Leonid Osipovich Utesov is a legend of the Soviet stage. He is known as a pop artist, singer, reciter, conductor, orchestra leader, conferencier and actor. The artist’s multi-faceted personality and his inimitable manner of performance made him a cult person of the Soviet era. Utesov was on friendly terms with Isaac Babel, Isaac Dunaevsky and Mikhail Zoshchenko.

An interesting fact - after the release of the first Soviet jazz comedy “Vesyolye Rebyata” (which means "jolly fellows") in 1934, where Leonid Osipovich starred with the musicians of his orchestra and aspiring film actress Lyubov Orlova, Charlie Chaplin himself, a comedy master, wrote: “Before “Vesyolye Rebyata” Americans knew Dostoevsky’s Russia. Now they have seen big changes in the psychology of people. People are laughing. This is a thumping victory. It agitates more than proof by shooting and speeches. ”

Utesov became a truly cult person in the history of Soviet art. After the death of the singer on March 9, 1982, a huge archive of photos, letters, notes, books and personal belongings remained. Museum-apartment of Leonid Utesov is located in Odessa in the house where he spent his childhood and youth.

To commemorate the 125^th birth anniversary of Leonid Osipovich Utesov, we have prepared a selection of songs that he performed. Digitized from the records from the museum Collection musical library on Audio-Technica vinyl player.

Biography of Leonid Utesov is in the section "Authors”.