[1] Voznesensky was considered "one of the most daring writers of the Soviet era" but his style often led to regular criticism from his contemporaries and he was once threatened with expulsion by Nikita Khrushchev.

Voznesensky's long-serving mentor and muse was Boris Pasternak,[3] the Nobel Laureate and the author of Doctor Zhivago.

His father, Andrei Nikolaevich Voznesensky [ru] (1903-1974) was a professor of engineering, while his mother influenced him early on by reading poetry in his presence.

While still a teenager, he sent his poems to Boris Pasternak; the friendship between the two had a strong influence on the young poet, and he later described this relationship in "I Am Fourteen" – "From that day on, my life took on a magical meaning and a sense of destiny; his new poetry, telephone conversations, Sunday chats at his house from 2 to 4, walks—years of happiness and childish adoration".

[2] The secretary of Union of Writers of Russia, Gennady Ivanov, announced that he had died in his home in a peaceful manner.

His lyrics are characterized by his tendency "to measure" the contemporary person by modern categories and images, by the eccentricity of metaphors, by the complex rhythmical system and sound effects.

[citation needed] The Goya-inspired "I Am Goya" was an early Voznesensky effort, and went on to achieve considerable recognition for its impressions of the fear and horror attached to war, as demonstrated by its Russian metaphors and recurring "g" sounds.

[3] Voznesensky was one of several young Russian intellectuals whom Nikita Khrushchev invited to a reception hosted by the ruling Communist Party in December 1962.

[5] In the 1960s, during the so-called Thaw, Voznesensky frequently travelled abroad: to France, Germany, Italy, the United States and other countries.

The popularity of Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Bella Akhmadulina was marked by their performances in front of the adoring crowds numbering in the thousands at stadiums, in concert halls and universities.

He is known to wider audiences for the superhit Million of Scarlet Roses that he penned for Alla Pugacheva in 1984 and for the hugely successful rock opera Juno and Avos (1979), based on the life and death of Nikolai Rezanov.

[citation needed] On Tuesday, 23 December 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev bestowed a state award upon Voznesensky at the Kremlin.

Russian poetry has always inspired recitation and a rapt response from the reciter's audience, but Mr. Voznesensky, and his contemporary Yevgeny Yevtushenko, are perhaps the first Russian poets to exploit this in the actual process of composition—to write poems specifically for performing, as pop songs are written for electronic transmission by singers and band.