Alexander Chernetsky

Alexander Vladimirovich Chernetsky was born on 10 January 1966 in Kharkiv, then in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. As a boy he was serious about football, studying in a sports class and training twice a day, before and after lessons. He learned to play guitar in his school years under the influence of Vladimir Vysotsky's songs. He began playing rock in 1983, when he and his cousin formed the school band Karbonarii.

Chernetsky graduated from Kharkiv secondary school No. 94 in 1983. He planned to study medicine and, because competition in Kharkiv was fierce, applied to the medical institute in Poltava, where he had relatives. On the day before the exams he sang his own song, "My Friend Came Back from Afghanistan Yesterday", in an amateur talent contest whose winners received an advantage in admissions. The next day he received a failing mark in the exam. He later studied at a technical college in Kharkiv, where he formed his second band, Rock Fanat.

Karbonarii lasted about a year and a half before members left for university and the army. Rock Fanat was renamed Rock Front in 1985 when keyboardist and songwriter Sergei Shchelkanovtsev joined. In summer 1987 Chernetsky joined the Kharkiv band GPD, whose bassist Pavel Mikhailenko later recalled that Chernetsky was "much brighter" than himself. Under the name Raznye Lyudi the group won the audience prize and an official second place behind Chaif at the 1987 Riga festival, then in June 1988 closed the sixth Leningrad Rock Festival at the Winter Stadium and made a sensation at the Tallinn "Concerts of Russian Rock". In November 1988 GPD appeared in Sergei Ovcharov's film "It" (Ono).

In 1989 Sergei Chigrakov (Chizh) joined from Dzerzhinsk and the band took the name Raznye Lyudi, recording the debut album "Deserters of Love" in Moscow. Albums of the Kharkiv era included "Mazokhizm" (1990), "Bit" (1991), "1992", "Live 1993", "Nasrat!" (1994) and "Ne bylo" (1996). Chigrakov played with the band from 1989 to 1994 and remained a regular collaborator.

In November 1999 Chernetsky moved to Saint Petersburg and re-formed Raznye Lyudi with Chizh, bassist Nail Kadyrov, drummer Boris Shaveinikov and harmonica player Alexander Gordeev. The album "Comeback" (2000) was recorded at the Melodiya studio with sound engineer Yuri Morozov, and rehearsal space was provided by the band Korol i Shut. The Petersburg line ups became a kind of supergroup, featuring at various times Andrei Vasiliev and Vadim Kurylev (ex DDT), Yuri Nikolaev (ex Aquarium), Pavel Borisov and Mikhail Nefyodov. Later albums included "Superbizony" (2002), "911" (2003), "44" (2005, with Chizh and Co), "Dorogi" (2008), "Odin den vmeste" (2012), "Chernets" (2013), the anthology "Black Raven, I Am Not Yours! Vol. I" (2014) and "Spravedlivost" (2023). In all the band released around 20 albums. Chernetsky also performed solo and toured Ukraine and abroad, including concerts in the United States in 2001.

Chernetsky lived with ankylosing spondylitis (Bekhterev's disease), which worsened sharply in the early 1990s. Fellow musicians including Boris Grebenshchikov and Yuri Shevchuk wrote to the magazine Ogonyok and gave benefit concerts, and he had both hip joints replaced in Saint Petersburg in 1991 and 1992, followed by further major operations in spring 1997, winter 2003 and spring 2011. He married his wife Inna in March 1990; she became his manager and producer and later director and backing vocalist of Raznye Lyudi. Their daughter Sonya Chernetskaya sang on his September 2026 single "If Not for You". From November 1999 he lived with his family in Saint Petersburg. He played a Washburn EA20 guitar.

In 2004 Raznye Lyudi declined an offer to perform on the Maidan during the Orange Revolution, saying they preferred to stay apolitical. In a Kharkiv interview he said that politicians come and go, but musicians remain. In 2005 he wrote and performed a satirical song about President Viktor Yushchenko, which football fans adapted in 2011 into the chant "Thanks to the people of Donbas", aimed at Viktor Yanukovych. In 2013 he spoke out against Euromaidan and Ukraine's European Union association course. RIA Novosti and Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that he supported the residents of Donbas, recorded a rock anthem for the 200th brigade of the Northern Fleet with the band, and continued to support Russia after 2022.

Chernetsky is remembered as a leading figure of the Kharkiv rock school and as a songwriter whose work with Chizh helped shape Russian rock of the late Soviet and post Soviet years. His long fight with a disabling illness, supported by the wider rock community, became part of his public story, and one tribute after his death described him as a man who "all his life fought for life". The 2024 documentary "Life Is Worth It", directed by Alexander Bessmertny, tells his story. The band also ran a charity foundation under the Raznye Lyudi name and staged festivals under that name.

With his band he won the audience award and official second place at the 1987 Riga rock festival. No state awards or formal honours have been reported.

GPD appeared in Sergei Ovcharov's 1989 film "It" (Ono), based on Saltykov-Shchedrin. Chernetsky appeared on the REN TV programme "Incredible Stories" (2005) and was interviewed many times on radio, including on Radio Rocks and Radio Piter FM with Zhenya Glyukk. Well known recordings include "Superbizony", "Voron" (Raven), "Pyatnadtsat nozhevykh" (Fifteen Stab Wounds), "Pesnya vzroslogo cheloveka" and "Pust segodnya nikto ne umryot" (Let No One Die Today). A 50th birthday concert, "Chernetsky 50", was held at Aurora Concert Hall in Saint Petersburg on 17 January 2016 with Chizh and Co and Dekabr. The 2024 documentary "Life Is Worth It" was made at Fyodor Bondarchuk's Industriya film school.

Chernetsky's opposition to Euromaidan in 2013 and his later support for Russia made him a divisive figure in Ukraine, where some former fans criticised his political stance after his death. His 2005 satirical song about Viktor Yushchenko also became the basis of a widely used football chant.

About a week before his death, the organisers of the "We Choose Life" rock festival said Raznye Lyudi had been dropped from the line up because his health had worsened. Chernetsky died on 8 November 2026 at the age of 60. In the night of 9 November the band's VKontakte community posted "What have you done, brother... Now we finish the work without you", and the author later confirmed in a comment that he had died on 8 November. Garik Sukachev, Branimir and lyricist Margarita Pushkina paid tribute. A person close to him told TASS he died after a long illness; no specific cause or place of death was officially stated in the first reports, and funeral details had not been announced.