Alla Borisovna Pugacheva (Russian: А́лла Бори́совна Пугачёва, Russian pronunciation:['alːɐbɐ'rʲisəvnɐpʊgɐˈt͡ɕɵvɐ]; sometimes Pugachova; born 15 April 1949) is a Russian singer-songwriter. Her career started in 1965 and continues to this day, even though she has retired from performing. For her "clear mezzo-soprano and a full display of sincere emotions",[1] she enjoys an iconic status across the former Soviet Union as the most successful Soviet performer[2][3] in terms of record sales and popularity.[4][5][6][7] For several decades, Pugacheva was a sex symbol, a style icon, an inspiration for Soviet women and a heroine of Russian tabloids.[8] In the media, Pugacheva has been called "the Queen of Russian pop music".[9][10][11]
Her repertoire includes over 500 songs in Russian, English, German, French, Kazakh, Hebrew, Finnish and Ukrainian, and her discography has more than 100 records, CDs and DVDs. In addition to Russia and the former Soviet Union, Pugacheva's albums have been released in Japan, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Israel. In total, she has sold more than 250 million records.[12][13][14][15][16] Her debut album, Mirror of the Soul, has sold 10 million copies.[17]
During her career, Pugacheva has toured Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, Scandinavia, Central Asia and other countries around the world, including the United States, France, Greece, Italy and Israel.[18][19][20] In 2000, The New York Times called her "the goddess of Russian pop music, Moscow's Tina Turner with a touch of Édith Piaf".[21]