Valery Meladze

Born in Batumi, in the Georgian SSR, Valery Meladze built his career in the Russian-speaking music scene from the late 1980s. Trained as a pianist, he began alongside his brother Konstantin Meladze in the band April before joining Dialog in 1989, a group linked to the Soviet progressive rock scene where his singing already took on a more melodic character. His solo trajectory took shape in the early 1990s with a spacious, melancholic Russian pop informed by pop rock, art rock and orchestrated variety, often set to compositions by Konstantin Meladze. Valery Meladze released Sera (1995), Posledny romantik (1996), Samba belogo motylka (1998), Vsyo tak i bylo (1999), Nega (2003) and Vopreki (2008). His repertoire alternates between ballads, mid-tempo songs and more upbeat numbers, with a marked taste for well-crafted choruses and dramatic arrangements without veering into hard rock. Over the years he has remained present on the major stages, tours and music shows of Russia and the former USSR, while also recording a few duets, notably with the group VIA Gra in the early 2000s.