Vitas

russian

Vitaliy “Vitalik” Vladasovich Grachyov (born 19 February 1981, Daugavpils, Latvian SSR), is a Russian pop singer, composer, actor, and fashion designer. He is most commonly known by his shortened first name, Vitas, or Витас in Russian. His eclectic pop music is often difficult to categorise, incorporating elements of techno, opera, dance, jazz, and folk (baltic) music. One of his trademarks is his extremely high pitched falsetto, which has enchanted his audience and has contributed to his popularity. Because of the operatic use of Vitas’ voice, combined with his dance / folk like music, his style can be characterized as popera or pop opera. Vitas has achieved much notablity through Russian television, and since 2005 his career has advanced into Asian markets. He has signed with entertainment labels such as Universal which distributes his music in Taiwan, and he has toured extensively in China and several other countries. He has performed duets with many other singers including Demis Roussos, Lucio Dalla, and Vitas’ grandfather Arkadiy Davydovich Marantsman (Аркадий Давыдович Маранцман), with whom he sings “Friendship”. Vitas’ soprano voice has been a very controversial issue in Russian media and has been subject of great discussion, abroad and at home. It isn’t a surprise for anyone in Russia that most pop artists not only hardly ever sing live, but also use someone else’s voice (like Milli Vanilli). Obviously, Poudovkin an...