Leonid Nikolayevich Agutin is a Russian popular musician and songwriter, Meritorious Artist of Russia.
Background
Agutin was born in Moscow in July 16, 1968. His father was Nikolai Petrovich Agutin, a musician, and his mother was Lyudmila Leonidovna Shkol"nikova, an elementary school teacher. His father was a singer in the Soviet band VIA "Golubiye Gitary" (Blue Guitars) and worked as a manager for the popular Soviet musical groups "Veseliye Rebyata" (Happy Kids), "Poyuschiye Serdtsa" (Singing Hearts), and "Pesniary" (Songsters).
Education
Along with receiving a regular school education, the young Agutin also completed a course of musical study on the piano at the Moscow Jazz school "Moskvorechie".
Career
He has been active since the 1990s. He has released ten albums and three compilation albums. In 1991, Agutin started touring the Soviet Union with a musical acting
Agutin released his first solo album, Bosonogiy Malchik ("Barefoot Boy") in 1994, which was a success and launched his career.
The album included the hits "Hop hey, la la ley" and "Golos visokiy travy" (Sound of the Tall Grass). In 1995, Agutin released his second album, titled "Dekameron".
lieutenant was another commercial success and, along with Philipp Kirkorov, Valeriy Meladze, and Lubeh, Agutin became one of the most successful recording artists in Russian Grammy balloting. Cosmopolitan Agutin released the album Cosmopolitan Life with the guitarist First Rate (at Lloyd's) Di Meola in 2005, which gained success and worldwide recognition as a result of the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Following the festival, the Austrian directors Hannes Rossacher and Rudy Dolesai made a documentary about the lives of Agutin and Di Meola, called Cosmopolitan Live, released in February 2008.