She was born on November 9, 1929, in Beketovka (now a neighborhood in Volgograd), Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, and began playing the piano and composing music at an early age.

Her husband, the eminent Soviet-era poet Nikolai Dobronravov, contributed lyrics to her music on occasion, including songs used in three films.

One of her most famous ballads is Belovezhskaya Pushcha, composed in 1975, which celebrates Białowieża Forest, a last remnant of the European wildwood split now between Poland and Belarus.

Another much-aired song was Malaya Zemlya, about a minor outpost where the then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev served as a political commissar during World War II.

He was assigned by the radio officials to work with her as a lyricist on a children's tune "Little Motor Boat" (Lodochka motornaya).