Smash!!

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Smash!!


Img_capt =
Background = group_or_band
Birth_name =
Alias = СМЭШ!!
Origin = Moscow, Russia
Genre = Pop
Years_active = 2002–2005
Label = Universal Music
Associated_acts = Neposedi
URL =
Current_members = Sergey Lazarev Vlad Topalov

Smash!! was a Russian pop duo, consisting of black-haired Sergey Lazarev and blonde Vlad Topalov, founded in 2002. They sang mainly in English, and released their music in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. They were most popular among teenagers in Russia and Southeast Asia. The band split in 2005.

Biography

Beginnings

In 2001 Sergey and Vlad signed themselves up as a musical project with the music label Universal Music Russia, under the name "Smash!!";

In January 2002 the duet shot their first music video for their first single "Should Have Loved You More". Later that year (in August), they won the New Wave contest in Urmala, Latvia. Two months later, in October, they released their next single "Belle".

The music video of "Belle" stayed on the top list of the musical channel MTV Russia for 6 months and entered the list of top 20 clips of the past five years. It was a birthday gift for Vlad’s father, who was happy to receive such a present and also shared it with his friends, one of which was working in a radio station. He played this song on the air, and it became surprisingly successful. It garnered a lot of attention and stayed in the charts for half a year. This marked the entrance of Smash!! into the Russian music industry.

2003–2004: "Freeway"

In February 2003 the band released their long-anticipated debut album "Freeway" in Russia (it was later released across Asia with the Asian Edition). It achieved gold status shortly after its release. Over a million licensed discs were sold, and each single that came off the album was on top of the hit parades both in Russian and other CIS countries.

In March of that year they shot the music video for the third song "Talk To Me", which was also the first single relased in Hong Kong.

In April the duet began a concert tour to promote the album (Hong Kong was one of the places where Smash!! performed, garnering lots of attention from fans).

In September they shot their fourth music video for the next single from their album, "Freeway".

On November 11-12 the band held their first concerts in the Russian capital of Moscow.

During that year, Smash!! received numerous awards, including: the MUZ TV awards discovery of the year; the Europe-plus radio station Euro-hit award; gold gramophone; weighty hit; love radio; and sound-track awards.

In 2004, the following year, the duet began recording on their second album, which would be entitled "2Nite".

In May of that year, Smash!!, in cooperation with the Italian band Earphones, recorded the song "Obsession", to be released in their next album. When the song was aired on the radio, it immediately rose up to the top of the hit parades and became the top summer hit of the year. Simultaneously, the album "Freeway" was released (as a special Asian edition) in Southeast Asia - Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. The album, upon release, occupied the top of the music charts throughout the region. This was followed by a promotional tour, during which the band shot a music video for their cover version of George Michael's song "Faith" in Shanghai (which became the next single from their debut album). Also, they shot an episode of "Teleplay" in Hong Kong, acting as volleyball players from Russia.

In September, "Obsession" was released in India.

It was in that year that Smash!! received an award from the 2004 MTV Russian Music Awards (RMA) as "Pop-Project of the Year", and the sound-track award as "Band of the Year".

2004–2005: "2Nite", "Evolution" and breakup of the band

On December 1 of 2004 Smash!! released their second album, "2Nite". After its release, Sergey decided to go solo.

Vlad released one more album, "Evolution", under the band's name, with 7 musical instrument players, due to obligation by the band's contract with Universal Music. After that, Vlad followed Sergey's footsteps and also went solo, which led to the formal discontinuation of the band.

Fans were divided into three main groups after Sergey had gone solo: Sergey fans, Vlad fans and Smash!! fans. Sergey fans disliked Vlad and his fans, and vice versa. From Sergey's departure to, whenever fans went to see a "Smash!!" performance, most of them longed to see one of the members, but when they saw the other, whom they disliked, they left at once, making the artists embarrassed.

Other Information

"Smash!!" was one of the more renowned bands ever to enter in the Russian music industry, apart from t.A.T.u. They had huge successes both inside and out of their home country of Russia. They were the only Russian artists in Russia to release music sung primarily in English, with a few Russian tracks along t.A.T.u.

Their song "Talk To Me" was covered by Taiwanese pop group Fahrenheit.

Smash!! reunited for a short performance in RMA 2006, where Sergey and Vlad sang "Belle".

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* [http://www.last.fm/music/Smash!! Last.fm Page] (in MutiLanguage)