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Maya Kristalinskaya
Maya Vladimirovna Kristalinskaya was born on February 24, 1932 in Moscow.
Even during her school studies Maya was engaged in children’s chorus of the Central Palace of Railroad Workers’ Children under the leadership of I.Dunaevsky.
After leaving school she did not yet think of an artistic career and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1950. However, her love for singing brought her to the institute’s amateur performances. After graduation from the institute she was sent to Novosibirsk and worked there in an aviation design office, and three years later returned to Moscow and started working in A. Yakovlev design office.
After leaving school she did not yet think of an artistic career and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1950. However, her love for singing brought her to the institute’s amateur performances. After graduation from the institute she was sent to Novosibirsk and worked there in an aviation design office, and three years later returned to Moscow and started working in A. Yakovlev design office.
In 1957 Maya Kristalinskaya became the prize winner of the Moscow International Festival of Youth and Students, where she took the stage with the amateur ensemble First Steps conducted by Y.Saulsky. The same year she married the popular writer Arcady Arkanov. However, the marriage was short and soon they broke up.
In 1960 Maya Kristalinskaya recorded Masha's song for the movie Thirst and right after the release of the movie she became famous and popular in the USSR. She immensely toured around the country and cooperated with Eddie Rozner and Oleg Lundstrem's jazz bands. The records , with songs sung by her were quickly bought up.
At the age of 29 years she was diagnosed with the serious illness of Hodgkin's granuloma. She underwent a hard course of treatment, but since then she had to appear on the stage always wearing a neckerchief. However, it did not spoil her charisma at all, on the contrary, there appeared copycats of her style.
In 1966 Maya Kristalinskaya was recognized as the best variety singer of the year.
In 1970 S. Lapin was appointed the chairman of Gosteleradio. Lots of singers, including Maya Kristalinskaya, found themselves in disgrace. Since then and till the end of her life she had to go on tour in village clubs and in centres of the Tula, Ryazan, and Oryol Regions. She was removed from the radio for her “propagation of sadness”.
In the last years of her life she translated Marlene Dietrich’s book Reflections from German into Russian. The book was published in the USSR after the death of Maya Kristalinskaya: her condition was drastically worsened in 1984 and she died on 19 June 1985. She was laid down to rest at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
