Prokhor Chaliapin

Prokhor Andreevich Chaliapin (Про́хор Андре́евич Шаля́пин; born as Andrei Andreevich Zakharenkov Андре́й Андре́евич Захаре́нков; born 26 November 1983 in Volgograd) is a Russian singer, socialite, media personality and television presenter.

Chaliapin first became known as a finalist on the sixth season of the Russian musical reality programme Fabrika Zvyozd.

Chaliapin was born as Andrei Zakharenkov in Volgograd on 26 November 1983.

His mother was a cook, and his father, a steelworker.

He was the only child of Andrei Ivanovich Zakharenkov and Elena Ivanovna Kletskina, who was eighteen at the birth of her son.

Chaliapin's paternal grandparents hailed from Gorky Oblast and Smolensk Oblast, while his maternal grandparents came from Arel'sk, Trubchevsky District, Bryansk Oblast and Kalynivka, Korosten Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine.

His maternal grandmother was an ethnic Pole.

Three out of his four great-grandfathers were killed in World War II, of which two on the Eastern Front during the Great Patriotic War.

In many interviews, Chaliapin acknowledged that he endured a challenging childhood due to his father's problems with alcoholism and schizophrenia.

His parents divorced when he was nine.

As a result of a then deteriorating relationship with his mother and new step-father, Chaliapin moved in with his paternal grandparents.

From 1991 to 1996, Chaliapin was known as a child singer and as one of the soloists of the vocal show group "Jam", where he sang along with Irina Dubtsova, Tanya Zaikina (Monokini) and Sofia Taih.

With the show group, he performed at different events in Volgograd, where the group enjoyed local popularity.

Chaliapin also took part in several television recordings with the group.

In 1996, his maternal grandmother and aunt were murdered in their apartment in Volgograd; Chaliapin was the first one to discover the murder scene.

Initially, charges were pressed against both his parents, leaving Chaliapin to be sent to an orphanage.

However, after three days, charges were dropped and his mother returned home.

A few months later, Chaliapin became involved in a serious car accident.

Chaliapin was involved in music from a young age.

He started playing bayan and entered a local music school, but was expelled after a few years.

In the fifth grade, he became a soloist of the Russian folk band "Vyunok" and moved from the regular school to the Central School of Art at the Volgograd branch of the Samara Academy of Arts and Culture.

At the age of 15, Chaliapin auditioned to enter the State Music and Pedagogical Institute named after M. Ippolitov-Ivanov at the department of "Folk singing".

Chaliapin was enrolled in the programme with a full scholarship.

With this, he also moved to Moscow.

After graduating from the institute, he applied to the same department at the Gnessin Musical College, where he managed to enroll.

His tuition fees were sponsored.

In 1996, he wrote his first song "Nerealniy son".

After moving to Moscow, Chaliapin applied to the casting of Morning Star.

He was eventually asked to appear as a replacement in one broadcast after a boy fell ill in 1999.

At the broadcast, he sang "Nerealniy son" and "Ne otrekayutsa lyuba", taking the third place.

Chaliapin subsequently took part in various musical competitions.

In 2005, at the contest "Star Chance", held in New York, he sang the song "Odna kalyna" by Sofia Rotaru in Ukrainian and took the third place.

In 2005, Chaliapin officially changed his name to Prokhor Andreevich Chaliapin.

In the same year he released his debut album Volshebnaya skripka, which was produced by Viktor Drobysh.

Chaliapin had unsuccessfully auditioned for the first, third and fifth season of Fabrika Zvyozd.

In the fifth season, Chaliapin made it to the last audition round, where he was personally rejected by Alla Pugacheva, who told him that letting Chaliapin on the show would be sycophantic.

Chaliapin eventually became a contestant in the sixth series of the show, which was under moderation of Drobysh.

For his frivolous behaviour and one-liners, Chaliapin quickly became an audience favourite and a widely discussed participant.

His most famous one-liner became "You are stars, but I am a legend!"

(Вы – звёзды, а я – легенда!).