Emin Agalarov

Emin Ağalarov
Emin performing during the Eurovision 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan
Background information
Birth name Emin Araz oglu Agalarov
Born Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR
Origin Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan
Genres Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Years active 2005–present
Labels Saffron Music UK
Website emin-music.com

Emin Araz oghlu Agalarov (Azerbaijani: Emin Araz oğlu Ağalarov, Russian: Эмин Аразович Агаларов, Emin Arazovich Agalarov), is an Azerbaijani-Russian singer and businessman. He writes and performs songs in English and Russian and is widely popular in Azerbaijan and Russia.[1][2]

Early life

Emin Arasovich Agalarov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. He is the son of Azerbaijani-Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov, head of the Crocus Group. Emin's father is Muslim and his mother has Russian and Jewish roots.[3] He considers himself a Muslim.[4] His family moved to Moscow when Emin was four years old. When he was 13, his parents sent him to a school in Switzerland.[5][6] Agalarov moved to Tenafly, New Jersey in 1994 and graduated from Tenafly High School in 1997.[7][5] He graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in New York.

Business career

When he came back to Moscow in 2001, he was named as Commercial Director of Crocus Group. In 2012, he was promoted to Vice President of Crocus Group. Since 2014, he has held the position of Executive Vice President of Crocus Group. As part of his responsibilities, Emin Agalarov oversees the following ventures:

  • The VEGAS chain of retail-entertainment complexes. At present there are two locations – VEGAS Kashirskoe Shosse (480,000 m2) and VEGAS Crocus City complex, also in Moscow Oblast, (285,000 m2) – with a third location, VEGAS Kuntsevo, which opened in 2017.[8]
  • The restaurant portfolio of "Restaurants by Crocus Group", which includes the chain of the legendary Nobu restaurants; the Zafferano franchise, dedicated to modern Azerbaijani cuisine; the Edoko franchise of Japanese of sushi-bars; the Rose Bar franchise; Forte Bello, serving family-style Italian cooking; and Backstage.[9]
  • The Crocus City Mall luxury shopping center.[9]
  • Crocus Fashion Retail, featuring designer boutiques from Sergio Rossi (2), Casadei, Le Silla, Alberto Guardiani, Artioli, Santoni, and Cesare Paciotti, as well as the multi-brand boutique, Crocus Fashion, three Crocus Stok stores, Crocus Atelier Couture, and the luxury watch-maker UBOAT.[9]
  • Crocus City Hall concert venue.[9]
  • Vegas City Hall, a concert venue slated to open in VEGAS Crocus City in 2016.[9]
  • Sea Breeze Resort (Nardaran, Azerbaijan).[9]

Music career

Agalarov's interest in music began in high school whilst in the United States. After graduating from high school, he returned to Russia, where he continued to write songs. In 2005 he began working with his vocal and music teacher, the Azerbaijani singer Muslim Magomayev, to whom he pays tribute in his concerts.

In 2006 Emin gained attention for his debut studio album Still which in the first six months sold 70,000 copies in Russia and an additional 30,000 copies in CIS countries.

He then released an album per year: Incredible in 2007, Obsession (a set of classic Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley songs) in 2008;[10] and in 2009, Devotion. Each of these albums was supported by concerts in Moscow and Baku.

In 2010 he relocated to London, to work with producer Brian Rawling and to focus on the UK music market. Emin's album Wonder was released in Russia and CIS in November 2010 and in the UK on 21 March 2011. The song "Heart Keeps Beating" was the first single in Russia from his second album After the Thunder and received good radio airplay on Russian Radio in 2012.

Emin's first single from his 2012 album After The Thunder was the song "Baby Get Higher" written by David Sneddon, Graham Stack, Mark Read and was added to the BBC Radio 2 A-List in April 2012.

On May 26, 2012, Emin was the local interval act during intermission on the Eurovision Song Contest that was held in his hometown of Baku. During the break, Emin performed "Never Enough", a track taken from the album After the Thunder.[11]

Agalarov was the opening act for Jennifer Lopez's September 23, 2012, concert in Baku.[12][13]

On November 9, 2013, Emin performed at Miss Universe 2013 held in Moscow in the evening gown competition section.

Agalarov performed "In Another Life" in a music video with Donald Trump and Miss Universe 2013 contestants.[14][15] Contestants were required to appear in the video without pay.[16]

In May 2014, Emin won the award for Best-selling Azerbaijan Artist at the 2014 World Music Awards.[17] In 2016, Emin Agalarov became the organizer and producer of Zhara (ЖАРА) Music Festival that will be hosted annually at Sea Breeze, in his hometown Baku.

