Olga Voronets

Olga Borisovna Voronets (Russian: Ольга Борисовна Воронец; 12 February 1926 – 2 August 2014) was a leading Russian mezzo-soprano folk singer of the 1960s and 1970s.[1] She was named a People's Artist of Russia in 1978.

Olga Voronets

Voronets was born in 1926 in Smolensk. She attended the VGIK and the Sokolniki opera school.[2] Having made her debut at the age of 21, Voronets gained a wider audience after the International Folk Song Festival in 1956.[3] In the 1960s, Voronets rivalled Lyudmila Zykina in popularity.[4]

Her best known songs include "Zachem vy devushki krasivykh lyubite", "Sladka yagoda", "Glyazhu v ozera siniye", "Ya Zemlya".[5] She toured many Socialist states, the Russian Far East, Japan, South America, Denmark, and the Netherlands.[6]

Since her husband's death in 2012, Voronets lived alone in Moscow. She had no children. She was named an honorary citizen of Smolensk in 2009.[7] In 2010, she suffered a stroke.[4]

Olga Voronets died on 2 August 2014, aged 88.[8][9][10]