Yulia Volkova

Yulia Olegovna Volkova (Russian: Юлия Олеговна Волкова, born February 20, 1985) is one half of the Russian music duo t.A.T.u., the other being Lena Katina.

Biography

Volkova was born into the family of a businessman in Moscow. At the age of 6, parallel to ordinary school, Yulia entered a music school and began learning how to play the piano. When she was 9, Volkova became a member of the children's singing chorus Neposedi, singing the Russian folk song "Oy, to ne vecher" at the casting. A year later, Lena Katina joined Neposedi, and they became good friends. At age 11, Yulia switched from ordinary school to a school fostering artistic talent, and three years later left Neposedi to join t.A.T.u. She has insisted that she was banned from Neposedi for drinking and swearing, but Neposedi representatives deny this, saying that she simply graduated as all of their members did at a certain age. In February 2003, Volkova was reported to have had an abortion, as she was seen at an abortion clinic in Moscow. This was confirmed by Volkova in the December 2003 documentary series "Anatomy of t.A.T.u.". In May 2004, Volkova announced that she was pregnant; daughter Viktoria Pavlovna Volkova was born on 23 September 2004. Her then long-time boyfriend Pavel (Pasha) Sidorov is the father; some reports say they dated since primary school. There was controversy as Sidorov left his wife and baby for Yulia and Viktoria. Yulia publicly commented "Obviously we won't be celebrating a wedding" ^[1]. Just six months in Spring 2005 Volkova and Sidorov split because Sidorov left Yulia for another woman. Volkova gave birth to a baby boy on December 27th, 2007 at 6:35pm (Moscow Time).^[2] . The father, Parviz Yasinov, is married to Masha Veber, with whom he has a baby son. Fans worry about the future of t.A.T.u. because Yasinov made Masha quit her career as a member of the girl group Tutsi ^[3] .

Career

Volkova was chosen as the second member of t.A.T.u. in 1999, after Katina had already been chosen and recorded several demos herself. To be in the band, she had her naturally blond hair dyed black and shortened. Volkova began to record songs in English with t.A.T.u. despite having very little knowledge of the language. An English teacher was hired to help her improve her English skills. In earlier interviews, she often gave little more than one-word answers in English, and Katina had to often translate what she said for the reporters. In more recent interviews, she has shown that her English pronunciation skills have improved due to a six-month residency in Los Angeles to record Dangerous and Moving and Lyudi Invalidy in 2005. Volkova's English is also expected to improve greatly as they will be spending another half year in America recording their third album. Also, when t.A.T.u. planned to head west, Volkova's name was changed to Julia. Since returning to Europe on the release of subsequent albums, she goes more by Yulia.

Vocal Cyst

In early 2004, Volkova's voice began to deteriorate during the recording of t.A.T.u.'s second album, which was documented on the reality show Podnebesnaya. She developed a vocal fold cyst. Despite reluctance on behalf of the management of t.A.T.u., and Ivan Shapovalov himself, she underwent surgery to remove the cyst in October 2004. Her contract stated that any financial loss due to her hospital stay and recovery would be her liability. Not only did the surgery leave a large scar on her neck, but it also severely delayed the band's progress. She is currently undergoing therapy to repair her voice.

References

External Links

• Official Website
• Юля Волкова‎ discography at MusicBrainz