Philipp Kirkorov

Philipp Bedrosovich Kirkorov PAR (Филипп Бедросович Киркоров; Филип Бедросов Киркоров; born 30 April 1967) is a Bulgarian-born Russian pop singer.

He is a five-time winner of the "Best Selling Russian Artist" title at the World Music Awards ceremonies.

Philipp Kirkorov was born on 30 April 1967 in Varna, Bulgaria.

His mother Victoria, is of Jewish origin.

His father, Bedros Kirkorov, of Armenian decent

He has been a star of Russian pop and dance music since 1989.

In 1990, Kirkorov won the Grand Prix in the competition "Shlyager-90" (Hit-90) in Leningrad with the song "Nebo i Zemlya" (Sky and Earth).

In 1992, his music video to the song "Atlantida" was selected as "Music Video of the Year".

His popularity began to spread outside of Russia and he toured in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Israel.

In 1994, he proposed to Alla Pugacheva and she accepted.

On 13 January the couple announced their engagement in Moscow.

On 15 March the marriage was registered in St. Petersburg by then-mayor Anatoly Sobchak.

On 15 May the wedding of Kirkorov and Pugacheva took place in Jerusalem.

Kirkorov represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 held in Dublin with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" ('Lullaby for the volcano') and finished in 17th place.

The most notorious scandal followed an incident in Rostov-on-Don on 20 May 2004.

At a press conference he insulted (using Russian obscene language) Irina Aroyan, a female journalist who had asked why so many of his songs were covers of American and European hits.

During the ensuing discussion, Kirkorov eventually told Aroyan that he was "tired of her pink blouse, her tits, and her microphone" and demanded that she leave the room immediately.

When she eventually did, his bodyguards attacked her outside and destroyed her tape recorder.

The incident led to a major response and discussions in the mass media.

On 11 August 2004, Kirkorov was found guilty of insults (article 130 of the Russian penal code) and was fined 60,000 rubles (about 2000 US dollars at the time).

At a pro-Viktor Yanukovych candidacy concert during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election Kirkorov's father, Bulgarian singer Bedros Kirkorov, mistakenly called on Ukrainians to vote for the opposing candidate Viktor Yushchenko – to wild cheers from the audience.

There was also an incident where Kirkorov sent his guards to attack the Russian rock singer and DDT band frontman Yuri Shevchuk after their emotional skirmish in a public place (as known, Shevchuk keeps no guards of his own).

The reason for the argument reportedly were Shevchuk's offensive statements against Kirkorov, his wife, and his alleged lip-synching.

He co-wrote the Belarusian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, "Work Your Magic" for Dmitry Koldun, wrote the 2008 Ukrainian entry "Shady Lady", performed by Ani Lorak, and also co-composed Moldova's Eurovision entry for the contest, "Sugar", which was performed by Natalia Gordienko.

He was also a judge in the second season of Music Idol in Bulgaria.

Kirkorov makes a cameo in Verka Serduchka's video "Do Re Mi".

Other than his native Bulgarian, he is fluent in Russian, and is proficient in Spanish and English.

In January 2023, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Kirkorov for his support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kirkorov has maintained a "bad boy" public image for most of his career and has caused a number of media controversies.

On 15 May 2009 Kirkorov resigned as head of the Russian jury at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, which has a 50% say in who will be national Russian Eurovision representative, after having been seen posing for cameras with Greek entry Sakis Rouvas and having dinner with Norwegian entry Alexander Rybak.

Furthermore, Kirkorov admitted that he and Rouvas had been personal friends for years.

Since the integrity of the jury was deemed damaged, Kirkorov had little option but to resign once these stories had been made public.

On 3 September 2009 Philipp Kirkorov, clad in his (in)famous 2008 Music Awards 'gold' suit was caught on camera while 'confiscating' the camera belonging to journalist Veronica Kozlova.

Since the act could have been interpreted according to the law as a robbery, some reports said the singer was facing 2 to 7 years' imprisonment and a heavy fine.

All charges were dropped, however, and Kirkorov stated that his actions were 'provoked' by the journalist.

Kozlova was immediately dubbed 'Pink Blouse the Second' by her colleagues and other journalists.

Another incident occurred on 4 December 2010, when he allegedly slapped a female assistant because he was unhappy with the lighting at a concert venue.

The woman, later identified as Marina Yablokova, threatened to sue Kirkorov.

As a result, Kirkorov fled to Israel and had himself interned at a psychiatric hospital.

On 7 December 2010 the singer publicly admitted that he had psychological problems on his official website and apologized to his latest victim.