Viktor Robertovich Tsoi, a Soviet and Russian singer-songwriter, co-founded Kino, a renowned band in Russian music history, on June 21, 1962. Born and raised in Leningrad, Tsoi began writing songs as a teenager and went on to contribute a vast array of musical and artistic works, including ten albums.
Throughout his career, Tsoi's band, Kino, gained immense popularity after appearing in the 1987 Soviet film Assa, which sparked a period known as "Kinomania". This surge in popularity led to Tsoi's leading role in the 1988 Kazakh new wave art film The Needle. In 1990, following a high-profile concert at the Luzhniki Stadium, Tsoi temporarily relocated to Latvia with bandmate Yuri Kasparyan to work on the band's next album. Tragically, Tsoi's life was cut short in a car collision just two months later.
Tsoi is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of Russian rock, credited with popularizing the genre throughout the Soviet Union. He remains a beloved figure in many ex-Soviet countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Lithuania, where he is celebrated as one of the most influential and popular individuals in Russian music history.
