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Leonid and Friends is a Chicago tribute band based in Moscow. Leonid and Friends started as a YouTube band and now also tours. The band leader and founder is Leonid Vorobyev (b. 1957 in Moscow, Russia). Vorobyev is a multi-instrumentalist, a recording studio sound engineer and choir conductor by training at the East Siberian Institute of Culture. [1] Vorobyev made his first Chicago video recording in 2014 of the song Brand New Love Affair. With former Kyiv, Ukraine vocalist Serge Tiagniryadno, Leonid and Friends YouTube videos have gone viral, with views in the millions.[2] Leonid & Friends have recorded three Chicago tribute albums, titled Chicagovich. After touring in Russia, the band first toured the United States in 2019.[3] In 2018, songs by Earth, Wind, & Fire, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Tower of Power and The Ides of March were added to the playlist. Leonid Vorobyev's son, Roman Vorobyev (b.1991), is the band’s manager. The band's setup features bass and lead guitar, drums, keyboards, saxophone, trumpet and trombone, with occasional flugelhorn, French horn, flute, metal clarinet, cello and violin and miscellaneous percussion. [4][5] [6][7]

Leonid and Friends
Also known as	Chicagovich
Origin	Russia
Genres	pop rock, Jazz Rock
Years active	2014 – present
Labels	IEC Leonid Vorobyev Self-released
Website	leonidandf.com

Albums

Three self-released albums (vich is Russian for son of):

• Chicagovich - To 50th Anniversary Of The Band Chicago [8]
• Chicagovich II [9]
• Chicagovich III [10]

Single

• The Speck of Dust is a Leonid and Friends original single with lead vocal by Buzina Kseniya Yurievna, released in 2021. Written by Alexey Ashtaev and Lyrics by Leonid Vorobyev and Roman Vorobyev.[11]

Members

Current members

[12]

• Leonid Vorobyev – bass guitar, keyboards, piano, synth, backing and lead vocals (2014–present)[13]
• Igor Javad-Zade – drums, percussion (2014–present)[14]
• Vasily Akimov – lead and backing vocals, percussion, occasional rhythm guitar (2014–present)[15]
• Ksenia Buzina – backing and lead vocals, percussion (2016–present)[16]
• Andrey Zyl – trumpet, flugelhorn (2017–present)[17]
• Oleg Kudryavtsev – tenor and alto saxophones, flute, percussion, backing vocals (2017–present)[18]
• Maxim Likhachev – trombone, percussion (2017–present)[19]
• Sergey Kurmaev – keyboards, backing vocals (2020–present)
• Konstantin Kovachev – lead guitar (2021–present)[20]
• Danil Buranov – lead and backing vocals, percussion (2021–present)
• Mikhail Puntov – lead and backing vocals (2022–present, touring substitute 2021)

Past members

• Serge Tiagnyriadno – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion (2015–2022)[21] Serge returned to Ukraine to fight in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine[22]
• Dmitry Maximov – bass guitar (2014–2015)
• Sergey Kashirin – lead guitar, lead and backing vocals (2014–2021)[23]
• Alexey Batychenko (1972-2021) – trumpet, flugelhorn (2014–2017)[24]
• Alexandr Michurin – trombone, percussion (2014–2017, guest on "You Are on My Mind" and "Beginnings")[25]
• Konstantin Gorshkov – tenor saxophone (2014–2017)[26]
• Vladimir Popov – baritone and alto saxophones, flute, percussion, backing vocals (2015–2020)
• Vlad Senchillo – keyboards, backing vocals (2016–2020)[27]

Other contributors

• Vladimir Osinsky – piano on "Colour My World"
• Ilya Prokudin – trumpet, flugelhorn on "You Are on My Mind" and "Spinning Wheel"
• Daniil Dubrovsky – alto, soprano and tenor saxophones on "Beginnings", "Street Player", "Hanky Panky/Life Saver", "Mongonucleosis" and "After the Love Has Gone"
• Ilya Vymenits – congas on "Hot Streets" and "Street Player"
• Jorgito Nunez – congas on "Hanky Panky/Life Saver"
• Rei Frometa – congas on "Call on Me", "Happy Man", "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long", "Mongonucleosis", "The Speck of Dust" and "So Very Hard to Go"
• Olga Andreeva – trumpet on "Got To Get You Into My Life"
• Roman Vorobyev – backing vocals and handclaps on "East River" and "Mongonucleosis" (also manager)
• Igor Baydikov – backing vocals and handclaps on "East River" and "Mongonucleosis"
• Yan Senchillo – backing vocals and handclaps on "East River" and "Mongonucleosis"
• Artur Gilfanov – trombone, percussion on "Mongonucleosis"
• Evgeny Kondratyev – trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion on "Mongonucleosis" and "After the Love Has Gone"
• Roman Koshkarov – keyboards on "If You Leave Me Now"
• Jacob Zakh – keyboards on "Just You 'n' Me", "You're the Inspiration" and "After the Love Has Gone"
• Mikhail Spasibo – keyboards on "Just You 'n' Me"
• Suren Kocharyan – baritone saxophone on "My Old School"
• Kirill Stekhov – alto saxophone on "My Old School"
• Dmitry Andrianov – guitar on "Ain't It Blue?"
• Valery Martynov – trumpet on "So Very Hard to Go" (also touring substitute 2022–present)
• Dmitry Gorevoy – baritone saxophone on "So Very Hard to Go"

Most members are from Moscow, though Tiagnyriadno, Kashirin, Zyl, Kurmaev and Kovachev hail from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan respectively.

External links

• Leonid & Friends: The Story So Far
• Leonid & Friends: Behind The Music
• Facebook

References

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