First I should say that I am very much lucky. My parents attended my recital. Thanks to them, I have become a musician as they did their best to provide for my study. You see, when young, we are always bursting ahead. But eventually we get to understand that we are really happy when we have a family, a helpmate and kids, and when our parents are alive. That is a living basis for everyone enabling us to work successfully.

I would like to address to parents who’ve got gifted children: you are wrong to think your kids don’t need your persistence and help. They need it badly. However, you shouldn’t press on your gifted son or daughter, because one being a mediocre musician or singer would always mean feeling one’s inferiority.

Tell about your first steps as a composer.

When a student, I ran an amateur pop group, made arrangements for Bilash, Mayboroda and Poklad’s songs. At that very time I meet Eugene Martynov and we made friends.

I showed my first works to composer Aleksey Mazhukov who recommended me to take up music composition seriously. You Don’t Believe Me was my test song written on Volodymyr Kudrjavtsev’s verses. Then came Sunny Tram on Igor Lazarevsky’s verses that turned out to be a hit sung by many groups, such as Krasnye Maki, Tsvety and other Bulgarian, Polish, Yugoslavian singers - in all 28 performers.

And what about your further creations?

In 1978, I wrote How d’ You Have Blue Eyes on I. Lazarevsky’s verses. The song was performed by Valentina Tolkunova at the first festival “Kyivskaja Vesna”, which put together many pop stars. In 1979, Bulgarian singer Eugene Dushanov recorded my song Calling for Autumn in Ukrainian language. Yugoslavian singer Sabahuddin Kurd also sang it in Ukrainian. That time music editor-in- chief at Ukraine’s TV broadcast Victor Gerasimov met trio “Marenychi”

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