Sergey Ruchkin can you feel. Sergey Ruchkin
The colorful vocalist entered the project with a song from the cartoon “The Lion King”
The colorful vocalist entered the project with a song from the cartoon “The Lion King”.
The singer was wearing black glasses on air, but this is what he really looks like. Photo: personal archiveA fourth-class mechanic from the Kharkov region, a disabled person of the third group, a father of three children and a semi-finalist of the Ukrainian “Voice” - that’s all him, Sergey Ruchkin. He's 41 and broke into the Russian scene with Elton John's Can You Feel The Love Tonight. He told TV Program magazine about his difficult path to the stage.
— Sergey, what does it feel like to find yourself on the stage of “The Voice”?
- Quite exciting. Although I have experience participating in “The Voice” - I reached the semi-finals of the Ukrainian project. I immediately decided for myself: whoever turns around first, I’ll go to him. It was Grigory Viktorovich Leps. As soon as he pressed the button, I closed my eyes and emotionally sang the song to the end due to the drive and euphoria that overwhelmed me. Then I opened my eyes and was surprised that Dima Bilan and Polina Gagarina also turned to me.
— Do you visit Russia on short visits?
— I was born in the city of Izyum, Kharkov region, but since 1998 I have lived in Moscow. I am a citizen of Russia, I have three children. Our whole family lives here.
— How long have you been making music? Why did you decide to move?
- Quite a long time ago. Although this is not where I started. Back at school, it turned out that I fell on a tree root while chasing and seriously injured my leg. I had 4 complex surgeries on the hip joint, since then I have a third group disability, I limp a little, but it’s not scary. And at the age of 15, I graduated from the 9th grade and wanted to go to study at a vocational school. There were many factories in our town: the Izyum diesel locomotive repair plant, the optical-mechanical plant, which became bankrupt in 1998, and so on. But they didn’t take me anywhere because of my age. I managed to get a job thanks to my grandmother, who worked in a diesel locomotive shop for 45 years. Everyone knew Nina Pavlovna. She came and with tears in her eyes asked the head of the diesel workshop to accept me as an apprentice at the plant. He gave up. In 2.5 years I became a fourth-class rolling stock mechanic. And then I decided to leave - it was 1994. They didn’t want to let me go, they predicted a promotion, but I was fascinated by music.
— Did you sing right in the workshop?
— No, on the way from the factory I passed by the House of Culture. And one day I met my childhood friend Vanya there. At some point, our paths diverged; he was sent to study in Kharkov at a cultural educational school. And so I walk past the cultural center, the windows are open, and someone is drumming on the drums. I go in and look - Vanka! It turns out that he comes over for the holidays to rehearse. We hugged, were happy, and started playing together. I sang “Lilac Evening” by Sergei Chumakov and other hits.
— How did you get to the big stage from Izyum?
— Vanya graduated from a cultural and educational school, we started playing at weddings, farewells to the army, and birthdays. And then he went to Germany for permanent residence with his parents. I was 16 years old and met local professional musicians. I began to grow with them. They played Elton John, George Benson, George Michael, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones and others. Then one of my friends went on vacation to Crimea - to Miskhor. He comes and says: “Guys, we need to go there! We will be the best." And in 1996 we prepare a program, rent a minibus, load the equipment and go there. We work there in the restaurant all season. And in 1997, at one fine moment, “aliens” came to the site. They could be seen from afar - real musicians! Andrey Davidyan (vocalist of the groups “Voluntary Community”, “Victoria”, Sound Cake and quarter-finalist of the show “Voice-2” - Author), Boris Oppenheim (one of the founders of the group “Rock Studio” - Author), Alexander Sado (artist of Lenkom. - Author). We sat down and started listening. That's how we met.
— How did you end up in Moscow?
— In 1998, when the default struck, Andrei Davidyan took me to Moscow. I lived at his house until I got a job in a restaurant. Then he helped me rent an apartment. Since then I have been indebted to him for the rest of my life. Today I perform with my group Ruchkin Band. We play, we try to survive.
— What are children interested in?
— The eldest daughter Polina is 14 years old, she has been studying cello for the fifth year. The age is such that sometimes it gives up. I started getting interested in rowing. She stubbornly wants to become a master of sports. The middle Taisiya is 10 years old. He studies music quite successfully and plays the piano. The youngest son Egor is 5 years old. He says “I want to sing like you.” He is interested in cars and knows all brands. And let my daughters not be offended by me, I dedicated my performance on “The Voice” to him. Season five - and Yegor is five years old! Significant anniversary...
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Friday/21.30, First
Choose the best participant in the show!
While the mentors are spinning in their chairs, go to the website and see who you think deserves to win “The Voice.” After the finale, we will compare the results of our voting with the results of “Voice-5” - I wonder if the results will coincide? Choose the participant you liked more than others and help him (or her) take their rightful place in our hit parade. If you have a lot of favorites, it doesn’t matter - vote for several candidates at once!
At the moment, the top five looks like it’s time for Dima Bilan’s opponents to think twice:
Sergey Ruchkin. Biography
41 year old Sergey Ruchkin came to Moscow from Ukraine. He started studying music at the age of 15, playing the guitar. Sergei's idol is American guitarist and vocalistGeorge Benson. In 2013, Ruchkin participated in the Ukrainian “The Voice” and reached the semi-finals. Now Sergei lives in Moscow and performs with his band “Sergei Ruchkin Band” at various events.
