Julia Volkova

Julia Volkova
Volkova in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Yulia Olegovna Volkova
Born	20 February 1985 (1985-02-20) Moscow, Russian SFSR
Origin	Moscow, Soviet Union
Genres	Pop, Rock, Electropop
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Piano, Guitar
Years active	1994-present
Labels	T.A. Music, Gala Records
Associated acts	t.A.T.u. Neposedi Lena Katina
Website	Official Site (English) Official Site (Russian)

Yulia Olegovna Volkova (Russian: Юлия Олеговна Волкова), born February 20, 1985, better known by the alternative spelling of Julia, is a Russian singer and actress best known as a member of the Russian pop duo, t.A.T.u., along with Lena Katina. They had signed to Universal Music Russia, where they had eventually signed to Universal's sub-label Interscope Records in 2001. They had been successful as a group, with worldwide hits including "All the Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us" and "All About Us", releasing six studio albums in total; three Russian language albums and three English language albums. In 2011, Katina and Volkova announced that t.A.T.u. had broken up. Julia signed a solo career with Gala Records in June 2011, and released her debut single "All Because of You" in October 2011. The song was also released in a Russian-language version under the title "Сдвину мир"(I'll Change the World).

Life and career

1985-1994: Early years and career beginning

Volkova was born on February 20, 1985 in Moscow, Russia to a middle-class family. Her father, Oleg Volkov, was a businessman and her mother, Larissa Volkova, was a hairdresser. At the age of 6, Volkova enrolled in music school and began learning how to play the piano. When she was 9, Volkova became a member of Russia's children's chorus Neposedi, from which she would later meet fellow t.A.T.u singer, Lena Katina. At age 11, Volkova transferred 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 misbehaving, but Neposedi representatives deny this, saying that she simply graduated as all of their members did at a certain age.

1999-2011: Formation of t.A.T.u.

t.A.T.u. performing in Moscow, Russia.

Creator and then-manager of t.A.T.u., Ivan Shapovalov stated that the idea of t.A.T.u. stemmed from the common fascination and fantasy of school-girl lesbian lovers among men, knowing that the duo would be highly appealing to a diverse fan-base.

Feeling satisfied with his choices, Shapovalov signed Yulia and Lena to t.A.T.u., but their contract with Shapovalov demanded that the girls present a lesbian image. After breaking away from Shapovalov in 2004, the girls came clean and stated that Shapovalov had created the lesbian image, and that they were even told what to say in interviews and parted ways with Shapovalov.^{[citation needed]}

t.A.T.u. soon became the most successful Russian group of all time, leaving a number of hits behind them, such as "All The Things She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us" and "All About Us". They also took part in Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and finished third with Ne Ver', Ne Boysia. They had recorded three English language studio albums; 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane, Dangerous and Moving and Waste Management. They had recorded three Russian language studio albums; 200 Po Vstrechnoy, Lyudi Invalidy and Vesyoyle Ulybki. It was announced in March 2011 that t.A.T.u. was officially disbanded. The group celebrated their 12 years together, and released two remix albums entitled Waste Management Remixes pt. 1 and Waste Management Remixes pt. 2. It was announced they were the last albums together, as the solo singers would pursue a solo career.

Many Russian websites started claiming Yulia had left t.A.T.u. to go solo in March 2009. The group's blog rejected the claims that Yulia had quit but stated that both girls would be doing separate solo projects from now on and t.A.T.u was no longer a full time job. However, in early January, the duo released a video in which they said they were still together and were planning more songs in 2010.

2008–present: forthcoming solo album

It was announced that after the production of t.A.T.u.'s album Waste Management, t.A.T.u would no longer be a full-time project and it was later announced that Julia and Lena would both be working on their solo careers. Julia is currently working on her solo album in Moscow and Los Angeles. Julia has said that she has introduced a new genre entitled "Sex Rock". As Julia explained “I’m not going to go from t.A.T.u. style to R&B, I like rock. It’s going to be sexy, electric, but I don’t want to give away all the secrets just yet."

