t.A.T.u. Timeline (1999 - 2005)
This timeline of t.A.T.u.'s history is from Tatu.ru which is no longer online. It was not updated after 2005.
1999
May 31
The t.A.T.u. duo is formed. Their created story about two girls who went crazy from love and passion they felt for each other becomes the duo's unique legend. The history reminds everybody that strong feelings such as love are beyond any bounds and pales.
2000
September
t.A.T.u.'s first single, "Ya Soshla S Uma," makes its radio debut. The song reaches the top of play-lists on Russian radio stations and becomes a hit-parade resident on Russkoye Radio, Dynamit, HIT FM and Europe Plus radio stations for several months. All in all, the hit single "Ya Soshla S Uma" is airplayed on national and local radio stations more than 10 thousand times. The music video for "Ya Soshla S Uma" is released on MTV Russia. Immediately it reaches the top.
December 19
t.A.T.u. give their first press conference in the secondary school #1113 close to "Pushkinskaya" metro station, where they officially present their first single "Ya Soshla S Uma." The single also contains 4 remixes and 2 music videos. The later calculations show that 50,000 official copies of "Ya Soshla S Uma" were sold. The rough estimation of the pirate copies sold is 200,000. Despite such an incredible success, t.A.T.u. rarely perform and spend all the time in the studio recording their debut album.
2001
May 16
"Neformat," the company that owns the rights on the t.A.T.u. brand and organizes the whole creative process, signs a contract with Universal Music Russia, the division of worldwide music industry giant, in the hotel "Radisson-Slavyanskaya." According to the contract, t.A.T.u. are under the obligation to release 3 albums, the first of which is "200 Po Vstrechnoy."
May 21
The debut album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" is released. On the same day, the new t.A.T.u. music video for the song "Nas Ne Dogonyat" blows up on the country's TV screens. The video becomes the most expensive one ever shot in Russia. Shooting lasts three days, with upper-perspective shots recorded from helicopter-mounted cameras. By the way, "Nas Ne Dogonyat" was exactly the song that took the longer time to record than other songs - the whole week.
The album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" contains 11 songs:
1. Zachem Ya
2. Ya Soshla S Uma
3. Nas Ne Dogonyat (Video)
4. Doschitai Do Sta
5. 30 Minut
6. Ya Tvoi Vrag
7. Ya Tvoya Ne Pervaya
8. Robot
9. Malchik Gay
10. Nas Ne Dogonyat (HarDrum Remix)
11. 30 Minut (HarDrum Remix)
In the first two months of its release, the album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" sold about 500,000 legal copies (which means about two million pirate copies sold on various media). All together, the album sold more than two million legal copies in Russia (and approximately four million pirate copies) in 2001.
June 2
t.A.T.u. get the "100 Pudoviy Hit" Award from the HIT FM radio station. The ceremony takes place in the Kremlin Hall, where t.A.T.u. sing their music best-seller "Ya Solshla S Uma."
August
t.A.T.u. start recording the album's English version for their promotional tour in Europe. The song "Ya Soshla S Uma" is translated first. t.A.T.u. shoot the video for the song "30 Minut." The video can't get into rotation because of the censorship issues.
September 6
t.A.T.u. go to New York, where in the legendary Metropolitan Opera House they receive an MTV Video Music Award for the video "Ya Soshla S Uma" in the "Viewers Choice - Best Russian Video" category. Later in September, the new single and video are released: "30 Minut." The song immediately goes into heavy rotation (30-35 times a week) on the Russkoye Radio, Dynamit, Europe Plus, Love Radio, RDV, HIT FM, and Tango radio stations. Altogether, the song is played on the radio about 3,500 times.
The music video "30 Minut" tops MTV Russia and MUZ-TV hit parades. Between fall of 2001 and winter of 2002, the video is played on Russian TV stations over 3,000 times. MTV Russia announces the video "Ya Soshla S Uma" as the Best Music Video of the Year. t.A.T.u. go on a tour in Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine and Baltic States, after which the European tour is scheduled.
October
The single "Ya Soshla S Uma" is officially released in the Eastern European countries - Slovakia, Czechia, Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, the song "Ya Soshla S Uma" reaches the first position of the national chart on the youth "MM-Channel" on the day of the appearance, leaving behind such music stars as Limp Bizkit and Jennifer Lopez. During this time, "Nefomat" is carrying on talks with Interscope Records.
November
The single "Nas Ne Dogonyat" makes its debut in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Poland. At exactly this time the album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" is released in the Eastern Europe. t.A.T.u. go with a promo-visit to Slovakia, where they perform in the concert with such a scale similar to Russian "Pesnya Goda" festival. Throughout the fall Russian singles and the album of t.A.T.u. are released in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Poland and immediately hit the leading positions in the national hit-parades.
December
t.A.T.u. go on a tour to Germany. After t.A.T.u.'s groundbreaking performance, Universal Music Germany decides to release the album in Germany.
