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Klavdiya Shulzhenko in the 1930s.

Stamp of Russia devoted to Klavdiya Shulzhenko, 1999, 2 rub. (Michel 758, Scott 6544)

Klavdiya Ivanovna Shulzhenko (Russian: Клавдия Ивановна Шульженко; 24 March [O.S. March 12] 1906, Kharkov — June 17, 1984, Moscow) was a popular female singer of the Soviet Union.

Professional biography

Shulzhenko started singing with jazz and pop bands in the late 1920s. She rose to fame in the late 1930s with her version of Sebastian Yradier's La Paloma. In 1939, she was awarded at the first all-Soviet competition of pop singers.

During World War II, Shulzhenko performed about a thousand concerts for Soviet soldiers in besieged Leningrad and elsewhere. The lyrics of one of her prewar songs, The Blue Headscarf, were adapted so as to suit wartime realities. Another iconic song of the Great Patriotic War, Let's Smoke, was later used by Vladimir Menshov in his Oscar-winning movie Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears.

On April 10, 1976 Shulzhenko performed to enraptured audience in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in what would become her most famous concert.

Awards

• In 1945, Shulzhenko was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
• She, as traditional classical singer, was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1971.

External links

• Klavdiya Shulzhenko on YouTube