Mikhail Shufutinsky

Shufutinsky was born on 13 April 1948 in Moscow. His father was Zakhar Davidovich Shufutinski, a Jewish Second World War doctor and veteran. When he was five years old, his mother died and he was then raised by his grandmother, Berta Davidovna, and his grandfather, David Yakovlevich.

Majoring in the accordion, Shufutinsky graduated from the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Musical Pedagogical Institute with a specialization in the choral Coryphaeus style.

He appeared with different bands in Moscow and Magadan, performing songs by Alexander Vertinsky and Pyotr Leshchenko, and later became leader of the instrumental band "Leisya, Pesnia", which usually played songs by Vyacheslav Dobrynin.

At some point, Mikhail visited Los Angeles for a concert and immediately fell in love with the city. This was during the boom of the Russian restaurant business in Los Angeles. As a famous singer and musician, Shufutinsky was offered a job in the Arbat restaurant in Burbank, California. Shufutinsky had surprising success as an immigrant performer despite American expectations against Russians.

In 1981, Shufutinsky and his family immigrated to the USA. Within 10 years, he had appeared with many bands in different restaurants, and created his own show, "Ataman-band" (named after the restaurant Ataman). Nowadays, he regularly tours in Russia. In 1990, he accepted an invitation to visit Russia and sang concerts in 75 sold-out stadiums.

In 1998, Shufutinsky wrote an autobiography named I vot stoiu ia na puti… ("And so, I'm standing on the path…").

In 2003, Shufutinsky returned to Russia as a permanent resident.

His repertoire contains songs by songwriters Vyacheslav Dobrynin ("Dve svechi" - "Two candles"), Igor Krutoy ("Tretie sentiabria" - "The 3-rd of September"; "Palma de Maiorka" - "The Majorca palm"; "Moskovskoie taksi" - "Moscow taxi"; "Moskva slezam ne verit" - "Moscow doesn’t believe in tears"), Oleg Mityaev ("Nochnoi gost" - "Night guest"), Aleksandr Rozenbaum ("Khreschatik", "Zakhodite k nam na ogoniok" - "Visit our place", "Gop-stop"), Oleg Gazmanov, Igor Zubkov, Vatslav Lisovskii, Olesia Atlanova, Karen Kavaleryan, and many others.[1]

• 1982 — Escape
• 1983 — Ataman
• 1984 — Gulliver
• 1984 — Ataman 2
• 1985 — Amnesty
• 1986 — Ataman 3
• 1987 — White Ciconia bird
• 1988 — No problems
• 1989 — You are my only (together with Suzanne Tepper)
• 1990 — « Moscow nights
• 1991 — My life
• 1992 — Quiet river Don
• 1993 — Kisa, Kisa
• 1994 — Have a good time, my soul
• 1995 — Oh, women
• 1996 — Good evening, gentlemen
• 1998 — Once in America (songs by Igor Krutoi)
• 1999 — For God's sake
• 2001 — I was born in Moscow
• 2002 — Tattoo
• 2003 — Boom-boom
• 2004 — Half-half (together with Irina Allegrova)
• 2005 — Solo
• 2006 — Duets of various years
• 2007 — Moscow-Vladivostok
• 2009 — Brato
• 2010 — ts of various years 2
• 2013 — Love Story
• 2016 — I simply slowly love

• 1997 — Михаил Шуфутинский. «И вот стою я у черты...» (Here I stand at a line) (Thrien publishing — ISBN 5-7961-0013-0)
• 2004 — Михаил Шуфутинский. «Лучшие песни. Тексты и аккорды» (Best songs. Texts and accords) (ISBN 985-13-2098-6)

• 2013 — Honorary title of recognized Russian performer («Заслуженный артист Российской Федерации»), for artistic achievements.
• 1997 — Silver Rubber Shoe Award «Серебряная калоша»

• Shufutinsky's home page
• Biography at Foreign Language School ZNATOK
• Mikhail Shufutinsky discography at Discogs