Tatu's Volkova Used to Fight Over Boys

One of the Tatu girls used to get hysterical before she started singing
Ira Nabokova, 19, was a friend of Yulia Volkova, the brunette from the notorious duet Tatu. "When Yulia started singing, it was a very big surprise for us," Ira Nabokova said about her former friend. The two girls became friends in the Artek resort for children, situated on the Black Sea coast. When at the resort, the two girls had a big fight over a boy, which is why Ira's recollections of Yulia are basically negative.

"Yulia was a very capricious and scandalous girl with fair hair down to her shoulders. We often had fights with her; I even beat her up once. We spent one of our vacations in the Crimea in 1999. She would always start every day with a scandal - she would lose her tights and lipstick and so on. She would also publicly refuse to eat at the canteen, saying that it was not food, but garbage. However, the most surprising thing was the fact that, three years ago, she was afraid of going on stage!

"We had a lot of shows on stage, competitions and concerts every night. I was in charge of the cultural part. Yulia would get hysterical and throw so many tantrums like: 'No, I won't do this, I don't want to do that, I hate it!’ Yet, Yulia was very fond of boys. We had a boy there, a rather good-looking one; his name was Grant, and he was from the republic of  Armenia. All the girls in Artek were crazy about him, but Grant had a crush on me. At first I did not pay any attention to him, although I did not send him away either. Soon we developed some feelings for each other. Yulia Volkova came into the picture at that instant. She started saying nice things to me, telling me that I was pretty, that I had nice earrings. However, she couldn’t wait to hang out with Grant every night. I was deeply hurt when  I learned of their affair. One day I told her everything that I thought of her. In return she just insulted me in every single way. Her words made me speechless. But then I recovered and slapped her in the face. That kicked it all off; I started hitting her with everything that my hands could grab.

"I was very surprised when I received a letter from her in autumn. She wrote that she was a good friend of mine, and she also mentioned that she had had a real 'adult' love affair with Grant. The she called me and yelled: ‘Have you seen me on television? I have dyed my hair black and now I sing in the group Tatu !!! I am the coolest ever now!’ I just did not care."

Irina still has some letters that Yulia Volkova wrote to her. She never thought that these letters would become a part of the Tatu biography. Here are some excerpts from Yulia's letters:

"When I was leaving Artek, I cried so much. I had some vodka with some guys, two or three shots. I got so drunk on that and then I went to bed. When I returned to Moscow, it was very hot. I am waiting for Grant, he is going to come back from Artek on the ninth, he promised to call me, but you know him.

"Do you remember you gave me a ring in Artek? Thanks so much, I am sending it back to you and I enclosed my ring for you to keep.

"Now I go to three schools: a secondary school, a music school and a modeling school. But I find some time to hang out as well. By the way, I got to meet Grant in Moscow in August. We remembered you and he told me that he would write a letter to you. There was a lot of love between us in Artek, we walked around at night. He got close to you just to make me jealous. Of course, I do not have any feelings for him. I have another boyfriend now, we have been dating for three months already."

On the photo: Julia Volkova (on the left) and as a blond, her friend Irina (center)

Komsomolskaya Pravda