Place of Birth. Education. Born in Mukachevo, Transcarpathian region. He has two higher educations (theoretical physics and international economics), received at the Ivan Franko Lviv State University. He defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic “Supersymmetry of electrons in an electromagnetic field”. For several years he taught at the Ivan Franko Lviv State University.
Creative career. Group “Okean Elzy”, thanks to the work of which Svyatoslav Vakarchuk became famous (he is the author of most of the texts and music, the vocalist, the leader of the group), was created in 1994. After graduating from the university, Vakarchuk could continue his studies abroad, but still chose the career of a musician. The group successfully performed at several festivals, and Svyatoslav, together with “O.E.” went to Kiev record debut CDThere, there are no us(1998).
The team has repeatedly been awarded the title of “best rock band”, has repeatedly been recognized as the best of its songs and videos.
In 2008 he released his first solo album “At night”, recorded together with the musicians of Okean Elzy and 30 other invited musicians.
At the end of 2011, he presented a new musical project “Brussels”, in which he presented songs that do not fit into the concept of the Okean Elzy group. And how Svyatoslav invited musicians to work on this album Dmitry Shurov, Max Malyshev, Peter Cherniavsky and Sergei Babkin.
In 2013-2016 Vakarchuk took part in the Ukrainian show “The voice of the country” as a mentor to young musicians.
In the spring of 2016, the Okean Elzy group released the album Without Between and began a two-year world tour, which ended on June 17, 2017 in Lviv.
Political career. In 2004, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk took an active part in the Orange Revolution, publicly showing support for the opposition presidential candidate in Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko.
After Viktor Yushchenko’s victory in the elections, in 2005, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk became an adviser to the President of Ukraine. He was a UN Goodwill Ambassador, involved in social projects aimed at combating human trafficking. Actively engaged in charity work.
In the early parliamentary elections of 2007, he was included under N15 in the list of the pro-presidential bloc Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense, actively advocated the emergence of socially responsible politics and politicians in Ukraine. Having received the mandate of the People’s Deputy in November 2007, he became a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information.
For several years in a row, Korrespondent magazine has included Svyatoslav Vakarchuk in the top 100 most influential people in Ukraine – both as the frontman of the most popular rock band and as a citizen with an active lifestyle.
On September 11, 2008, People’s Deputy Vakarchuk filed an application with the Parliament Apparatus for the resignation of his deputy powers. “This decision was the result of months of hard thinking and seems to me to be a fair move towards the voters.”, – he said. The Verkhovna Rada prematurely terminated his deputy powers in December of the same year.
According to the parliamentarian, the composition of the Verkhovna Rada of the VI convocation did not fulfill its main role – “to build Ukraine as a European state.” “The continuous inter-party and intra-party disputes, which are imbued with those who should lead Ukraine as a modern state forward, have demoralized society inside the country and undermine its authority from the outside,” he said.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk believes that the political life of the country “has narrowed down to a ruthless struggle for power, the victims of which are national interests.” “Under such conditions, the only way to be yourself is to leave,” the people’s deputy believes.
The parliamentarian thanked the voters for their trust and noted that he does not regard entering politics as a step in his career as a singer. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk also said that he was returning to an active social life.
On the presidential election 2019, contrary to expectations, did not put forward his candidacy. I did not publicly support any of those who participated in the elections.
On May 16, 2019, on Starokyivska Hill, Vakarchuk presented his political party Golos and announced that he was running for early parliamentary elections as the leader of the party. As a result, in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada 2019, the Golos party received in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the IX convocation 17 seats on party lists, the party won 5.82% the votes of the electorate. Since August 2019, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk has been a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 9th convocation. Member of the committee for issues of foreign policy and inter-parliamentary cooperation.
On June 18, 2024, Vakarchuk announced that he had decided to resign his deputy mandate. On June 19, Vakarchuk left the Golos faction in order to leave the Rada. June 26, 2024 at an extraordinary party congress Voice the delegates decided to terminate the parliamentary powers of the leader of the party ahead of schedule Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.
Group discography. Albums: “There are no us there” (1998), “Yananebibuv” (2000), “Model” (2001), “Supersimetry” (2003), “Tvіy format” (2003), “Gloria” (2005), “1221” ( collection of the best songs, 2006), “Mira” (2007). Singles: “Budinok zі skla” (1996), “Cold” (2002), “911 (Pacific Ocean)” (2004), “Dyakuyu” (2004), “Merry Hours” (2006), “Dolce Vita” (2010) ), “Earth” (2013), “Without border” (2016).
Solo projects: “At night” (2009), “Brussels” (2011).
Personal life. Wife – stylist Lyalya Fonareva, with whom Svyatoslav Vakarchuk is raising her daughter from her first marriage. In June 2024, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk announced that after more than 20 years of marriage, he and Lyalya Lantern decided to get divorced.
In August 2024, a son was born to Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.
Father – Ivan Vakarchuk (1947-2020), ex-Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine in the second government of Yulia Tymoshenko, until then, since 1990, he was the rector of Lviv State University.
Hobby. Interested in Japanese culture. Favorite writers are Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami. Among the favorite musical groups are The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Queen, Pink Floyd.
Fluent in Ukrainian, English, Polish and Russian.
08/25/2021