[17][18] Her repertoire includes over 500 songs in Russian, English, German, French, Kazakh, Hebrew, Finnish and Ukrainian, and her discography has more than 100 records, CDs and DVDs.

In addition to Russia and the former Soviet Union, Pugacheva's albums have been released in Japan, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Israel.

[27][29] In 1988, Billboard noted that Pugacheva “ranks with such great musicians of all time as Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

[26] In 2000, The New York Times called her "the goddess of Russian pop music, Moscow's Tina Turner with a touch of Édith Piaf".

[31] In 2017, she was included in the list of "100 most influential Russians of the century" according to Forbes, along with Mikhail Gorbachev, Yuri Gagarin and Pavel Durov.

[40][41][42][43][44] Pugacheva was also involved in social activities[disambiguation needed], is considered a gay icon,[45][46][47] and in 2012 she supported the punk group Pussy Riot.

[1] Pugacheva was born to Boris Mikhailovich Pugachyov and Zinaida Arkhipovna (née Odegova) Pugachyova in Moscow, on 15 April 1949.

In 1975, she received the Grand Prix of the Golden Orpheus international singing contest in Bulgaria, performing the song "Harlequin" by Emil Dimitrov.

[29] In that same year, Pugacheva recorded a number of songs for the musical drama-comedy The Irony of Fate as the singing voice of Nadja, the female protagonist.

The soundtrack, which was co-written by Pugacheva and composed of pop songs, culminated with the dramatic title ballad "Zhenshchina, kotoraya poyot".

The result of their collaboration was the release of the album "Songs instead of Letters", published by Polydor Records in Germany and Melodiya in the USSR.

[76] From 2005 to 2019 Pugacheva awarded a cash prize from personal funds in the amount of $50,000 to young talented performers from Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Central Asia, including rock musician Koop Arponen from Finland, Tina Karol from Ukraine, Marina Lucenko from Poland, Stas Shurins from Latvia, Monika Linkyte from Lithuania, Maxim Erzhan from Kazakhstan and others.

[99] Russian music critic Alexey Mazhaev, in a review of Pugacheva's album "How Disturbing Is This Way", noted a combination of different genres — folk ("Stairs"), reggae ("Hold Me, straw"), blues ("That's how it Happened, Mom"), gypsy style ("Old Song").

Mazhaev also noted that in 12 of the 16 compositions, the singer wrote the music herself, demonstrating completely different vocal techniques and acting skills.

But even with their American and European trappings, the songs have an unmistakably Slavic tone, conveyed not only by the hard consonants of the Russian lyrics, but also by the shifting, theatrical moodiness and almost constant use of minor keys.

[4] During her career, Pugacheva collaborated with artists from around the world, including Jacob Dahlin, Raimonds Pauls, Gloria Gaynor, Demis Roussos, Alexander Bard, Joe Dassin, Udo Lindenberg, Barry Manilow, Herreys, Bobbysock and others.

[44] Over the years of her creative activity, which began in the mid-1960s, Pugacheva influenced the art of performers of the 90s of the twentieth century and subsequent generations, as well as the consciousness of people in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Central Asia.

[115] Italian singer-songwriter Toto Cutugno noted that he considers Pugacheva an outstanding singer; а similar opinion was expressed by Swedish musician, member of the pop group ABBA Björn Ulvaeus.

The festival was attended by performers from the United States, Ukraine, Greece, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Israel, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Australia and other countries, including Gloria Gaynor, Demis Roussos, Alexander Bard, Goran Bregovic and others.

[123][102] Cover versions of songs from Pugacheva's repertoire have been recorded by pop, rock and hip-hop artists from around the world, including Patricia Kaas ("I Like It"), Lara Fabian ("Love Like a Dream"), Muslim Magomayev ("Every night and Every Day"), Bi-2 ("Paper Kite"), Tokiko Kato ("Millions of scarlet Roses") and others.

[133][134][135][136] In the film "Empire V", released in 2023, the image of the goddess Ishtar was copied from Pugacheva, who was one of the main pop icons in show business in Russia and Eastern Europe for several decades.

Actress Yulia Aug, who embodied the image of “Diva,” noted that for her Pugacheva is the greatest artist; she is a code that is embedded in the DNA of the majority of Eastern Europeans, and no one can cancel her status as a legend, despite all the events that are currently happening in Russia and the world.

[148][149][150][151][152][153] In 1969, she married Lithuanian circus performer Mykolas Orbakas [lt], and on 25 May 1971 she gave birth to a daughter, Kristina Orbakaitė, who is also a popular singer.

[156] On the day of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, while in Odesa in the company of Mikhail Zhvanetsky, she expressed confidence that there would be no turning back, that their time had passed.

[156][157] In June 1996, Pugacheva actively participated in the pre-election tour of Boris Yeltsin's presidential campaign "Vote or lose.

[1] In December 2005, Pugacheva became a member of the Civic Chamber under the President of the Russian Federation, where she worked on social development issues until 2008.

[164][165] However, after the removal of its leader, the day after the congress at a meeting of supporters of Mikhail Prokhorov, she left the party, blaming Vladislav Surkov for what happened.

[171] In March 2014, Pugacheva signed a petition against the persecution of Andrey Makarevich, who protested against the annexation of Crimea and war in Donbas.

[175] In September 2022, after her husband had been declared a "foreign agent", she spoke out publicly condemning the war and useless deaths of Russian men who are forced to die for no reason.

[185] German rock musician Udo Lindenberg[186] and Ukrainian singer Svetlana Loboda[187] also expressed words of support for Pugacheva.