Valeriya

Muz-TV Awards

I had a really wonderful night with Joseph and Robin Gibb at the Muz-TV awards at the Olympiisky Sports Complex in Moscow at the weekend. I performed my single ‘The Party’s Over’ on stage and also did a duet of with Robin who was presented with an award for his contribution to world music industry.

 

It’s a very prestigious red carpet event for the Russian music industry. Muz-TV is like MTV in Russia. I arrived with Robin in my new red Audi R8 which Joseph gave me for our 5-year wedding anniversary.  What a beauty!

Everybody dresses to impress, and I changed three times that night. For the red carpet I chose an elegant and beautifully cut pink Valentino dress and jacket. During my performance of ‘The Party’s Over’, I wore a stunning black Cavalli dress that Roberto Cavalli himself had presented me with at his party a day before. On stage with Robin I wore a short black leather dress by ‘leather King’ Jean-Claude Jitrois.

And I have to tell you about a little incident that happened while I was on stage singing The Party’s Over. My microphone had been switched off so nobody could hear me at the start of the song. I couldn’t see any of the production team but I knew something was wrong, so I looked around and luckily a backing singer swiftly offered me hers and I carried on as if nothing had happened – it might have looked a bit strange to everyone but at least people know that I do actually sing live.

Jennifer Lopez also performed that night. I think she probably has as much fun as I do performing live, it really is one of the best things about being a singer – I love it.

Robin Gibb Unveils Green plaque to honour The Bee Gees

I joined my good friend, Robin Gibb on May 12 to see him and his brothers, better known as the Bee Gees, honoured for their contribution to pop music with the unveiling of a special green plaque in London.

The ceremony took place in Westminster, a very posh part of the city. The plaque was actually placed outside where the Bee Gee’s manager and producer Robert Stigwood lived as it was where Robin and his brothers spent much of their time rehearsing and composing songs.

It was quite an emotional ceremony because Robin’s twin brother, Maurice died in 2003, so it was a fulfilling yet sad moment for him. But he had many good friends and family around him to make sure that the day was very special.

Did you know that the Bee Gees funky disco tunes were one of the few western acts to make it into Russia in the times of the Iron Curtain? As you can imagine I have always been a huge fan. It really has been a great privilege for me to work with him, I feel very lucky that I have got to meet and perform with one of my music idols.

more photos of the day can be seen here

Me and Robin Gibb on top Russian television show

My great friend Bee Gee Robin Gibb was recently profiled on a Russian prime time show called "The Main Character" It was so interesting to learn about his life and where he came from with his brothers. I love the programme "The Main Character", as it is one of the most prestigious programmes in Russia and often features first-rate politicians, top businessmen, and show business stars, and it gets really underneath the lives of their subject

As me and Robin had been working together, they asked me if I would appear in the feature as they would be following Robin on his visit to Russia to come and perform with me at my album launch; of course I was  more than delighted.

We also performed live on the show after they had shown the film of Robin and me and we both had a great time, look at Robin dance, he still has those sexy moves after all these years.

I love performing with Robin and hopefully we'll be getting together when I come over to the UK. It has truly been an honour to be able to record "Staying Alive" with a real Bee Gee, it is one of my all time favourite songs as it always makes me want to dance. Working with Robin has been such an inspirational experience as he has written and performed some of the most famous and much loved songs in music history, what a legend.

Back in Moscow

Joseph and I are back in Moscow.

Tomorrow there's a launch party for my new album, Out of Control, at the nightclub Most. I'm choosing what to wear while Joseph cooks me some mushrooms in sour cream.

I'll be doing a press conference at the launch party then performing several songs live.

Journalists from The Sun, The Sunday Times and The Daily Express will be in the audience. Our British publicist, Mr Peter Bassett, is taking them all out tonight for what he calls his "Moscow tour" - I hope when I see them tomorrow they are, as you say, in-one-piece.

Mr Bassett dropped off some British newspapers and magazines for us earlier. There were nice stories in OK and the Daily Star comparing me to Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud. This story was then reported in The Metro newspaper.

I gave Mr Bassett a copy of a Russian magazine called 7 Days, which is a bit like your Radio Times.

"Look at the size of his back garden!" he yelled when he reached the 10 page article in this week's edition about Mr Robin Gibb from The Bee Gees, who'll be at the press conference with me tomorrow talking about the version of Stayin' Alive we've recorded together for the new album.

Meeting Robin Gibb

(Photo by Vladimir Voronkov)

When I showed this photo of me and Robin Gibb to our UK publicist, Mr Peter Bassett, he said, "Joseph sure looks stiff after that flight."

It was taken the day we arrived in London from Moscow. Our flight into Heathrow had landed just five minutes before a passenger plane from China crash-landed.

From the airport we drove to Mr Gibb's house.

I have recorded a version of The Bee Gees disco classic Saturday Night Fever for my new album. I had sent a copy of the recording to Mr Gibb with a letter explaining how difficult it was for us to get hold of Western music growing up behind The Iron Curtain, but that somehow The Bee Gees' music always seemed to get through. I grew up listening to Saturday Night Fever and their 60's albums like Horizontal and Odessa.

When Mr Gibb heard we were coming to London he invited us to his house, so, of course, we made it our first stop.

He was alarmed when we told him we'd landed just before the plane from China crashed.

"Maybe you should take this suit of armour for the flight back," he joked.

Here are some more photos of the three of us.

(Photo by Vladimir Voronkov)

(Photo by Vladimir Voronkov)

(Photo by Vladimir Voronkov)

 

(Photo by Vladimir Voronkov)