Meanwhile, the album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" is on top of sales charts in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria. During 2001, the duo toured dozens of cities and towns, giving more than 150 concerts in Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovakia total. t.A.T.u. get a second wind: the English version of the album is about to make the most famous Russian girls in Europe famous all over the world.
2002
January
The Russian division of IFPI (International Association of Phonogram Producers) acknowledges the album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" as the best-selling album in the country. t.A.T.u. start to work on singles to release in the US ("Not Gonna Get Us") and Germany ("I've Lost My Mind"). The singles will be in the English version of the album. First, Lena and Yulia work in the studio in England - then in the States, in Los Angeles. At this stage, a number of unique people start to work on the album. Only few pop-stars could afford such a high-rate sound-producing. In Manchester F.A.F/Cap Com Production (which also worked with such successful teams as Sonique, Moby, Rammstein, Eskimos & Egypt and Steps) runs the process. In London, re-recording the English versions of the songs is conducted together with the world-famous producer Trevor Horn.
February 15
Closely watching t.A.T.u.'s unprecedented success, Universal Music Russia releases a new extended edition of the album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" with new artwork, a new track ("Klouny") and new remixes ("30 Minut" and "Malchik Gei"). Re-edition of the album breaks all the records within the first week: 60,000 legal copies sold.
February 18
International weekly Business Week runs a cover photo of Lena and Julia together with Bill Roedy, President of MTV Network International.
March
In the short breaks between touring Russia and Europe, t.A.T.u. continue to work on the English version of the album for the American market.
April
t.A.T.u. receive two awards in Czech Republic: the first one is for the number of copies sold (10,000 legal copies), and the second one - out of love of people, that brought the duo to the top of the national hit-parade. Universal Music Russia releases two video remixes of the songs "Ya Soshla S Uma" and "Nas Ne Dogonyat."
April 11
t.A.T.u., the duo that is not afraid of expressing emotions in public, gets "Bed of the Year" award in the category "Sex Dissidents." The ceremony takes place in the Moscow club "Metelitsa." The girls are given condoms as a prize. Yulia asks a rhetoric question, "Why would we need them?" And Lena answers her: "Probably for our collection!"
April 12
t.A.T.u. finish the studio work: the new single "Prostye Dvizheniya" ("Simple Movements") is ready to conquer hit-parades.
May 15
t.A.T.u.'s award collection gets bigger with the IFPI Platinum Europe Award acknowledging European sales of 1,000,000 copies of the album "200 Po Vstrechnoy." t.A.T.u. become the first and so far the only band from Eastern Europe who received such an award.
May 23
The song "Nas Ne Dogonyat" is recognized as the Best Song of the Year, and t.A.T.u. receive the "Ovatsiya" Award.
May 30
The presentation of the new provocative music video "Prostye Dvizheniya" takes place in "Marika" club. Hints and unmentioned things in the slightly erotic context make the video a high-rated and exciting one.
June
t.A.T.u. go to New York to be a part of the daily TRL show on American MTV. The English version of the debut album is done.
July 1
The shooting of the music video for the English version of "Ya Soshla S Uma" song - "All The Things She Said" - begins. Only the parts where the girls sing are re-shot. To create the atmosphere of the video that had been filmed two years earlier, the same wall was built as in the first video. Also, the original metallic fence from the first video was found. Through this fence, America will see Yulia and Lena kissing in the rain. The t.A.T.u. wave finally reaches Poland.
The duo takes first positions in the national hit-parades, the girls are invited for photo-sessions. The album "200 kmh in the Wrong Lane" is released in the States. The popularity of the song "All the Things She Said" is increasing swiftly.
August 18
t.A.T.u. - not for the first time! - leave for Los Angeles, where they start their US promo tour. First single, first music video, first appearance on American music market - a challenging place where about 100,000 new musicians are trying to break in every year.
September 3
Debut hit "All The Things She Said" (the English version of "Ya Soshla S Uma") appears on the radio in Spain, Italy, Holland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and also the music video for the song is shown on all the music TV channels of the mentioned countries. In Italy, the CD gets a "Platinum" status (25,000 copies sold) on the day of release.
September 10
The single "All The Things She Said" is released in the US. The CD contains two versions of the song "All The Things She Said" and two videos: "All The Things She Said" and a "Behind the Scenes with Julia and Lena" backstage video.
October 7
The English version of the album "200 Km/H In The Wrong Lane" is released in Eastern Europe. The album becomes a bestseller right away. Julia and Lena go on a promo-tour round Europe.
During the tour, t.A.T.u. gave about 50 interviews published in all European languages. t.A.T.u. becomes a real sensation in the world music industry - and the first Russian project that managed to achieve such success.
