Published: 25 January, 2008, 21:48
Edited: 10 May, 2010, 21:02
Russia is marking the seventieth anniversary of the birth of the legendary singer and songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky. He became one of the voices of the Soviet people in the 1980s.
Vladimir Vysotsky was popular throughout the Soviet Union, where millions knew the characters of his songs.
Some even spent their monthly wages buying tape recorders just to be able to listen to him.
Vysotsky wrote more than 700 songs – some about the Great Patriotic War and others about forbidden topics such as Soviet prisons and routine life in the USSR.
Despite his popularity his name rarely appeared in the Soviet media. He died in 1980 at the age of 42.