Julia was asked about touring and she explained “I am looking forward to performing and touring the whole world. The live shows will be different from t.A.T.u. altogether. It will be me alone and a beautiful show with big screens, each of them will have a little movie. I want the fans to take part in these movies. I want to help them feel a part of something and to be part of my show, to see that they’re traveling around the world with me.” On 17 January 2011, Julia released a snippet of what was thought to be her debut single "Woman All The Way Down". It is her first solo song since 2008. Along with this song, Julia also performed "Rage" during her birthday party on February 20th, 2011. These two songs, along with a snippet of another song that was uploaded to her website, "Stand Up", were said to just be demos and not a direct representation of what Julia's debut single/album will sound like. She was interviewed by Cherrytree Chat. She was asked about her music and she said that "[she is] not doing any songwriting, [she is] only recording English songs [although Russian songs are planned], the album is planned to be released worldwide and wants to be into drums throughout her career"

On August 16, 2011, Volkova announced on her website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, she has officially signed with Russian Label Gala Records, subsidiary of EMI records. She has also stated that her new single to prepare for her debut album, "All Because Of You/Sdvinu Mir" will be released in late August with accompanying video. 2 weeks after the announcement, her official site reported that Julia will be returning to the studio to complete an additional recording session for "All Because Of You/Sdvinu Mir" and that the single will be officially released in October. For a third time, the single release was postponed until November. Though fans hoped for "All Because of You" to premiere on the radio prior to Julia's South American tour, it was planned to premiere during Julia's first performance in Rio de Janeiro on November 17th, 2011. The Russian version, "Sdvinu Mir" premiered on Lenta.ru on November 11th, 2011. This is Volkova's 1st debut single for her upcoming untitled debut album. The song was recorded in Sweden and was produced by Niclas Molinder, Joacim Persson, Johan Fransson, Tim Larsson and Tobias Lundgren. A music video is also currently directed. Evan Winter is also the director of the video. The music video was released on December 2, 2011, which premiered on Ello.com and her website.

Volkova also announced she will travel to South America for a promotional tour, where she will perform some songs from t.A.T.u. and some of her new material. "All Because Of You" peaked at number 247 in her native Russia. It was announced by Volkova that the album will be released in Fall 2012.

On March 1, 2012, it was reported by the press that Volkova would be one of the 25 artists in the Russian final selection who will be competing in order to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Russian broadcaster RTR later confirmed her participation among the other 25. She will be entering the competition alongside Eurovision 2008 winner Dima Bilan with the song "Back To The Future".

Acting career

Volkova made her film début alongside Lena Katina and Mischa Barton in the film You and I, the story of two teenage girls who meet and fall in love at a Moscow t.A.T.u. concert. The film is based on the novel t.A.T.u. Come Back, which was in turn based on true events.

During August 2011, Julia participated in the shooting of the movie “9 1/2 Zombies" (Previously titled "Fear Mongers"). According to the post on her official site "'9 1/2 Zombies' is a Russian language zombie horror/comedy movie shot on location in Minsk, Belarus. Produced by New Wave Production in the style of such films as 'Welcome to Zombieland' or 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Fear Mongers' is preparing for an autumn 2012 premiere". Julia will be playing the heroine, Natalia. She is also to record a soundtrack for the movie.

Personal life

In May 2004, Volkova announced that she was pregnant by her then long-time boyfriend Pavel Sidorov, which caused some controversy due to Sidorov already having a wife and daughter. Daughter Viktoria Pavlovna Volkova was born on 23 September 2004, in Moscow. She does not keep in contact with Sidorov. Yulia is openly bisexual, which is a rarity among Russian celebrities.

Volkova then had a long term relationship with businessman Parviz Yasinov. The press reported that the two got married and she converted to Islam for him, but she denied this. It was reported and confirmed that Volkova was pregnant with her second child, her first with Yasinov, around June 2007. Volkova gave birth to a baby boy named Samir on 27 December 2007, in Moscow. The couple stated that they wanted to get married in the future. In 2010, Volkova confirmed that she and Yasinov had broken up, but denied claims that she had been separated from her son. On 5 June 2008, t.A.T.u. canceled a concert scheduled for 19 June due to Volkova falling ill. The official site didn't give exact details of her illness. It has been speculated by the media that she was diagnosed with postpartum depression but it was never confirmed. On 19 June, a blog entry was posted by Lena saying that "Yulia's better" and shortly after Volkova appeared to be resuming normal activities. In March 2011, Yulia confirmed through an interview with Romanian website Star-Gossip.com that she and her boyfriend have accepted Islam.

In a recent interview, it was said that according to MKRU', it was said that Julia doesn't contact with band mate Katina any more. She said "Just so happens that we are now almost do not talk."

External links

• Official website
• Yulia Volkova discography at MusicBrainz
• Julia Volkova at the Internet Movie Database