Mitya Fomin
“ In this issue, meet our star of the month: one of the most talented and popular artists in Russia Mitya Fomin — Russian singer, theater actor, and TV presenter. In 1998-2008 and since 2018 — the frontman of the fantastically popular musical pop band Hi-Fi. He is the Winner of the Golden Gramophone award and the Song of the Year festival, multiple nominee and winner of the MUZ-TV and RU.TV awards. We were very happy to meet Mitya and interviewed him. He also told us how he lived in the US in the 90s and how thorny his creative path was!
— You have an amazing career, tremendous experience. As a child, did you think that everything should turn out this way, or did it just come into your life by chance?
— As a child, I dreamed of becoming an artist, but I had no idea how this should happen. I was ready to be anyone — an actor, a singer, a circus performer, or a conversational genre — the main thing is to exist on stage. But exactly how this should happen was a mystery to me. Imagine a boy from Novosibirsk in the 80s of the last century… back then, the people on TV were like gods for us, something unattainable. And, of course, in the family, in society, it was not customary to declare such fantasies, so I didn’t tell anyone that I wanted to become an artist. How to approach them, and even more so to become one of them? For this, a miracle must happen. But I’ve always believed in miracles. And for good reason.
— Our readers are mostly from the USA. So they will be interested to know about your experience and work in the US. Where exactly did you live and what did you do? What do you remember about this period and why did you decide to return to Russia?
— My period of American life began after my third year of medical school. I took a sabbatical for a year and went to the US, as I thought, to record music. Honestly, I don’t understand how my parents let me go because flying from Novosibirsk to America in the early 90s is like flying to the moon now. Ordinary people didn’t travel abroad at all, much less so far. But the parents took this news steadfastly and allowed me to go. I miraculously got a visa, honestly, I’ve always been lucky in this regard, and flew. Two of my friends, who were there a little earlier, warned me that everything wasn’t as we planned. The person who was supposed to meet us and help simply disappeared. They had to work at the lowest-paid jobs, living half-starved in the semi-criminal cheap Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago, and there was nothing to do there.
But I’m not one of those who give up and retreat from plans, especially since I had a sabbatical, a visa… I flew straight from fashionable and aristocratic London (but that’s another story), and the three of us settled in one room in a five-room apartment, where beside us lived other people. Honestly, it was hell! Winter, Chicago, the constant terrible piercing wind, this impoverished and unsafe Latin American Pilsen district at that time. Although I would love to see what my house at 2121 West Street looks like now. That’s how this address sounded like, I guess.
We slept dressed under blankets, and in the first days, I fell down with a fever and a cough. But then I thought: “Mitya if you don’t survive here, you won’t survive anywhere.” Pocket money quickly ran out, I got a job, and I had to survive somehow. At first, I cleaned offices for $5 a day. Endless rows of office desks with telephones, greasy handsets that needed to be scrubbed. We worked almost until morning. It was a huge open-space call center, you’ve probably seen them in the movies. The work was exhausting.
It couldn’t go on like this for a long time, so I started to look for more options. And here thanks to my mother Tamara Pavlovna, who, before leaving, made me get a massage therapist certificate — and I decided to become a massage therapist. With this, of course, there were also adventures, because where to look for clients? I somehow contacted a local newspaper with a request to place an ad. To do this, I also had to translate the certificate into English, but I did it. The ad came out — and I got my first customers and calls. I was already getting $50 an hour for a massage, and I healed almost happily.
However, it turned out that not everyone who orders such services needed only a massage. They demanded more from me. Therefore, when I refused, I could be left without money, kicked out, and cursed up hill and down dale. My main argument was that my ad is posted in the “Services” section, and what you are looking for is published in “Adult Services”. But these were isolated cases, basically, life began to improve.
By the way, I recorded music in Chicago after all. Found out that the Chicago Public Library has a piano class with rent by the hour. I went there and eventually recorded a three-part piano piece of my own composition. Then I reproduced copies on tapes and gave them to all my friends in America, and on the way back to England. “Feeling Up To The Future” is the title of this work. It is still stored in my records.
— What are your hobbies behind the scenes?
— I collect thimbles from all over the world. There are already several hundred in my collection. They are stored in special glass boxes. I brought them from America from almost everywhere, and I’ve been to many places. But my favorite is from the small village of Alabama, which is located in the state of Illinois.
— Which of the world’s stars have always inspired you?
— I have always loved bright and non-standard characters who are not afraid of provocations: David Bowie, Grace Jones, Annie Lennox, Desireless, Pet Shop Boys, Zhanna Aguzarova, Lady Gaga, Madonna. I will also highlight Robbie Williams. I would like to sing a duet with him. And I am often told that we are similar.
Several times I have been to Las Vegas and enjoyed going to concerts of world stars. I especially remember Bette Midler, whose show ticket I still keep. By the way, it was in Las Vegas that we filmed a reality show for MUZ-TV “Wedding in Las Vegas”, where the singer Slava and I played a naive sitcom about love. I would be happy to review these shots of our formation now.
.— Ambitions and plans for the future? What projects are currently being prepared? What can we expect?
— An interesting experience awaits me next year: I plan to launch an author’s travel show. Perhaps readers in America know the New York Times bestseller “The Blue Zones” — a study of the regions with the highest life expectancy in the world. So, my team and I are planning to conduct the same research in the format of a travel show across the regions of Russia: we will go to places with the highest life expectancy to find out the secrets of longevity. And at the same time to tell our viewers how to live longer, healthier and happier. The preliminary name of the project is “Who lives well in Russia”. I act as a presenter and as the author of the idea. I am personally very interested in the topic of longevity and biohacking. I myself plan to live as long as possible, and judging by the way world science, health care, and cosmetology are developing, I think that humanity is already on the verge of inventing an elixir, if not immortality, then longevity for sure. And people deserve it.
.— What else is in the plans?
— Last year I became the owner of another American visa. I would love to come to the USA to see my friends, give concerts, meet new people, and travel to places I haven’t been to yet — Alaska, Texas, and San Francisco. And my main dream is Hawaii.
Describe yourself in one word.
Serendipity.
Mitya interviewed by Lil Safonova
Follow Mitya on IG @mf_agent