Vyacheslav Dobrynin

Vyacheslav Dobrynin studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The recorded working language is Russian. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are estrada, Russian chanson, pop rock and synth-pop. Distinctions recorded are Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class, Order of Friendship, People's Artist of the Russian Federation and Honored art worker of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

• Name — Vyacheslav Dobrynin • Native Name — Вячеслав Добрынин • Birth Name — Vyacheslav Grigoryevich Antonov • Born — 25 January 1946 • Birthplace — Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR • Died — 1 October 2024 • Place of death — Moscow, Russia • Education — Moscow State University • Occupation — * Composer • singer • Years Active — 1970s–2024 • Title — People's Artist of Russia (1996) • Awards — Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (4th class)

Dobrynin was born in 1946 to an Armenian father and a Russian mother. He never bore his father's surname of Petrosian – his father left the family before he was born and he used his mother's surname Antonov throughout his childhood, changing it to Dobrynin in 1972. He studied at Moscow State University and received a diploma as an "art historian and theorist" in 1970. He subsequently worked at the Tretyakov Gallery and Pushkin Museum.

As an amateur musician and singer he participated in different Beatles-style groups. Dobrynin started to compose songs in the late-1960s and from 1971 co-operated with the Oleg Lundstrem orchestra, "Vesyolye Rebyata", "Samotsvety" and other bands. He wrote more than 1000 songs, often based on poems by Leonid Derbenyov, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Mikhail Tanich and Ilya Reznik. In 1998, Dobrynin got a star on the Star Square in Moscow. In the 1980s Dobrynin started to record his own songs, and in 1990 he founded "Doctor Shlyager" band.

It was reported that Dobrynin suffered a stroke in September 2024 and was hospitalised in Moscow. His death was reported on 1 October. He was 78.

He is survived by his wife, his daughter Yekaterina Dobrynina, and two grandchildren. Dobrynin has performed in duets with his US born granddaughter Sonya Dobrynina-McGaffrey; with the songs "Whenever in the Future" (Когда Нибудь) and "All I Have in Life" (Все что в жизни есть у меня) to open a concert in the Kremlin in 2011 when she was 10, and "Raspberry Berry" (Ягода Малина) in Corcus City Hall in 2016 when she was 15 which was broadcast live on Russia's Channel One 1TV.

Dobrynin's songs are mostly dedicated to unhappy love and romantic events of a person's life. Among his most popular hits are: • All I Have in Life (Vsyo, chto v zhizni yest' u menya) • Native Land (Rodnaya zemlya) • Don't Rub Salt Into My Wound (Ne syp' mne sol' na ranu) • Where Have You Been (Gde zhe ty byla) • The Carriage is Rocking (Kachayetsya vagon) • Blue Fog (Siniy tuman) • Two Candles (Dve svechi) • White Bird Cherry (Belaya cheromukha) • Music is Playing On the Ship (Na teplokhode muzyka igrayet) • The Music is Flowing (L'yotsya muzyka) • Don't Worry Auntie (Ne volnuytes', tyotya) • Big Dipper (Bol'shaya Medveditsa) • Raspberry Berry (Yagoda-malina) • Old Grannies (Babushki-starushki) • Witch Lake (Koldovskoye ozero) • Casino (Kazino) • You Don't Dream of Me (Ty mne ne snish'sya) • So This Is What You Are Like! (Tak vot kakaya ty!) • You Broke My Heart (Ty razbila mne serdtse) • Who Told You? (Kto tebe skazal?) • I'm Afraid of Your Love (Ya boyus' tvoyey lyubvi) • Not a Moment's Peace (Ni minuty pokoya) • Don't Forget Your Friends (Ne zabyvayte druzey) • Write Me A Letter (Napishi mne pis'mo) • The Queen of Spades (Pikovaya dama) • I Miss You (Ya toskuyu po tebe) • I've Had My Fun (Ya svoyo otgulyal) • Nobody Loves You Like I Do (Nikto tebya ne lyubit tak, kak ya) • Crazy Rain (Sumashedshy dozhd') • How Unlucky I Am (Do chego zh ya nevezuchiy) • Well (Kolodets) • Forget-me-not (Nezabudka) • Goodbye (Proshchay)