Star Factory is one of the most successful projects on Channel One, which gave unknown young performers a chance to become Russian pop stars. True, as in most projects of this kind, not all of its winners were able to fully realize themselves on the professional stage.
The birth of the project
Star Factory is the Russian version of the TV project of the Dutch production company Endemol, known as the Academy of Stars. However, the first country where the broadcast of the project began was France. This happened on October 20, 2001.
The project came to Russia on October 13, 2002. Igor Matvienko became the music producer of the first factory. TV viewers had the opportunity to watch not only rehearsals and concerts, where young performers went on the same stage with recognized masters, but also the life of the project participants in the so-called "Star House". In addition, according to the rules of the TV show, one of the participants was expelled from the project every week.
The winners of the first factory were the members of the Korni group born on the project - Pavel Artemiev, Alexander Berdnikov, Alexander Astashonok and Alexey Kabanov. The second place was taken by spectacular girls included in the "Factory" group: Irina Toneva, Sati Kazanova, Alexandra Savelyeva and Maria Alalykina. True, Maria Alalykina left the group six months after the end of the project. The third place went to Mikhail Grebenshchikov.
Second and subsequent "Factories"
The post of the music producer of the second factory was taken by Maxim Fadeev. Polina Gagarina became its winner, Elena Terleeva was awarded the second place, the third - the future Eurovision star (as part of the Silver group) Elena Temnikova. However, the second factory was distinguished by a very subjective approach to the participants on the part of the music producer. As a result, her main star was Julia Savicheva, who did not take a prize, but was chosen by Fadeev himself.
The music producer of the third factory was Alexander Shulgin. Perhaps this factory had the most humane atmosphere. Its winner was Nikita Malinin, the second place was taken by Alexander Kireev, the third place was taken by a girl with excellent vocal abilities Yulia Mikhalchik. However, the most famous after the project was Svetlana Svetikova, who was left without a prize, who, however, came to the project as an already established performer.
The fourth factory, under the leadership of Igor Krutoy, enjoyed a reputation as a project, where many of the young performers ended up "through pull". Perhaps, in order to avoid further accusations, a very prominent participant in the project, Stas Piekha, was only given third place. The winner was the really worthy singer and composer Irina Dubtsova, the second place was taken by Anton Zatsepin.
"Star Factory - 5" is better known as "Alla Pugacheva's Factory". True, two experienced music producers, Igor Matvienko and Maxim Fadeev, were invited to help the prima donna. The winner of this factory, Victoria Daineko, is still successfully performing on the stage. The second place was taken by Ruslan Masyukov, the third was shared by Natalia Podolskaya and Mikhail Veselov.
A warm and friendly atmosphere was brought to the Star House by the music producer of the sixth factory - Viktor Drobysh. The winner was a talented young man from Belarus Dmitry Koldun, the second place was taken by Arseny Borodin, the third place was taken by the already well-known singer from St. Petersburg, intelligent and charming Zara. In addition, the current hero of the scandalous chronicle Prokhor Chaliapin became one of the finalists of the factory.
The reputation of a gentle and benevolent music producer was earned by Konstantin Meladze, who, together with his brother, the famous singer Valery Meladze, headed the "Star Factory - 6". The winner here was Anastasia Prikhodko, the second place was taken by Mark Tishman, the third place was taken by two groups born at the factory - BiS (now disbanded duet of Dmitry Bikbaev and Vlad Sokolovsky) and "Yin-Yang", which included Tatyana Bogacheva, Artem Ivanov, Sergey Ashikhmin and Yulia Parshuta, who later left the group.
However, over time, the popular project clearly began to tire the audience with its monotony. An attempt to return the "Star Factory" to its former popularity was the "Star Factory - 8. Return" released in 2011, in which the already popular graduates of the project from different years took part. The eighth factory became a return for music producers Viktor Drobysh and Konstantin Meladze. Here Victoria Daineko won again, the second place went to the Chelsea group (Denis Petrov, Alexey Korzin, Arseny Borodin and Roman Arkhipov), the third - to Irina Dubtsova.
One can relate differently to the "Star Factory" project, say that thanks to it, faceless manufacturers have flooded the stage. But at the same time it should be noted that in the first decade of the XXI century "Star Factory" managed to become one of the brightest projects of Russian television.