Ties to Donald Trump

In January 2013, Agalarov and his father visited Las Vegas, Nevada, after Donald Trump, the beauty pageant's owner, announced at Miss Universe 2013 that the next competition would be hosted at Crocus City Hall, owned by Emin's father Aras, in Moscow.[16]

In November 2013, Agalarov's father hosted Miss Universe 2013 at his Crocus City Hall in Moscow.[16] Agalarov performed during the evening gown competition section. He also made a music video with Trump and the contestants.[14][15] Contestants were required to appear in the video without pay.[16] Agalarov reportedly "offered to send prostitutes to Trump's hotel room" during Trump's trip to Moscow, "but the repeated offers were rejected by Keith Schiller, Trump's longtime bodyguard."[18]

Herman Gref, who runs Sberbank of Russia, Agalarov and his father hosted a dinner for Trump on the night of the pageant.[16] While in Moscow, Phil Ruffin, who is a partner in Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, and Trump met with Agalarov and his father at the Ritz-Carlton.[16]

Agalarov and his publicist, Rob Goldstone, helped arrange the June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, and Ike Kaveladze.[19] Goldstone wrote in an email later published by Trump Jr. that the Russian government wanted to leak damaging information on Hillary Clinton to the Trump campaign.[20][21]

Personal life

Emin Agalarov is the son of Aras Agalarov, an Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire,[22] and was married to Leyla Aliyeva, the daughter of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.[23] The couple have twin sons, Ali and Mikail and a daughter Amina. They divorced in May 2015. On 14th July 2018 Agalarov married for the second time. His chosen partner was the former model and currently a businesswoman Alyona Gavrilova (born in 1987), with whom he was dating since 2016.

Discography

Albums

Year Title Notes
2006 Still
2007 Incredible
2008 Obsession
2009 Devotion
2010 Wonder
2012 After the Thunder
2013 На краю
(Russian-language album)
2014 Amor
2015 The Falling 8
2016 Love is a Deadly Game

Singles

  • 2011: "Any Time You Fall"
  • 2012: "Heart Keeps Beating"
  • 2012: "Baby Get Higher"
  • 2012: "Never Enough"
  • 2012: "Walk Through Walls"
  • 2013: "Amor" / "In Another Life"
  • 2014: "Смотришь в небо" (with Loboda)
  • 2015: "Boomerang"

DVDs

  • 2012: After the Thunder

Filmography

YearFilmRoleNotes
2013Love in Big City 3Himself

References

  1. ↑ Quinn, Gerry (21 April 2015). "Musician Emin is definitely not just in it for the money". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  2. ↑ Bilger, Oliver (13 September 2015). "Dieser Oligarchensohn will Europa mit Musik erobern" [Son of oligarch wants to conquer Europe with music]. Welt.de. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Yaffe, Simon. "Rob Prepares Star Emin for International Fame and Glory". Jewish Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  4. ↑ Boyd, Brian (22 March 2015). "Not Eminem. Just Emin". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Trust - Translation of interview the Agalarovs gave to Forbes by Crocus Group". Crocus Group. March 27, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  6. ↑ "April 2013 cover of Russian-language issue of Forbes Life". baku.ws. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  7. ↑ Cowen, Richard; Shkolnikova, Svetlana (July 13, 2017). "Russian pop star tied to Trump has Tenafly roots". The Record. Retrieved February 28, 2018. Russian pop star Emin Agalarov wore black leather, drove a souped-up moped and wanted to be the next Elvis Presley, having spent his teenage years living large and dreaming big on the streets of his adopted hometown, Tenafly. Twenty years after graduating from Tenafly High School, the Russian crooner this week hit it really big.... Emin Agalarov as a senior in Tenafly High School's 1997 yearbook.
  8. ↑ "Crocus Group Opens Vegas Kuntsevo Shopping Mall". Property Xpress. 22 Sep 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Emin Arasovich Agalarov, biography". Crocus Group.
  10. ↑ "Emin Agalarov: Singing Commercial Director". Luxe Magazine. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  11. ↑ Adams, William Lee (19 August 2012). "Album Review: Emin's "After the Thunder"". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "Jennifer Lopez gave concert in Baku (PHOTO)". Gulustan. 24 September 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  13. ↑ Warrick, Joby (14 October 2012). "Tiny Azerbaijan unleashes pop-power against Iran's mullahs". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  14. 1 2 EMIN in Another Life Official Music Video ft. Donald Trump and Miss Universe 2013 Contestants on YouTube
  15. 1 2 Crowley, Michael (15 May 2016). "When Donald Trump brought Miss Universe to Moscow; How a 2013 beauty pageant explains Trump's love for Russia and obsession with Vladimir Putin". Politico. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Twohey, Megan; Eder, Steve (11 July 2017). "How a Pageant Led to a Trump Son's Meeting With a Russian Lawyer". The New York Times. p. A16. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  17. ↑ "World Music Awards 2014 Winners List". Twice as Nice. 30 May 2014. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  18. ↑ "Unlikely Middlemen: Trump Jr. Emails Point to Father-Son Duo". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  19. ↑ Brown, Pamela (July 19, 2017). "8th person at Trump Tower meeting identified". CNN.
  20. ↑ Helderman, Rosalind S.; Wagner, John (11 July 2017). "Donald Trump Jr. was told campaign meeting would be with 'Russian government attorney,' according to emails". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  21. ↑ Birnbaum, Michael (11 July 2017). "Trump's Russian business partner had said his election would be 'an amazing breakthrough'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  22. ↑ Smith, Neil (1 March 2011). "Emin: a singer with connections". BBC News. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  23. ↑ Harris, Paul (10 March 2011). "Leyla, the champagne connection". iol.co.za. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
Preceded by
Jan Delay		 Eurovision Song Contest
Final Interval act
2012		 Succeeded by
Loreen
Sarah Dawn Finer
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.