Nadezhda Kadysheva, singer. Biography

Nadezhda Kadysheva — early years

Nadezhda Kadysheva was born on June 1, 1959 in the Tatarstan village of Gorki. Her father worked on the railroad, and her mother took care of the house and the upbringing of children. The future actress had three sisters.: The older ones are Vera, Maria and the younger Lyubov.

The future artist spent her childhood in the Samara village of Stary Maklaush. Already in elementary school, she became interested in Russian and Mordovian folklore. As Kadysheva herself recalled, in class, instead of answering, she often sang or made up fairy tales.

When Nadezhda was 10 years old, her mother died of a heart attack. According to the singer, she had severe depression, which was not treated in those years, as it was not considered a serious illness.

After the death of his wife, the father of the family remarried a woman who also had children from his first marriage. The Kadyshev sisters' relationship with their stepmother did not work out, and conflicts began in the family. As a result, the eldest daughters decided to leave home: Vera went to work in Moscow, and Maria moved in with relatives. Nadezhda and Lyubov were sent to a boarding school in Bugulma. The father practically did not keep in touch with the girls, only occasionally wrote letters and secretly sent money from his wife.

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At boarding school, Kadysheva began going to a music club. Nature has endowed her with a strong voice and artistry. She sang in the choir, participated in amateur performances. The teachers were sure that the girl would become an artist, Nadezhda herself also dreamed of the stage.

At the age of 14, Kadysheva moved to her older sister in the Moscow region and got a job as a winder at the Krasnaya Polyana spinning mill. At the same time, she applied to the Ippolitov-Ivanov Music College, but failed the entrance exams. In 1978-1979, Nadezhda worked and studied at the preparatory department under the guidance of Nikolai Tarasenko, the founder of the Ryabinushka ensemble. However, she managed to enroll only on the third attempt.

Later, the artist transferred to the Gnessin Institute, to the vocal class of Professor Nina Meshko, from which she graduated in 1983.

Nadezhda Kadysheva — the beginning of her career

The singer's professional career began in the Rossiyanochka folk song ensemble, created at the Moscow Concert in 1980. She was invited there in her third year of college. The band, which also included Nadezhda Krygina, Ella Mamontova and Rimma Maslennikova, quickly gained popularity. The artists toured the country a lot, performed at various festivals and competitions.

As part of the Kadysheva ensemble, she recorded the album "Rossiyanochka". She left the band in 1988. Two years later, Krygina began her solo career. Mamontova and Maslennikova continued their collaboration for another 17 years.

Nadezhda Kadysheva in the Golden Ring ensemble

As a student, Kadysheva met her future husband, Alexander Kostyuk. For his sake, she transferred to Gnesinka. After graduation in 1983, they got married.

In 1988, the couple founded the Golden Ring Ensemble, where Kadysheva became a soloist. The uniqueness of the band was the combination of folk melodies with traditional and electronic instruments. Initially, the band consisted of musicians from Bylina and Gnesinka graduates: keyboardist Andrei Kuredenko and balalaika player Viktor Nadymov, later joined by Alexander Seliverstov and Dmitry Utenkov.

The ensemble began working at the Smolensk Philharmonic in 1989, but conducted its first tours abroad, in the USA and Europe. The ensemble's work has gained special love in Japan, where the artists have visited six times. In the early 1990s, three albums of the band were released: Kalinka, "Russian Folk Songs" and Made in Japan.

At home, the Golden Ring gained popularity due to the re-recording of foreign cassettes. The band officially became a part of the Russian pop scene in 1995 after signing a contract with the Soyuz studio. In the same year, the album "Am I to Blame" was released, which sold a huge number of copies. The second record, "The Stream Flows," repeated the success of the first and topped the national charts for ten weeks.

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In 1996, the Golden Ring was recognized as the best folk song performer at the Ovation ceremony. Kadysheva and her colleagues also received the Golden Gramophone for the song "The Stream Flows".

In total, the band released nine CDs in the 1990s. The most famous songs of that period were "I am not a witch", "Go away, sorrow", "I got drunk drunk", "I am love itself". In the 2000s, the ensemble presented several more successful albums.: "Give It to Me, Birch" (2002), "The Rain is Crying" (2003) and "The River is Wide" (2004).

In 2005, Kadysheva and Kostyuk opened the Golden Ring National Folk Music and Song Theater in Moscow, which became their main joint project. Its development continues to this day.

In 2015, the Golden Ring Ensemble celebrated its 30th anniversary with a grand concert at the Kremlin Palace. The anniversary evening was attended by Iosif Kobzon, Lev Leshchenko, the Turkish Choir, Valeria, Dmitry Malikov and other stars. By this time, Kadysheva's creative baggage already included more than twenty studio and concert albums.

In 2024, the band experienced a new surge in popularity due to the spread of the song "The Wreath is Floating" on social networks. The number of listeners to their compositions has increased sevenfold, and the monthly audience on Yandex Music has reached 1.3 million people. In April 2025, Nadezhda Kadysheva topped the ranking of the highest-paid artists in Russia.

Nadezhda Kadysheva — personal life

Since 1983, Nadezhda Kadysheva has been married to Alexander Kostyuk, the creator and permanent head of the Golden Ring. They met in the canteen of the music college. According to the singer, she fell in love at first sight, but the young man did not pay attention to her for a long time.

To be closer to her lover, Kadysheva transferred to Gnesinka. This step turned out to be the right one. Kostyuk started courting her, and after graduation he proposed. The couple married in 1983, and soon had a son, Gregory. At that time, the artists were completely devoted to their work, so their parents actively helped them in raising the boy.

Her husband has always been the main support of the singer. When Nadezhda was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 30 (the diagnosis later turned out to be false), and her sister Lyubov tragically died soon after, it was her husband's support that helped her through a difficult period. Thanks to him, the artist was able to overcome depression, which her mother and sister also suffered from.

The son of the star couple, Grigory Kostyuk, followed in his parents' footsteps, becoming the concert director of the Golden Ring. He also performed on stage with his mother and released two solo albums, "Me and You" and "I Have You Alone."