Andrey Viktorovich Kuzmenko (pseudonym – Kuzma Scriabin) – Ukrainian singer, composer, poet, writer, TV presenter, producer, actor, leader of the Scriabin group.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on August 17, 1968 in the city of Sambir, Lviv region. The mother of the future singer worked as a music teacher, and his father served as an engineer at chemical industry enterprises.
Later, the family moved to Novoyavorivsk, where Kuzmenko was educated at a secondary school with in-depth study of the English language.
As a child, he did not plan to connect his life with music, dreaming of becoming a garbage truck driver. However, when he was 14 years old, Kuzmenko became interested in The Exploited and discovered punk music.
Later, although not on the first attempt, he managed to enter the Lviv Medical Institute, where he was educated as a dentist. As the singer himself noted, he never liked this profession and he completed his studies only out of respect for the will of his parents.
Creative career
“Chain reaction”
The beginning of Kuzmenko’s musical career was the founding of the Chain Reaction group. Together with like-minded people, he performed on the stage of the assembly hall of the school where he studied.
“Scriabin”
In 1989, in the city of Novoyavorivsk, Lviv region, the band “Scriabin” was founded. The team at that time included:
- Kuzmenko;
- Rostyslav Domishevsky;
- Serhiy Gera;
- Ihor Yatsyshyn;
- Alexander Scriabin.
The “starting point” for the band was the decision to write the track Feel the Pain, as well as its Ukrainian-language version called “Hear the Pain”.
The period of difficulties for Scriabin, when the team was on the verge of collapse, ended around mid-1994. In the fall of the same year, the musicians recorded the album “Birds” in seven nights, which eventually gained popularity throughout the country. Over the next year, Scriabin performed at festivals, participated in various events and regularly gave concerts.
On January 1, 1996, Scriabin signed a contract with the Nova studio. After that, the album “Fairy Tales” was released, as well as the video “Train”, which topped the chart “Territory A”. Already in May, the band won the “Territory – Dance” competition. At the Tavrian Games, the group received the title of “Best Pop Band of the Year”. At this time, Scriabin also shot a video for the song “That Unfortunate World”, which immediately hit the chart of “Territory A”.
In the summer of the same year, the group accompanied Iryna Bilyk during her concert tour, acting as “warm-ups”.
On July 5, 1997, Scriabin received the title of “Most Popular Alternative Band of the Year” and was awarded the Firebird Pen at one of the festivals.
In January of the same year, Kuzma, under the pseudonym DJ Smith, hosted the radio program “CD ROM” on the waves of “Supernova”, where he put music from records. In the fall, when Kuzma became interested in the New Romantic style again, he launches his own television program called “The Cage”.
On December 14, 1997, the concert “Song of the Year” took place in Kyiv, during which “Scriabin” won in the category “Best Alternative Band of the Year”.
In July 1998, the band’s new album “Penguin Dance” appeared. And already in August, “Scriabin” again performs at the “Tavrian Games”, where it is nominated in 7 categories at once.
In the following years, the Scriabin group continued to work actively and released a number of new albums, including “Fashionable Country”, “Striptease”, “Winter People” and “Kozzzak Disco”.
Updated Scriabin line-up
During the Orange Revolution of 2004, the band members supported various political forces, which caused a split in the team, after which the old line-up actually ceased to exist.
With the updated line-up, Kuzma began a new stage, changing the musical direction – instead of electronic sound, the group began to focus on pop-rock, leaving electronics only as an insignificant element in songs.
On April 14, 2005, the album “Tango” was released, and on September 14, 2006 – the album “Glamour”.
In 2006, Kuzmenko declared himself as a writer by publishing the autobiographical book “I, Pobeda and Berlin”.
On July 27, 2007, the band “Scriabin” presented “Scriabinos Muchachos”, which included Latin American versions of the most famous hits. And on November 22 of the same year, another album “About Love?” was released.
In December 2009, a new album “My Evolution” appeared. Before him, videos were shot for the songs “Warm Winter”, “Abandoned”, “Graduation”, “Let Me Go” and “Quints”.
In April 2012, the band released the album “Radio Love”, which included 10 tracks. Separately, a special limited version of the album was released with an additional 7 bonus tracks. At the same time, clips for the songs “Talked and Smoked”, “Places of Happy People” and “Mothers” were presented.
During the same period, Kuzma’s solo project called “Evil Rapper Zenyk” was released.
On July 5, 2013, at the Green Theater in Kyiv, Scriabin presented his new album called “Dobryak”, and in the spring of 2014, an all-Ukrainian tour in support of the album “25” began.
On February 1, 2015, the band performed in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region. The concert was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the founding of the group.
Death
On the morning of February 2, 2015, Kuzmenko left Kryvyi Rih for Kyiv. That day, he planned to fly abroad, so he hurried to the airport. The road was slippery due to rain and frost.
At about 7:00 a.m. on the 86th kilometer of the Kirovograd – Kryvyi Rih – Zaporizhzhia highway, near the turn near the village of Lozuvatka, Dnipropetrovsk region, his car collided with a GAZ-53 milk truck. Despite the airbag, the singer died on the spot as a result of serious injuries.
He was buried in Lviv at the Briukhovets cemetery.
Marital Status
Kuzmenko’s wife since 1994 was Svitlana Ivanovna Babiychuk. In 1997, the couple had a daughter, Barbara.