November 14
t.A.T.u. take part in the European Music Awards ceremony after being nominated for Best Dance Video, and perform their hit "All The Things She Said" live for more than 20 million viewers. t.A.T.u. receive true worldwide recognition. The duo also performs at the pre-show of Billboard magazine award (2002 FOX Billboard BASH). In Italy, the debut single achieves "Platinum" status and the album itself achieves "Gold" status. In Sweden, the single also achieves "Platinum" status.
The music video "All The Things She Said" gets in hot rotation on MTV US and MTV UK. The debut album becomes "Platinum" in Finland. The duo's success story gets into the best music magazines of the world. The girls give interviews to Rolling Stone. Artsy photos appear in Interview, Jane and Spin.
2003
t.A.T.u. are acknowledged to be the band of the month in Malaysia, where their hit has been at No. 1 for several weeks. "Not Gonna Get Us" is at No. 1 of the hit-list songs most often ordered by the major New York radio station Z100. At some point, the band becomes the most rotated one in the US. The album "200 km/h In The Wrong Lane" achieves "Gold" status in Mexico. The duo is at the second position of the national French hit-parade and at the first position in the UK charts.
BBC News invites t.A.T.u. to take part in the prime-time UK news program. The chairwoman of Children Protection Board accuses t.A.T.u. of having a demoralizing influence on English pupils, especially schoolgirls. The girls reply that they have only one motive for their creative process, and that is love.
The US promotional tour begins. The girls perform at Jay Leno's show wearing t-shirts with "ХУЙ ВОЙНЕ" written on them (literal translation: "Fuck the War").
Later on, it turns out that the management of the program cuts the kiss out of the TV version. The next day, Americans find out the meaning of the words on t.A.T.u. t-shirts, and the duo is prohibited from performing in them in the next show for Jimmy Kimmel. The culmination of the show becomes the moment when Julia takes Kimmel's hand and writes on it the same words with a marker. In response, t.A.T.u. perform in the t-shirts with a word "Censored" on them, and when the showman asks them to kiss, they refuse to do that.
October
t.A.T.u. become the winner of World Music Awards in Monte Carlo in the categories of World's Best Pop Group, World's Best Duet and World's Best Dance Group. According to the idea of the band's management, Julia and Lena begin their performance with shooting at the audience with real machine guns charged with blank bullets. Having heard of such a daring staging idea, ceremony organizers hand out toy-like guns to the girls. This contradicts the original staging idea, and t.A.T.u. refuse to participate in the ceremony. The awards are never given to them.
November
Together with other four Russian bands, t.A.T.u. were nominated as the Best Russian Act for the MTV Europe Music Awards.
The duo decides to give the voices they received in favor of the "Leningrad" band, whom the girls liked the best. t.A.T.u. have already been a winner in this nomination in 2001 and now the girls want others to have a chance to show themselves at the upcoming world ceremony in Edinburgh on November 6th.
December 1-2
Two huge concerts as a part of SHOW ME LOVE tour take place in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, in its biggest concert arena - Tokyo Dome (capacity: 43,000 people). Also, t.A.T.u. accept the invitation to meet Takeshi Ketano, the guru of Japanese cinematograph, at his TV studio. Over there, Lena Katina plays ping-pong with Takesi. She plays with double energy - for her and for Julia who got suddenly sick.
The results of 2003: t.A.T.u.'s debut album gets the "Gold" status in England, South Africa, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Mexico; the album achieves the "Platinum" status in Taiwan, Finland, Poland, Italy, and twice "Platinum" in Hong Kong, Czech Republic and Canada. t.A.T.u. set an absolute record on sales in Japan. In the "country of rising sun," the album beats the sales records of such pop industry legends as The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Madonna, 1.8 million copies of "200 Km/H In The Wrong Lane" are sold.
2004
t.A.T.u. start to record their second album in the reality show "t.A.T.u. in Underheaven" format. The shooting takes place in the penthouse of the "Pekin" hotel situated on Mayakovsky Square. The reality show should end with the release of t.A.T.u.'s second album. The show broadcasted on STS Channel gets a wide response, up to the point when Moscow City Duma addresses the Court regarding selected episodes of the show. According to the concept of the reality show, with no scenario and maximum reflection of the things that actually happen, the show develops in an unpredictable way and ends with the girls' breaking off their relationship with Ivan Shapovalov. Ivan resigns as chief executive of "Neformat", the company representing Lena and Julia's interests. The girls get independence and keep the rights to the t.A.T.u. brand.
May
It becomes known that Julia Volkova is pregnant, but the news does not change the music plans of the duo.
Summer
Within the frame of a new contract between "Neformat" and major recording label Universal Music International, t.A.T.u. start recording their second album without a single producer but with their creative team's support.
2005
January 17
t.A.T.u. go to Los Angeles, to the famous Village studio, where they start the work on the new album. The recording process lasts more than three months. Unique showbiz people take part in it.
April
t.A.T.u. choose an album name for its Russian version: "Lyudi Invalidy" (the name of the international version is "Dangerous and Moving").