Yuri Shevchuk

Songwriter, singer, artist, the DDT band leader. Yuri Shevchuk and the Russian rock group «DDT» have been leaders in the Russian rock movement for many years.

Born on May 16, 1957, Yuri and his family moved to Bashkiria’s capital Ufa in 1970. Here, he became keen on painting and music, building his own guitar at night. A member of the school band, he was noted for his unusually strong voice.

Leaving school in 1975, he entered the Arts Faculty of the Ufa Pedagogical Institute, becoming prominent among his fellow students and actively participating in the student’s drama studio.

Shevchuk began to put together the first incarnation of the band in the summer of 1980, and although its members have changed over the years, Shevchuk continues to voice the concerns and frustrations of the Russian people in his music today just as he did in the band’s infancy. The more than 20 albums in DDT’s discography not only chronicle the history of a rock group; they are narratives that examine all aspects of life in the Soviet Union and Russia over the past 25 years.

DDT was organized and gave its first concerts in Shevchuk’s native city of Ufa in the Ural Mountains in 1980. They received their first public recognition when they were given the «Golden Pitchpipe» prize for their song «Ne Strelyai» (Don’t Shoot) in 1982 by a local newspaper. Unfortunately, this also brought them to the attention of the Soviet authorities and KGB, and their music was banned, forcing them to go underground. In some ways this made them even more popular among young Soviets; in 1983 they played at the «Rock of the World» music festival at the huge «Luzhniki» stadium in Moscow, only to be edited out of the television broadcast because of their «illegal» status.

Following the release of «Periphery» (1984) and escaping persecutions of the local authorities Yuri Shevchuk had to leave Ufa and move to Cherepovets, Sverdlovsk and Moscow.

In 1985, Shevchuk and family moved to Leningrad rebuilding DDT with new musicians. As many other representatives of his generation, Yuri was employed as a floor sweeper, boiler unit operator and night watch, continuing to write songs.

Yuri Shevchuk and his musicians performed successfully at headliners at several Leningrad Rock Festivals and started their first tour in 1988 which covered the whole of the country from Byelorussia to the Far East.

DDT’s life performance in St. Petersburg’s Palace Square in 1994 gathered a record number of viewers   over 100,000. In the same year, the band participated in the «White Nights of St. Petersburg» festival held in Berlin, and received the «Ovation» Prize as the «Best Rock Group of the Year», and Yuri Shevchuk was awarded the «Best Rock Singer of the Year» title. Although they never considered themselves political activists, Shevchuk always felt it his duty as a citizen and a songwriter to address not only the strengths but the weaknesses of his country’s government, a stance none too popular in the USSR. Over the next ten years DDT continued to work as a «non-conformist» group, producing albums and giving concerts throughout the Soviet Union. This was no easy feat, as they received little if any money for the records they produced during this period, and very little for their concerts as well. Like other dissident artists, they survived through a combination of cleverness, perseverance, and wit. Their

relocation to the city of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1985 also helped them to establish themselves at the forefront of the Russian rock scene. They made their first visit to the U.S. in 1988, when their concert in Los Angeles was covered by MTV. After the USSR’s collapse in 1991, DDT became even more

popular at home and abroad, as their albums and concerts began to be broadcast and publicized widely.

Today, DDT is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) rock groups in Russia, and their concerts attract tens of thousands of people. Shevchuk and his group also regularly travel throughout the CIS and other former Soviet republics to give benefit concerts: in the spring and summer of 2002, 10 out of 11 concerts that the band played were benefits for various social and cultural organizations. They are also reaching an ever-growing audience in the U.S. and Europe, and for the past 15 years have travelled frequently throughout the world making ever more converts to their unique sound.

Shevchuk’s music and lyrics are not only influenced by traditional «western» rock music, but also by the entire scope of Russian folk, classical, and religious music. In many respects their years as an underground group shaped their philosophy towards their art. The question of their music’s marketability was never part of the song writing process for there was no «market» in which to compete. This, their extraordinary talent, and their adherence to their cultural roots have made them a rare commodity in today’s popular music scene. Today they continue to maintain their musical integrity in the face of ever-growing pressure to conform to the pop music that pervades the Russian airwaves. They are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary with an extended tour throughout their native country, Europe, and North America, and have released a new CD entitled «Vanished Without a Trace» to huge critical acclaim.

DDT toured widely in the 1990s successfully performing in Hungary, France, Japan, the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia and Canada and recording their new album called «Love» in the USA in 1996.

The «Russian Poetry Foundation» Publishers printed Yuri Shevchuk’s first collection of poems in 1999, the book bearing the title «Troy’s Defenders». Yuri Shevchuk is a laureate of several prizes in the field of arts, poetry and rock culture.

The years 2000-2004 saw DDT touring Russia, including performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the CIS countries (Byelorussia, Georgia, the Ukraine) and the rest of the world (Canada, the USA, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, the UK).

On several occasions, Yuri Shevchuk performed in hot spots and armed conflict areas   Chechnya, Tadzhikistan (1996), Kosovo (1999, 2000) and Afghanistan (2002).

Yuri Shevchuk starred in several films and composed songs for movie soundtracks.

DDT actively participates in charity events and concerts. Yuri Shevchuk was decorated with the Medal of the Emergency Situations Ministry of Russia («To Participant in Emergency Humanitarian Operations») and with the «Silver Cross» Badge of Distinction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.