Alla Pugacheva

Alla Borisovna Pugacheva's career began in 1965, and by the time the USSR collapsed she had become its most successful performer - her clear mezzo-soprano and full emotional display made her a sex symbol, style icon, and tabloid fixture across the Eastern Bloc. Her debut album Mirror of the Soul moved 10 million copies; her 1982 release How Disturbing Is This Way sold 7 million more. She performed Carnegie Hall, Olympia, Apollo, commanding the largest fee in Eastern Europe for decades and earning the nickname "Russian Madonna". In 1991 she became a People's Artist of the USSR; in 2000 The New York Times called her "the goddess of Russian pop music, Moscow's Tina Turner with a touch of Édith Piaf". She supported Pussy Riot in 2012, retired from performing in 2010, and by 2022 - when the BBC named her among its 100 Women - the question of whether she could return to Russia had become an open one.