Born in Kyiv, before entering the entertainment industry, Gartsman worked as a mechanic in a factory and as an engineer in a bus depot.

[1] His career started when some compositions he had sent to director David Cherkassky were eventually chosen to be part of the film Treasure Island.

[1] Gartsman later composed songs for prominent artists such as Sofia Rotaru, Alla Pugacheva, Verka Serduchka, Nikolai Karachentsov, Taisia Povaliy and Maxim Galkin.

[1][2] Gartsman was also active as an actor and a screenwriter in cinema and on television, having some significant success playing the lead in the series Liquidation.

[1][2] In 1990, he co-founded the comic newspaper Blin, that he also directed until 1998.