Sergey Mazaev

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Biography of Sergei Mazaev

Sergey Mazaev is a Soviet and Russian singer, musician and songwriter, leader of the popular rock band “Moral Code”, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (2010), author of the hits “Goodbye, Mom!”, “First Snow”. In his musical group, Mazaev plays the saxophone, guitar, flute and trumpet. Also, the artist has repeatedly acted in films (most often he played a cameo).

Singer Sergey Mazaev


Childhood

Sergey Mazaev was born in Moscow on December 7, 1959. He could become an economist or an actor, but from childhood he always loved only one thing – music.

Very often the boys called me to play football, but my heart belonged only to music.

From the age of 11, Serezha began to study vocals and wind instruments – clarinet and saxophone.

After graduating from the Physics and Mathematics School, Mazaev entered the Ippolitov-Ivanov Music College, where he studied clarinet, and then continued his studies at the Gnessin Institute. During his studies, Mazaev managed to master such wind instruments as clarinet, saxophone, trombone and even a horn.

Sergey Mazaev in his youth


After that, Sergey served in the army, where he was lucky enough to get into a musical company and perform with the VIA named after. Zhukovsky. He also managed to perform three times on Red Square as part of a military orchestra. Upon returning home, on the advice of his parents, he entered the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. At first, Sergey tried with all his might to master a promising profession, but soon he nevertheless decided to leave his unloved occupation and devote himself to music forever.

Musical career

For the first time, Mazaev loudly declared himself when he appeared as the saxophonist of the Astoria restaurant in Stanislav Govorukhin’s legendary film The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed in 1979. At the same time, the musician began to collaborate with well-known groups, among which were Autograph, Ball Lightning and Musical Semester.

Sergei Mazaev in the film “The meeting place cannot be changed”


The search for his team ended in 1989, when Sergey met the members of the Diamond Hand group recently created by Pavel Zhagun. Soon Mazaev proposed to rename the team, and they became known as the “Moral Code”. The musicians’ views on creativity coincided – they decided to combine jazz, punk and funk in their songs, seasoning it all with witty lyrics.

The very next year, in the program “Morning Mail”, the group’s debut video entitled “I Love You” premiered, which became one of the first music videos in the USSR in principle. At the end of 1990, Fyodor Bondarchuk shot a video for musicians for the song “Goodbye, Mom!”, Which instantly became popular.

Moral code and Sergey Mazaev – Goodbye, mom

In 1991, the “Moral Code” released its debut album entitled “Concussion” and took part in the combined concert “Against AIDS” in the “Olympic”. The following year, the band toured Europe and recorded songs in English and Russian. In 1995, the musicians took part in the Maksidrome rock festival, and Sergei Mazaev was remembered by viewers for his roles in the musical films Old Songs about the Main.

In the following years, the group released the albums “Flexible Stan” (1996) and “I Choose You” (1997), which were loved by fans of creativity. Kristina Orbakaite starred in the video for the song “Night Caprice”, with whom Mazaev later collaborated more than once.

Sergey Mazaev and the group “Moral Code”


In the following years, Sergei, in addition to working in a group, also continued to act in television and film productions: in 1997 he played the cat Basilio in the film “The Newest Adventures of Pinocchio”, and in 2002 – the main role in the comedy “Kopeyka” directed by Ivan Dykhovichny screenplay by Vladimir Sorokin. In 2003, the musicians of the “Moral Code” released a collection of their best songs “The Best”. In the same year, with the Disco Crash group, they released a joint composition, which quickly became a hit – the single “Sky”.

Sergey Mazaev in the movie “Penny”


In 2005, Sergey Mazaev opened his own production center – “Mazai Communications” – and continued to work on music for the “Moral Code” team. Without leaving the group, in 2009 he released his debut solo album entitled “Favorites”. In this disc, the musician did not betray himself and recorded high-quality songs in a jazz style, including both his works and covers of jazz classics and popular songs of Russian pop music. Sergey Mazaev worked on the album for 10 years, and his efforts were not in vain – millions of fans liked the new compositions. In December of the same year, the singer celebrated his 50th birthday on the stage of the Moscow Operetta Theater, where Garik Sukachev, Valery Syutkin and Zhanna Friske congratulated him with their performances. In 2011, Mazaev received the honorary title of “Honored Artist of the Russian Federation” and founded a pop orchestra, bringing together 19 young and promising musicians. The orchestra experiments with performance styles, playing both classical and modern jazz instrumental compositions. Sergey himself is the constant soloist of the band.

Moral code and Sergey Mazaev – Where are you?

A real joy for music lovers was the appearance of Sergey Mazaev’s string quintet in 2013. In addition to Sergei himself, who plays the clarinet, the team includes three violinists and a cellist. At chamber concerts, the quintet plays compositions by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and other classical composers. Mazaev, who tried himself in different styles during his creative career, admitted that the pleasure of performing classical music cannot be compared to anything for him. Also, the string quintet performs compositions from the Moral Code, presenting a new look at familiar songs.

In 2015, the man traveled almost all of Russia, delighting his fans with live concerts. In 2017, Sergey Mazaev continued to tour, giving both solo concerts and concerts as part of his string quintet and the Moral Code group.

Moral code and Sergey Mazaev with the song “First Snow”

Personal life of Sergei Mazaev

Sergei never spoke much about his first chosen one, it is only known that he has a son, Ilya, from this marriage.

Sergey Mazaev, his wife and children


The popular performer met his second wife at the peak of his career. Galina graduated from GITIS and later became the senior editor of the GQ glossy magazine. She is 18 years younger than Sergei, but the age difference does not interfere with them. The couple has a daughter, Anya, and a son, Petya.

Anna, daughter of Sergei Mazaev


In the early 2000s, Mazaev repeatedly opposed the LGBT movement, called homosexuality a disease, but 10 years later he changed his point of view. Vitaly Milonov’s bill on a ban on propaganda of non-traditional relationships among minors, he called “mental retardation”, later described himself as an “absolutely tolerant” person.

Sergey Mazaev now

Recently, Sergey Mazaev practically does not “shine” in the media. He performs at jazz festivals and various events (for example, at the wedding of Svetlana Bondarchuk). In August 2024, singer Irson Kudikova, who also plays the saxophone, announced their joint composition.

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