“Star Factory” 20 years later: how was the life of the project participants

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Irina Toneva

Irina Toneva, together with Sasha Savelyeva, Sati Kazanova and Masha Alalykina, as part of the Fabrika group, took second place in the project. First, the team left Alalykina, then in 2010 – Casanova, and in 2019 Savelyeva went on maternity leave and then finally left the group. 44-year-old Toneva still sings in the “Factory”, and is also actively engaged in a solo career. In the TONEVA project, she records tracks in indie pop style. In 2017, Irina married choreographer Alexei Birzha, who is 12 years younger than her. The couple is happily married, no children.

Alexander Astashenok

Until 2010, Alexander was the soloist of the Roots group. After the end of the contract, he left the group along with Pasha Artemyev. Astashenok continued to study music, but the cinema fascinated him more and more: in 2012, he starred in the popular series “Closed School” and graduated from Ivanna Chabak’s acting classes in the USA. On Alexander’s account, he also worked in the TV series “The Bloody Lady” together with Yulia Snigir (another participant in “Star Factory 7” Vlad Sokolovsky also starred in this project).

In addition to fame, the Roots group gave Alexander love: in 2004, he married the concert director of the group, Elena Vengrzhinovskaya, who is 13 years older than him. In the same year they had a daughter, who was named Victoria. Recall that in 2003 the group “Roots” released the song “Happy Birthday, Vika”, which was written by Astashenok. The composition became the most rotated on the radio in 2004.

Alexey Kabanov

Alexey was one of the main sex symbols of the first “Factory”. The girls actively voted for the guy and this helped him reach the final and take first place along with the Roots group. Alexey still remains the soloist of the band together with Sasha Berdnikov and Dmitry Pakulichev. He also coped with the role of the sex symbol of the group and actively communicated with the fans. Alexey did not hide the fact that he sometimes entered into intimate relationships with female fans, but this was the case before meeting his wife.

By the way, his wife also turned out to be one of his fans: the girl just wrote to the musician, they started a conversation that quickly turned into a stormy romance. They got married with Rosalia Konoyan in 2013 and a year later they had a daughter, Alice. Over the past few years, Alexey has gained extra pounds, for which fans have repeatedly reproached him. However, Kabanov was able to pull himself together and get in shape.

Mikhail Grebenshchikov

Mikhail was the brightest and most eccentric member of the “Factory” and was remembered for the hits “Hugging Dances” and “Bulka”. After the tour with “Factory” he did not have any bright musical works. Mikhail took part in the project “The Last Hero 5”, and in other popular TV shows. After that, he worked at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, and is also engaged in producing activities at the school for creative development for children, created by Alla Pugacheva.

Now Mikhail sometimes performs with his DJ sets in the clubs of the country. Grebenshchikov does not like to discuss his personal life, it is known that the musician has two daughters.

Anna Kulikova

She left the show at the beginning of the project, but the audience liked her solo song “Poor Girl”, and Anna went on tour with the entire “Star Factory”. After Anna performed with the group “Roots”, but she did not continue to build a musical career. Now Kulikova is married, has a daughter and teaches English and Spanish.

Hera Levy

One of the first to leave the show. The audience did not appreciate his parodic talent. However, this did not affect the career of a young man. After graduating from the Institute of Contemporary Art and having received the education of a variety artist, he worked for several years at the Vladimir Vinokur Parody Theater, and then moved to the Petrosyan Show. Herman continues to actively perform in the parody genre.

Ekaterina Shemyakina

The girl with excellent vocal abilities and bright appearance was remembered by the audience. Many saw her in the final. After the “Factory” Katya collaborated with many artists and in 2004 even performed in the duet “Mickey and Zlata” with Timur Rodriguez. The second wave of popularity came to the singer after participating in the 3rd season of the Voice show. Pelageya and Gradsky turned to the girl, she chose the latter.

Katya is happily married to producer Alexander Gottlieb and has a son.

Nikolai Burlak

The professional dancer Nikolai was taken to the project not for his vocal abilities, but because of his bright appearance. But this did not stop him from taking part in a musical reality show and even “squeezing out” a song about “Pimple” out of himself. After the Factory, Nikolai continued his career: he released three albums and the book The Secret Life of the Factory. In 2005, Burlak became a co-host in the Sex with Anfisa Chekhova program. However, he found his true calling in the cinema. After graduating from the directing department of VGIK, Nikolai shot such high-profile hits for TNT as “Street” and “Patriot”. The former even won “Tefi” as the best daytime series.

Julia Buzhilova

Quiet and melancholy Julia was not like the other participants in the project, but this did not stop her from reaching almost the final. The songs “Sleep” and “Lullaby to the Wolves” became her hallmarks. Immediately after the “Factory”, Yulia released a joint composition “You write to me” with Renata Litvinova, which became the soundtrack to the film “Sky. Plane. Girl”.

After the project, Buzhilova disappeared from the radar, but then appeared, but already as a songwriter. Victoria Daineko’s hit “Leyla”, the songs “On” and “5 minutes” of the group “Factory” – all of them are authorship of Yulia. Now the girl continues to study music as a vocal teacher at the Musical Academy Matvienko M.A.M.A.