Sergey Nikolayevich "Chizh" Chigrakov (russian: Серге́й Николаевич Чиграков; born 6 February 1961 in Dzerzhinsk) is a Russian rock performer and songwriter. Most of his current songs are recorded with his band,

Chizh & Co Chizh & Co () is a Russian rock band, formed in the early 1990s by guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Sergey Chigrakov Sergey Nikolayevich "Chizh" Chigrakov (russian: Серге́й Николаевич Чиграков; born 6 February 1961 in ...

. Chigrakov has performed on stage since the age of 14, playing the

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

in clubs in his home town Dzerzhinsk. He graduated from a musical school and college in the same town, and then studied at the Leningrad Institute of Culture and the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

studio of the

Leningrad Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

. There he learned to play the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

and

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. Chigrakov then worked as an instructor in Dzerzhinsk, while playing the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and singing in a

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

group. After some time, Chigrakov got an invitation from A. Chernetskiy, which resulted in the formation of the group "

Raznyie Lyudi Raznye Lyudi (russian: Разные люди – ''Different people'') is a band from Saint Petersburg, Russia (originally from Kharkiv, USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transconti ...

" (literally ''Various people'' or ''Different People''), where Chigrakov soon occupied the place of the lead vocalist. In 1993, Chigrakov released his first solo album in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. At this time, he worked with numerous famous Russian rock stars such as Mikhail "uncle Misha" Chernov, N. Korzinin and

Boris Grebenshchikov Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (russian: link=no, Борис Борисович Гребенщиков; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the fou ...

. Chigrakov performed in a live concert for the first time with ''Raznyie Lyudi'' at the festival ''Solovki''. After this first official concert, he began writing, recording and singing his best known songs including ''Hochu Chaiu'' and ''Avtobus''. In the spring of 1994, Chigrakov moved to

and formed a band called

. In the same year, the festival "Generation 94" presented the band with the special-prize of producer judges. Their

clip Clip or CLIP may refer to: Fasteners * Hair clip, a device used to hold hair together or attaching materials such as caps to the hair * Binder clip, a device used for holding thicker materials (such as large volumes of paper) together ** Bulldog ...

s were shown in a television show "Dobroye Utro" ("Good Morning") on national TV. In November, club ''Moscow'' arranged the group's first

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

appearance. Since then, Chigrakov and his band released 13 albums, and performed all over Russia. They are currently considered to be a legend of

Russian rock Rock music became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its Western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s (especially the era of perestroika), when the Soviet underground roc ...

music.

External links

Official website
(in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chigrakov, Sergey 1961 births Living people People from Dzerzhinsk, Russia 21st-century Russian male singers 21st-century Russian singers Russian rock singers 20th-century Russian male singers 20th-century Russian singers

See also

External links