[2] Kombinaciya was co-founded in 1988 by manager/producer Alexander Shishinin (Александр Шишинин) and classically trained composer Vitali Okorokov (Виталий Окороков) in Saratov, Russia.

Later band members included Inessa Topiani (Инесса Топиани), Nura Kovaleva (Нюра Ковалева), Svetlana Kashina (Светлана Кашина), Elena Molchanova (Елена Молчанова), Galya Lezina (Гала Лезина), Svetlana Molchanova (Светлана Молчанова), Katerina Bolotova (Катерина Болотова) and Natalia Pushkareva (Наталья Пушкарева).

Lead singer Alena Apina later recalled Kombinaciya's first major concert, which took place on the big stage of the Sports Palace in Volgograd.

[4] The band's popularity peaked between 1989 and 1993, with major hits such as "Russian Girls", "American Boy", "Accountant" (Бухгалтер), and "Two Slices of Sausage" (Два кусочека колбаски).

[6][7] A major setback to the group occurred in 1991, when lead vocalist Alena Apina left the band to pursue a successful career as a solo performer.

Another big setback to the group occurred on March 5, 1993, when manager/producer Alexander Shishinin was murdered, a still-unsolved crime that was rumored to be linked to Russian Mafia influence in the music industry.

[8] Without Shishinin's guidance, the band's subsequent new material had limited success, but Kombinaciya continued to intermittently tour using the enduring popularity of its earlier big hits.

In 2024 Russian streaming media service Wink broadcast the dramatized biographical series Комбинация based on the group's early history.

[11] "American Boy"[12] was one of Kombinaciya's major hit songs, released in 1990[13] when the Soviet Union was dissolving and most Russians were experiencing deteriorating living conditions.