
P.S. Three days before his death, Yuri Aizenshpis suffered a heart attack. He was hospitalized. The producer felt better, and he begged the doctors to let him go home: he really wanted to support Bilan at the award ceremony for the Russian version of the prestigious MTV 2005 music awards. Yuri Shmilevich did not live to see his pupil’s triumph for exactly two days. He died at the age of 61, and Bilan was recognized as " Best Performer" and "Best Artist" in 2005. Dmitry went up on stage with Aizenshpis's eight-year-old son Misha, and the hall froze in a minute of silence...
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Yuri Shmilevich Aizenshpis was born a month after the end of the Great Patriotic War in Chelyabinsk. At that time, the producer's mother was evacuated there. Yuri Shmilevich comes from an unusual family. My father’s ancestors lived in Spain, but Shmil Moiseevich’s passport indicated Poland as his country of birth. Already as an adult, the man fled to the USSR, fearing reprisals from the Nazis.
Interestingly, the real name of Yuri’s father is Shmul. The NKVD officer, filling out the passport, got it wrong. This is how Shmil Aizenshpis turned out. The man went through the Second World War and visited Berlin. However, the soldier was never wounded. Yuri Shmilevich’s mother’s biography is no less interesting. Maria Mikhailovna was born in Belarus.
After the death of her parents, she was given over to distant relatives to raise. Because of the outbreak of the war, I did not have time to obtain a diploma in journalism. Maria Mikhailovna joined the partisan detachment and almost fell into the hands of the Germans several times. IN post-war years was awarded medals and orders.
Yuri's parents met at the Belorussky railway station in 1944. After the end of the war, Maria Mikhailovna and Shmil Moiseevich ended up in the Main Directorate of Airfield Construction. At that time, the Aizenshpis family lived well. In their house there was a TV and a gramophone with a large collection of records.
Until 1961, the producer's family lived in a wooden barracks, but then moved to an apartment located in the Sokol district of Moscow. Yuri Shmilevich was athletic child, attended a sports school. The producer was a fan of handball, volleyball and athletics. I had to retire from professional sports due to a leg injury.
Yuri took his first steps as an administrator in his youth. In 1965, the man began collaborating with the rock group Sokol. Despite the obvious craving for show business, Aizenshpis received economic Education at the Moscow Economic and Statistical Institute.
Music and production
Yuri Shmilevich's career as a producer began while still studying at the institute. Collaboration with a rock band did not help achieve the desired heights. Then Aizenshpis went to prison for conducting illegal currency transactions. After leaving prison, the producer found himself in the perestroika world, which became the starting point for developing a career in show business.
Meeting Alexander Lipnitsky allowed Aizenshpis to become the director of the Interchance festival. Gradually the man learned the basics behind the scenes life, identified methods of influencing musicians, and later moved on to producing.
“Promote the artist - functional responsibility producer. And here any means are good. Through diplomacy, bribery, threats or blackmail,” said Yuri Shmilevich.
This approach to the matter turned out to be successful. From an ordinary producer, Aizenshpis quickly rose to the rank of show business shark. Yuri began helping performers who wanted to be on big stage. Not everyone suited Aizenshpis. The producer, lighting the stars, chose artists who could “hook” the viewer. Required condition became the presence of a repertoire. To promote musicians, Yuri Shmilevich used the media and television.
In 1988, the Kino group fell into the hands of Aizenshpis. By this time, the musicians had already reached a certain level on their own, but a professional approach to promotion was required. The cooperation of two talented people - Yuri Shmilevich and - bore fruit.
The producer and musician's fame soared to unprecedented heights. Two years later, Viktor Tsoi dies. Aizenshpis takes out a loan of 5 million rubles and releases the musician’s posthumous album “Black Album”. The disc's circulation exceeded 1 million copies. The producer earned 24 million from this project.
Musicians of the Kino group, Evgeny Dodolev and Yuri Aizenshpis at the presentation of the Black Album Yuri Shmilevich's career developed rapidly. After “Kino” there was another group – “Technology”. In fact, Aizenshpis promoted the group from scratch. Young musicians became popular. For an unknown reason, after a year of working together, the paths of the producer and the wards diverge.
Already in 1992, Yuri Aizenshpis was recognized as the best producer in the country. A year after official recognition, he meets Svetlana Gaiman, known under the pseudonym. They worked for several months, after which he began promoting the singer.
For 6 years, Yuri Shmilevich collaborated with a singer famous in the 90s. Collaboration led to the recording of 5 albums. Aizenshpis increased Vlad’s popularity and recognition significantly. The musician was invited to major concerts and events in Russia and the USA.
Yuri Aizenshpis's track record includes such stars as Nikita, the Dynamite group. The main achievement in the work of the producer was. Under the leadership of Yuri Shmilevich, they learned about the artist in Russia.
Aizenshpis described bright moments life and work in books. The producer published “Lighting the Stars. Notes and advice from a show business pioneer,” “From a black marketeer to a producer. Business people in the USSR" and "Viktor Tsoi and others. How the stars light up." In memory of the producer, a program was broadcast on the TVC channel called “Wild Money.”
Personal life
Rumors constantly circulated around Aizenshpis. In show business they stated that the producer brought to the work the so-called “ blue lobby" Previously, women were brought to men for promotion; later, lovers of politicians and businessmen began to appear. More than once Yuri Shmilevich and the producer’s wards were called gay, but no official confirmation of the men’s orientation was found.
“Spending time in prison could have influenced Aizenshpis’s orientation,” the ex-husband suggested.
Numerous rumors did not prevent Yuri Shmilevich from living in a civil marriage with Elena Lvovna Kovrigina.
