Yuri Shevchuk

Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk (Russian: Ю́рий Юлиа́нович Шевчу́к; born 16 May 1957, Yagodnoye, Magadan Oblast) is a Soviet and Russian rock musician and singer/songwriter who leads the rock band DDT, which he founded with Vladimir Sigachev in 1980. Shevchuk was born in Yagodnoye in Magadan Oblast and raised in Ufa, Bashkir ASSR, though he now resides in St. Petersburg, Russia. Shevchuk was an art teacher before founding DDT. He is best known for his distinctive gravelly voice. His lyrics detail aspects of Russian life with a wry, humanistic sense of humor. He is also very famous for openly opposing pop music. He is often accredited with being the greatest songwriter in present-day Russia.

In January 1995, during First Chechen War, Shevchuk went on a peace mission to Chechnya, where he performed 50 concerts for both Russian troops and Chechen citizens alike.

In 1999 Shevchuk visited Yugoslavia with concerts in protection of its integrity, sharply criticized USA for bombing of the sovereign state and shot some reports about destroyed Orthodox churches in the Serbian region of Kosovo for UNESCO.

In 2000's Shevchuk was highly critical of what he considered the undemocratic nature of Vladimir Putin's Russia (see: Putinism). On 3 March 2008 he participated in a Dissenters March in Saint Petersburg against the president elections where no real opposition candidates were allowed to run. One of his controversial songs, "Kogda zakonchitsya neft", has the lyrics "When the oil runs dry, our president will die".

On 24 and 26 September 2008 he organized two peace concerts in Moscow and Saint Petersburg as a protest to the Russian-Georgian war. The name of the concert "Don't Shoot" was taken from his song "Ne Strelyai" that he had written in 1980 as a response to the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Together with his band DDT he performed with both Ossetian and Georgian musicians as well as the Ukrainian band Bratya Karamazovy that he called peacekeepers. Parts of the profits from the concerts were given to those who had suffered from the war, both Ossetians and Georgians.

On 25 August 2010 Shevchuk performed the Bob Dylan song "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" together with U2 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the band's first ever concert in Russia.

On 4 January 2011, Shevchuk was featured on the U.S. NPR Morning Edition radio program.

On 18 June 2014, during a concert at Green Theatre (Moscow), Yury Shevchuk declared that all revenue from a concert will be contributed to "Dr. Lisa" fund as a help for injured citizens of Donbass.

Solo discography (without DDT)