“I worked for 15 years at a plant in the diesel workshop as a rolling stock mechanic. I always thought, why can’t I sing? I now have every opportunity to realize myself. I don’t create illusions, but I really want to change my life,” - Sergei told about himself before performing on the show “The Voice”.
At the blind auditions, former mechanic Sergei Ruchkin performed an Elton John song and made the mentors nervous. Agutin was delighted: “It’s really cool! I would say just like Elton John, only cooler!” Almost all the mentors turned to Sergei Ruchkin, except for Leonid Agutin, who himself did not understand why he did not do this. Sergey joined the team
“He’s probably kidding me,” Dima said doubtfully, listening to another contestant on “The Voice” perform “In The Death Car,” the song that Iggy Pop sang for the movie “Arizona Dream.” Leps looked at his colleagues with visible superiority, apparently possessing some kind of secret knowledge, the rest of the judges - Polina and - sang along. But none of them made any attempt to press the button and turn the chair.
Perhaps it was foreknowledge. The contestant turned out to be a famous TV presenter, and God knows what one of the mentors would do with such a member of their team.
The third episode of the “blind auditions” of the fifth season of the music show “The Voice” can rightfully be called a parade of stars. Gordon was not the only celebrity who decided to try his hand at it together with aspiring artists and persons equivalent to them. However, the TV presenter himself was aware of some ambiguity of his position, and when none of the mentors pressed the button, he admitted that his place was not exactly on the stage, but rather in one of these chairs. It's interesting that he sang well.
She performed the composition “I’m Not There” perfectly - an actress who has been singing in the rock opera “superstar” for many years, performing in other theater performances and acting in films, but none of the judges turned to her.
Dima Bilan admitted that he found out who was singing (perhaps the others also guessed that there was a professional on stage), but did not press the button, because he could not figure out what to do with such a member of the team.
But all the judges turned to her, a member of the “Assorted” group (and, accordingly, one of the finalists of the “People’s Artist” competition).
True, they did this to the last chords of the song “House of Cards” (which at one time they sang, and even) - and the movement of the chairs, which was usual for mentors, touched the performer so much that the finale of the composition came out crumpled. Well, when the singer herself had to choose, she went to Bilan’s team.
But in this episode, by the will of the directors and producers of the show, there were several more performers whose names, although not well-known, made a very good impression on the audience. And for mentors, of course.
Knaus came to the blind auditions eight months pregnant, but her performance of Frank Sinatra’s famous “New York, New York” showed a desire to compete for the main prize - and three of the judges caught this desire, only Bilan hit his table instead of a button. The singer’s condition clearly surprised the mentors, and Agutin even asked how she would participate in the next tour - and indeed, the filming of the battles will take place soon after giving birth.
“We’ll come to an agreement with the child,” Nicole waved her off.
The colorful Cuban William Borges Hidalgo brought the song “La Noche Oscura”, which immediately won the heart of Leonid Agutin - even after finishing the number, he told how he and his friends from Cuba came up with the Spanish version of “Dark Night” from the film “Two Fighters”. Gagarina, by the way, also turned around, but it seems she had no chance of getting this performer.
Four mentors at once were interested in Vladislav Gorbunov’s performance of the composition and “Uptown Funk” - however, Bilan was the very first, and Leps and Gagarina seemed to be in a hurry to see who took the stage. However, the singer ignored them and chose the team of Leonid Agutin.
In general, it is noticeable from this issue that mentors are very careful in choosing those with whom they will have to work in the next stages.
For example, “Road” by “Brigade S” (“Hey, coachman, turn to hell!”), performed by Harutyunyan, did not make the judges turn around for fear that there would be a Russian boy on stage who could do just that - from a broad heart. It turned out that Karen had other performing techniques, but it was already too late. Mikhail Stovbun was not chosen either - he was condemned for choosing a composition (“Happy” by Pharrell Williams), which could not reveal all his vocal capabilities.
No less colorful than the Cuban Hidalgo, Elena Ekimova from Novosibirsk with her performance of the song “7 Seconds” (with which the Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour and the Swede Nene Cherry became famous) attracted Polina Gagarina, but Leps in this case, it seems, hardly turned It was no coincidence that he did not argue when Ekimova chose his colleague.
There was no struggle in the case of 17-year-old Veriko Tukhashvili (she sang “The Same Thing” by the group IOWA), to whom only Bilan turned,
and already an experienced singer who once graduated from the Law Academy, was a senior lieutenant in the penitentiary service, and then graduated from GITIS (she now works at the Mosconcert and collaborates with). Only Leps responded to the voice of Alla, who sang “My first day without you” from Olga Kormukhina’s repertoire.
But at the very end of the issue, Grigory Leps managed to get a singer, whom he called “a good guy” and for whose sake he did not very politely call his colleagues. The 41-year-old sang “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from “The Lion King” very similarly, everyone turned to him except Agutin, and he chose the one who was first.
After the third episode, Leonid Agutin and Dima Bilan each had seven team members, and Gagarina and Leps each had five. Let us remind you that there are still four episodes of “blind auditions” ahead of the fifth season of “The Voice,” and each mentor must recruit 14 musicians.