People’s Artist of Russia and Bulgaria Bedros Kirkorov was born on June 2, 1932 in Varna, Bulgaria. His parents were poor immigrants from Armenia. When Bedros was born, he took the surname of his father, Philip Krikorian, who worked as a shoemaker. According to family legend, the children had to change their surname to Bulgarian before starting school. Thus Bedros became his sister Marie and brother Harry Kirkorov.
With the advent of communist power, every enterprise had to create an artistic community. in an interview kp.ru Bedros said that his mother and father sang in the city choir.
“I also went to rehearsals with my mother. There was a dance group, I loved to dance. But there was no place in the dance group, so I had to go to sing with my family in the choir,” Kirkorov recalled.
In the choir, the artist was nicknamed “Pipe”, as he had a loud voice and stood out from the crowd. According to Bedros, the conductor often asked him to sing softer. Despite his interest in creativity, Kirkorov, following the example of his father, graduated from a secondary vocational school in a shoemaker’s shop and worked as a shoemaker. There was no musical education at that time.
“I went to a music school for a month, after which I was accepted to the Varna Opera without a musical education. I was accepted into the group of trainee artists. I learned Alfred’s aria from the Italian opera La Traviata with a teacher, and when it was going to premiere, I was drafted into the army, ”Kirkorov shared.
The artist noted that her mother, who works as a tailor, was against her staying at the Opera.
“When I was accepted into the opera, my mother wouldn’t let me go there. In fact, another intern, an Armenian, came to us and asked him: “Do you want a shoemaker from him? Yes, he has a voice! But my mother disagreed, she said that there are immoral women and that my will is weak. And my father did not have a voice at home – my mother was in command, ”the mother said.
When Kirkorov came of military age, he was first sent to serve on the border, and then transferred to a military ensemble. In 1955, an artist and a choir of workers’ unions participated in the international youth festival in Warsaw. According to Kirkorov, for the performance they learned an Armenian song called “Drinking”, written by composer Aram Khachaturian. There were only two Armenians in the 100-member choir, and the conductor wanted the others to learn the song without knowing the language.
“When they came to Warsaw to sing, Aram Ilyich Khachaturyan was on the jury. He sees 100 people from Bulgaria and they are all men. We were all tall, beautiful, good. But I knew Armenian, so when I decided to meet with the choir representative, I went. Surprised: “Listen, there are a lot of Armenians.” Kirkorov replied, “Aram Ilyich, there are only 2 Armenians, we taught them all, they are all Bulgarians”.
A few years later, the artist met Khachaturian, who advised the Bulgarian Minister of Culture to send him to Yerevan to study music. According to Kirkorov, the composer volunteered to cover all the expenses of his trip. However, the minister did not comply with this request.
A year later, Kirkorov met composer Arno Babajanyan, with whom he immediately entered GITIS for the second year. The famous opera director Boris Pokrovsky became his teacher.
“They took me, and at that time I did not even know Russian well. “Everything is fine with you, but one thing is bad: you do not speak Russian,” said Pokrovsky. If you do not learn Russian, I will throw you after the first semester, ”the artist shared.
In parallel with his studies, Bedros collaborated with Mosconcert and toured the USSR with orchestras led by Yuri Silantiev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Eddie Rozner and Leonid Utesov. In 1964, Kirkorov married Victoria Likhacheva, and in 1967 their son Philip was born. When the artist needed work, Utesov took him to his troupe, which also performed in front of milkmaids, tractor station workers, and other work crews.
“The manager says: “One concert is at 4:30, the second is at 5:30. Can we do it or not?” I say, “We’ll have time, if anything happens, they’ll wait.” Untie it.” And he says: “Bedros, the milkmaids have to go and sing.” We got up, changed our clothes and left. We were late, the concert will be 30 minutes, not 40 minutes. These were concerts, “he said.
Later, Utyosov supplemented Kirkorov’s repertoire with songs about Bulgarian-Soviet friendship, and the artist’s concert program “Moscow – Sofia, Sofia – Moscow” became his hallmark. The musician sang in Russian, Bulgarian, Armenian, Georgian and Italian. She sang the song “My Bulgaria” in a duet with Iosif Kobzon and “Alyosha” with her son, dedicated to the monument to the Soviet soldier in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The list of selected works of Kirkorov also includes the songs “Back”, “Grenada”, “Irena”, “The currant bush is not for me a symbol of the Motherland”, “Old tango”, “Suliko”, “I”. I love you Russia!”, “Song about dad” and others.
The singer often performed at charity concerts in front of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, raising funds for monuments to heroes. In addition, more than 30 years ago, Kirkorov began to participate in festivals and help talented children achieve self-realization.
In 1994, Kirkorov’s wife died of cancer, and three years later he married an institute teacher, Lyudmila Smirnova. In 2002 they had a daughter who lived only two weeks. It is known that the girl died due to the fault of the medical staff. In 2015, it began to circulate on the network that Kirkorov moved away from his wife and they lived in different cities.
Kirkorov continues to appear on stage, despite his advancing age. In 2020, he performed at the “Songs of the Great Victory” concert, and in 2021 he took part in the “Mask” music show with the Sultan’s heavyweight team. The permanent member of the jury of the project is Philip Kirkorov, who did not expect to see his father under one of the masks.
“My dear Sultan! I still can’t get over my pleasant shock. Believe it or not, I really didn’t know what Bedros was under the mask. This is a fact. My father! Just a hero! I’m proud and adored! — Wrote Kirkorov Jr. on social networks.
– Who would believe that Bedros will turn 89 in the summer. Performing on stage in an airless mask is very stylish – it’s a school! Here’s the talent! Here is the level! Pleasure! Still under the wild impression. You are my idol!”
The artist, who had a hard time with the coronavirus in the fall of 2020, became infected again in the spring of 2022. According to Philip, now the artist feels good.
“But we got him out of critical condition twice. At the beginning of the year there were problems with the heart. Now COVID is unfortunate – he has found it. Both times – because of his violent activity. He is a very active, cheerful person, “he said.
After treatment, Kirkorov recovered, and on April 30 he was able to attend the anniversary concert of his son.