Nina Shatskaya

Nina Arkadyevna Shatskaya (, April 22, 1966, Rybinsk, USSR) is a Russian singer and actress, best known for her jazzy take on the Russian romance heritage. Staying out of the spotlight, Shatskaya is held in high regard by critics and colleagues. According to composer Nikita Bogoslovsky, "Next to our pop 'legends' she is a true queen: lonely and untouchable." Shatskaya released seven well-received albums and was designated a Meritorious Artist of Russia in 2004. Biography Nina Arkadyevna Shatskaya was born in Rybinsk to the jazz musician, singer and conductor Arkady Shatsky. It was in his band Raduga (Радуга, Rainbow) that she has made her singing debut. A strict disciplinarian (who for many years was unwilling to support her ambition to become a professional singer), he proved in retrospect to be a perfect mentor and a major inspiration. "I was kind of a homely girl; I liked to knit and sew. Besides, I was overweight. All this irritated him immensely: he was sure this way I'd turn out fat, lazy and stupid. He criticized me mercilessly but somehow managed to help me shape up with this criticism. I was eager to prove I was worthy of his praise," she later remembered. After graduating school Nina couldn't decide which college to go to, so Arkady Shatsky sent her to a settlement near an agricultural factory to work there for a year as a club administrator. "That was where I learned what the word 'rural cultural life' meant. I tried hard to get some Indian films for our workers, painted billboards and organized parties," she later remembered. A year later Nina moved to Leningrad and enrolled in the Management faculty at the Humanitarian University. Later she attended the Music Hall Studio School, graduating from both. In Leningrad she felt uncomfortable and lonely. "While my girl friends were busy courting men, I spent all my evenings in the Conservatory or the Philharmonics," she said in an interview. Yet Shatskaya recalled fondly her years at the Leningrad Music Hall. "The teachers there were fantastic, and the performers were all individuals, each cultivating their own manner," she reminisced. She moved to the Moscow Music Hall and studied vocals at Gnesyn Academy, in the class of Natalya Andrianova, while also making miscellaneous recordings with orchestras for Soviet TV and radio. In 1986 the family suffered a heavy blow.