Lyudmila Georgievna Zykina (Russian: Людми́ла Гео́ргиевна Зы́кина; 10 June 1929 – 1 July 2009) was a national folk singer of Russia.
She was born in Moscow and joined the Pyatnitsky Choir in 1947. Her surname is derived from the Russian word for "loud" ("зычный"). Beginning in 1960 she performed solo. She befriended Ekaterina Furtseva, the powerful Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union, and was reputed to be a favourite singer of Leonid Brezhnev. It is known she was a particular favourite of both Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il, performing in Pyongyang six times at the invitation of the Kims. It was also reported that Kim Jong-il was so fond of Zykina that he invited her to Pyongyang in 2008 in hopes that her performance would help him recover from illness.[1]Olga Voronets was considered Zykina's main rival.[2]
Her signature songs include Techot Volga and Orenburgskii platok. The asteroid4879 Zykina is named after her. Lyudmila Zykina died on 1 July 2009 after suffering a heart attack.[3][4][5][6]
Honours and awards
Hero of Socialist Labour,[7] with the Order of Lenin and the "Hammer and Sickle" medal (4 September 4, 1987) – for great contribution to the development of Soviet musical art.
Order of St. Andrew (12 June 2004) – for outstanding contribution to the development of national culture and music.
