Leonid Derbenyov


Leonid Petrovich Derbenyov was a Russian poet and lyricist widely regarded as one of the stalwarts of the 20th century Soviet and Russian pop music.

Biography

Leonid Derbenyov was born on April 12, 1931, in Moscow. During the German-Soviet War he lived in the village of Ulovo, Vladimir Oblast. His first ever poem appeared in Pionerskaya Pravda, the author being a seventh-grade schoolboy at the time.
Having graduated from the Moscow Law Academy in 1954, Derbenyov worked as a lawyer for various organizations, writing poetry. Some of his works were published in Komsomolskaya Pravda, Izvestia, Moskovskij Komsomolets and other periodicals.
From 1959, Derbenyov, a highly prolific writer, created more than two thousand poems, hundreds of which became song lyrics. Among the composers he worked with were Alexander Flyarkovsky, Arno Babajanian, Aleksandr Zatsepin, Maksim Dunayevsky nad Vyacheslav Dobrynin.
Derbenyov's lyrics became hits for many Russian pop stars and rock groups, among them Muslim Magomayev, Alla Pugacheva, Mikhail Boyarsky, Lev Leshchenko, Masha Rasputina, Philipp Kirkorov, VIA Vesyolye Rebyata, VIA Samotsvety, VIA Leysia Pesnia, and VIA Zemlyane.
Songs with Derbenyov's lyrics were also part of well-known soundtracks for a number of Russian hit films, including "There is But a Moment" from The Sannikov Land and "The Song about Bears" from Kidnapping, Caucasian Style.
In 1978, Derbenyov became an International Song Contest in Sopot' laureate. His songs won the annual "Song of the Year" competition in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1973.
Derbenyov died on Thursday, June 22, 1995, in Moscow from stomach cancer and was buried at the Vostryakovskoye cemetery.
On Friday, November 22, 2002, a memorial sign bearing the name of Leonid Derbenyov was installed at the Square of Stars next to the Russia Concert Hall.

Selected songs