Stadiums of fans, a performance at Eurovision, and a cruel gossip. Where is the Marenych Trio now and who really contributed to their destruction

Most of today's stars can only dream of the incredible popularity of the Marenych Trio. However, for about 20 years, almost nothing has been heard about the group. The creative tandem broke up, and the artists started working independently of each other.

Ukrainian composer Oleksandr Zlotnyk spoke about this in an interview with OBOZ.UA. He also recalled how much the super-popular artists earned, and told how their fate developed after fame.

The band's founder is considered to be Antonina Marenych (before her marriage, Sukhorukova). She is the sister of Svitlana, who was also a member of the band, and the wife of Valerii Marenych, another vocalist of the famous trio. Antonina and Svitlana Sukhorukova are from Kuibyshev, Russia (now Samara). Valerii Marenych was born and raised in Kryvyi Rih. Only Antonina had a higher musical education in the group, and she began her singing career in Yuriy Saulsky's Moscow pop orchestra VIA-66. She began her creative collaboration with Valerii Marenych in 1971. At first, they performed as a duet, and later Svitlana joined them.

Antonina Marenych told the story of the trio's creation on her Facebook page as follows: "The idea to create a musical trio came up in one of the hotel rooms in Novosibirsk, where my husband and I were vacationing. Valerii and I were listening to a music radio program where they were premiering songs and talking about well-known and new artists. A duet of guys came on the radio, and I said: "We need to make a trio because there are no more duos."

The band first appeared on television in 1978 and quickly gained popularity not only in Ukraine but also far beyond its borders. The following year, the Melodiya company announced their first record, and the Ukrtelefilm studio created a TV version of the recordings. In 1979, the Marenychs represented Soviet Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest with the songs "Oh, in a Grove by the Danube" and "Halia Carries Water."

There are several versions of why the band disappeared from the pop scene so quickly. According to one of them, the band members had a dispute with officials of the Ministry of Culture of the Ukrainian SSR. They were invited to perform at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 but had to refuse due to Antonina's illness. Then they were offered to sing to a backing track, and they were outraged because they always sang live on stage. Another reason was given: the artists refused to perform Soviet patriotic songs, and Valerii was fond of Sich Riflemen songs instead.

Meanwhile, the artists had a very influential supporter, the Russian poet and songwriter Robert Rozhdestvensky, who was known to everyone in the USSR. He admired the Marenychs' work, and they were friends. And, according to another version of the trio's disappearance from the pop scene, it was because of Rozhdestvensky.

"I wrote for them (the most famous songs are 'Red Poppies' and 'Silence Around' – Ed.), we toured," says Oleksandr Zlotnyk. "We also worked together on two musical films. For one of them, "Flowers of the Meadow", Robert Rozhdestvensky wrote the poems, and I wrote the music. Robert was a big fan of the Marenychs.

Zlotnyk rejects the version that the authorities began to destroy the Marenychs at Rozhdestvensky's suggestion: "No, it's not true. There was a story that he was offended when they didn't come to Moscow for his anniversary. It was not known until the last moment whether they would come or not. I was already on stage, and suddenly they called me on the phone. And Antonina, Valerii's wife, said: "Sasha, we won't be there, we decided to sing exclusively in Ukrainian." At one time, they sang in different languages-Ukrainian, Spanish, and Russian (Antonina and Svitlana are from a Russian city). They were looking for themselves.

"They started a rumor that they fled the USSR to Canada," explains composer Zlotnyk. "It was done deliberately, and there were conversations at all levels. For example, I have Valerii Marenych at home in Kyiv. I run to the grocery store, pardon me, to get a bottle. I'm walking down Volodymyrska Street, where I lived at the time, and one of the highest-ranking officials comes to meet me: "What's up with your Marenychy? Are they drinking whiskey already?" I reminded him that Marenych was at my house. Is he okay? I said: "What are you talking about?" Even Rozhdestvensky called me: "Sasha, is it true that the Marenychs have left?"

"The rumor was started by their administrator. Valerii fired him for one big mistake, and he publicly promised to "thank" him," adds Zlotnyk, "And for some reason, this rumor spread with incredible speed and force. And those were the days when you couldn't refute it as easily as you can now, through social media or the media. And when they were going to Canada and the United States, not for permanent residence, but for concerts, we had great difficulty getting permission for the four of us to leave. Before we went on tour abroad, I decided that we needed to "run the repertoire". We traveled around the Kyiv region with concerts. There were full houses. But sometimes people would throw me out of the audience: "What, you want Ukrainian bacon? Are you back?"

"And so, returning to Rozhdestvensky, I could have asked him to influence this harassment, because it was obvious that the attitude of 'wetting' these artists was supported by the top, but he was offended by them for the concert that they did not attend. That's why I didn't ask him for help, and he didn't offer it," Zlotnyk says.

The Marenychs were virtually unheard of until 1994 when the trio gave a big concert in Kyiv at the Ukraine Palace. Since then, they have released several CDs of old and new songs. In 2003, Antonina, Svitlana, and Valerii Marenych were awarded the title of People's Artists of Ukraine. At the end of 2004, the artists announced that they were stopping working together.

"Valerii is a solo artist, and Antonina also tried to record songs separately," says Oleksandr Zlotnyk, "I even wrote a song for her. But you see, their unique value was in the group. At one time, the Philharmonic gave them a three-room apartment in one of the best houses in the city. However, it is written on the Internet that they all lived in a one-room apartment, which is a lie. I was in that apartment, in the so-called regional committee house."

"They were really insanely popular, but they were paid a pittance," Zlotnyk continues, "The rate was 19 rubles 50 kopecks per concert. And stadiums were packed with 30 thousand people. Even if a ticket cost a ruble, you can imagine what kind of money it was. In general, artists used to be very profitable touring artists for the state. Sophia Rotaru, Nazarii Yaremchuk, and Vasyl Zinkevich – they were very well attended, and people bought tickets. All philharmonic societies dreamed of their arrival. After all, several concerts of the band at the stadium financially supported the work of the institution for some time. They could pay salaries to their orchestras, which did not earn money for themselves.

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