Svyatoslav Vakarchuk: Facts & figures

For Vakarchuk's birthday, Alexander Vasilyev posted on the web a few facts & figures about the leader of the Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy. 

Here are some of them... 

Photo: © Victoria Kvitka

I added my own comments in italics because I suppose that my readers do not truly know 

who is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. :) 

Name: Svyatoslav Ivanovych Vakarchuk
Nickname: Slava - for friends and for Westerners... ;) his name is definitively too long for most of us!
Date & place of birth: 14 May 1975 - Mukacheve / Ukraine

Height: 1m76 - 5,77 ft
Weight: 75 kg - 165,35 lb

Distinctive sign: Ambidextrous
Personal characteristics - according to Slava: Persistence and perseverance
Weakness - according to Slava: Stubbornness

Photo: © Victoria Kvitka

Favorite musical groups:  The Beatles, Queen, The Rolling Stones & Pink Floyd
Favorite TV series: Gregory House
Favorite alcoholic drinks: Dark beer & Bloody Mary

Main fields of interest: Japanese culture and Buddhism
Favorite authors: Yukio Mishima & Haruki Murakami
Hobbies: In his spare time Slava enjoys reading & going to the movies. 

Slava speaks fluently 4 languages: Ukrainian, Russian, English & Polish.
Last summer, he said in an interview  that, if he had more free time, he'd like to learn Spanish or French language - there is for sure something I can do regarding this last point! :) 

Slava has a PHD in Physics and a degree in International Economics.

Photo: © Victoria Kvitka

Her mother says that, when he was about 2 years old, Slava sang for the 1st time for an audience... It was in Lviv, at the bus-stop (he was going to visit his grand-mother). Slava was standing on the bench and was asking people to sing along with him. :)
 
In 1994, he became the vocalist & frontman of the rock band Okean Elzy.
He composed the music and wrote the lyrics of most of the songs of the group.

Okean Elzy released 8 studio albums, recorded 96 songs and created 33 musical videos.
In 1995, the first video was an amateur video for the song "Long Time Ago".

Okean Elzy performed 12 Tours.  
Longest concert: 3.5 hours 
Biggest audience for a concert: 75,000 spectators

Up to date, Okean Elzy sold more than 1,000,000 CDs.
In 2003, the album "Supersymmetry" became double platinum.

In 2005, Vakarchuk won 1 million hryvnia in the TV show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" for a charitable organization - nobody won such a large amount of money before he did in this TV show.

In 2013, Esquire Ukraine awarded Vakarchuk "Musician of the Year".

Esquire Ukraine - Jan. 2014

In 2005, he became a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme.

From Oct. 2007 to Sept. 2008, he was a member of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) and was a member of the parliamentary committee for freedom of speech questions.

In 2013, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk took 7th place in the Forbes' ranking of richest and most popular stars in Ukraine.

Vakarchuk is known as a man of compassion and conviction: He uses his fame to help causes that are dear to his heart. As an engaged citizen, Slava is the founder of the Charity Fund “Lyudi Maybutnyogo” (People of the Future). 
The purpose was at first to promote Ukrainian language among younger generations. But due to the current situation in the country, the objectives of the foundation have changed a bit since several months: On top of promoting Ukrainian language, the NGO supports people in the Eastern part of Ukraine and Slava raises fonds to buy medical equipement. To do so, he performed some concerts in Ukraine in 2014 & 2015 with his "Vnochi project".

© Juryi Stefanyak

On May 1st 2015, he became "Honorary Citizen of the city of Lviv."

From August to December 2015, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk will study at Yale University as a World Fellow.
 
Sources: 
Alexander Vasilyev - http://gazeta.ua
Okean Elzy Official Fan-Club