After the death of Aizenshpis, she quickly arranged her personal life by marrying director Leonid Goyningen-Güne. Yuri and Elena had a son, Mikhail. In 2014, a young man was taken into custody by the police due to drug use. During the search, Mikhail was found to have 1.5 grams of cocaine.
Death
Imprisonment had a negative impact on the producer's health. For a long time, Yuri Aizenshpis hid the fact that he had serious problems. Officially, the cause of death is myocardial infarction, but a number of diagnoses led to this, including cirrhosis of the liver, gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatitis B and C. The information that Yuri Shmilevich had AIDS, which led to death, is not documented.
Three days before his death, Aizenshpis felt unwell. Doctors decided to hospitalize the producer. After the manipulations, the condition improved, so Yuri Shmilevich persuaded the doctors to release him from the hospital. The producer wanted to see Dima Bilan receive the prestigious MTV-2005 music award.
The producer did not live to see the ceremony for two days. Aizenshpis's life was cut short at the age of 61. The funeral took place at the Domodedovo cemetery. The farewell ceremony was attended by artists, composers and other show business figures. Numerous photos of the grieving Dima Bilan spread across the Internet. The producer's grave is located next to his parents'.
Show business, twice winner of the Ovation music award. He has helped many current stars national stage ascend to the show business horizon. And the creative groups and solo singers with whom he worked still evoke a response in the hearts of the public.
Family and childhood of Yuri Aizenshpis
Yuri Aizenshpis, whose photo can be seen in this article, was born in Chelyabinsk, immediately after the war, on June fifteenth, 1945. His father Shmil Moiseevich was a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Mother's name was Maria Mikhailovna. The surname Aizenshpis means “iron peak” in Yiddish. Yuri's parents were Jews and worked in the Main Directorate for Airfield Construction.
At first the family lived in a wooden barracks. But in 1961 they received an apartment in Sokol (it was a prestigious Moscow district at that time). Yuri Aizenshpis was very fond of sports since childhood. What fascinated him most was Athletics, handball and volleyball. He could well become a champion in one of these areas. But he still had to leave the sport. The reason for this was a leg injury he received at the age of 16.
First steps in show business
After school, Yuri Aizenshpis entered a university with a degree in economic engineering. He graduated from it in 1968. In addition to his passion for sports, Yuri had something else. He was attracted to music. Since his sports career was closed for him due to injury, he chose show business.
And his first job was as an administrator of the rock group “Falcon”. He sold tickets to the concerts of the creative team according to an original scheme, which helped technically equip the stage with first-class equipment. And the quality and purity of sound have always been very important for Yuri.
First, he negotiated with club directors for the group to perform. Next, Aizenshpis bought all the tickets for the evening concerts and then sold them himself at a higher price. Yuri was the first in the Soviet Union to hire security to ensure order during the show.
Yuri Aizenshpis: biography. Arrest
Using the proceeds from ticket sales (mostly dollars), Aizenshpis purchased from foreigners musical instruments for the group and high-quality sound equipment. But at that time in the USSR all foreign exchange transactions were illegal, and he took a great risk by making such transactions. If he had been caught, he could have been imprisoned for a serious prison term.
Law enforcement agencies drew attention to his “speculative” activities. On January 7, 1970, Aizenshpis was arrested. During the search, more than 7 thousand dollars were found and confiscated (as Yuri himself admitted in one of his interviews, he had even accumulated more than 17 thousand dollars) and over 15,000 rubles. Aizenshpis Yuri Shmilevich was convicted of currency fraud. He was given a sentence of ten years in prison. Yuri was sent to the city of Krasnoyarsk to serve his sentence.
After he was released, he did not enjoy it for long. And again he ended up in prison under the same article. But this time he was given seven years and eight months in prison. In total, he served seventeen years in prison. And he was finally released only in April 1988.
Imprisonment
Yuri was put in prison to serve time among inveterate criminals. Every day he observed cruelty, blood and mayhem. But they didn't touch him. The main reason Most likely it was his communication skills. He knew how to listen and conduct a dialogue. Being a very sociable person, Yuri Aizenshpis was able to quickly adapt to an environment alien to him.
Although more than half of the prisoners usually go hungry, he avoided this pitfall. The money, although secretly transferred in the form of bribes to the prison, was able to make his existence in the zone more bearable than for many. At least he wasn't starving.
Yuri was not kept in one place; he was transferred many times to other regions and zones. Only in any place he was distinguished by his unbending character and high standard of living.
The first “star” group of Yuri Aizenshpis
After his release from prison, where Yuri Aizenshpis served a total of seventeen years, he got a job at the “Gallery” TO, which created the city committee of the Komsomol. Aizenshpis first organized concerts for young talented performers. In 1989 he became the official producer of the Kino group. Yuri was among the first to break the state monopoly on the release of records. Aizenshpis released the last recording of the Kino group, “Black Album,” in 1990, taking out a loan of 5 million rubles for this. This was his first group, which he brought to the world stage.
Further activities in show business
In 1991-1992 producer Yuri Aizenshpis worked closely with the Tekhnologiya group. He helped release their first album, “Everything You Want,” which became their debut. He expanded his advertising activities widely, producing printed products depicting members of the “Technology” group: postcards, posters, etc.
In 1992 he received the Ovation Award as the country's best producer. And from this year to ninety-three he collaborated with the Moral Code and Young Guns. In the summer of 1994 he began working with Vlad Stashevsky. During their collaboration, four were recorded music album. The debut was “Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”
In the same year, Yuri was one of the organizers of the international music festival"Sunny Adjara". Participated in the establishment of the Star Prize. Based on the results of its creative activity in ninety-five, Aizenshpis Yuri Shmilevich again received the Ovation Award.