Biography

Leonid Osipovich Utyosov or Utesov (Russian: Леони́д О́сипович Утёсов); real name Lazar (Leyzer) Iosifovich Vaysbeyn or Weissbein (Russian: Ла́зарь (Ле́йзер) Ио́сифович Вайсбе́йн) (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1895, Odessa – 9 March 1982, Moscow), was a famous Soviet jazz singer and comic actor of Jewish origin, who became the first pop singer to be awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1965.