Alexander Vertinski

Alexander Nikolayevich Vertinsky (, – May 21, 1957) was a Russian and Soviet artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing.
Alexander Vertinsky and his elder sister Nadezhda were born in Kiev (now Kyiv, Ukraine) out of wedlock: their parents couldn't marry since his father's first wife ("Varvara, an elderly, evil and unattractive woman") refused a divorce, so he had to adopt his own children. Both parents belonged... meer