Katya Lel

Yekaterina Nikolayevna Chuprinina (Екатерина Николаевна Чупринина; born 20 September 1974), better known by her stage name Katya Lel (Катя Лель), is a Russian pop singer.

Chuprinina was born on September 20, 1974, in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic).

Katya spent her childhood there, where she graduated from music school.

There, her teachers were Joseph Kobzon, who was acclaimed as the "official voice of the Soviet Union" and Lev Leshchenko, another renowned singer, who performed the closing theme at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

In 1994, she attended the Russian Academy of Music's vocal department in Moscow.

In 1998, she graduated from the academy with top honors.

In 1998, following her graduation she started a solo career, releasing the successful album Champs Elysee and beginning a successful tour.

In 2003, she changed the style of her performing music and began to work with producer Maxim Fadeev.

During their partnership, the hit Moy Marmeladny (Мой Мармеладный) was released on February 28, 2003 and became a top chart song in a few of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Moy Marmeladny (Мой мармеладный) resurfaced on the social media platform TikTok in November 2023.

Users imitated stereotypical Russian fashion while lip synching the song, wearing fur coats and fur hats, several different audios of it had over 100K posts and acquired billions of views.

In response Chuprinina wrote on Instagram “I thank each of you, my beloved, who are happy for Max and me, who support us!

Life is unpredictable and amazing with its surprises.” A common mistake in the lyrics of her most popular song is that people will say "my marmalade and mi" while a better translation would be "my marmeladini.”