Biography

Iosif Kobzon was born on September 11, 1937 in Chasov Yar, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Za spichkami (1980), Ne boysya, ya s toboy (1981) and Oni byli aktyorami (1981). He was married to Ninel Kobzon, Lyudmila Gurchenko and Veronika Kruglova. He died on August 30, 2018 in Moscow, Russia.

He and his third wife (now widow) Ninel Kobzon had two children and seven grandchildren together. Their oldest child, a son Andrey Kobzon (b. January 1, 1974), has three children: two daughters Polina (b. 1999) and Anita (b. 2001), and one son, Mikhail (b. 2008). Their youngest child, a daughter Natalya Rappoport (née Kobzon; b. December 7, 1976), has four children: three daughters, Idel (b. 1999), Michelle (b. 2000) and Ornella-Maria (b. 2004), and one son Alen-Joseph (b. 2010).

People's Artist of Russia.

Member of Russian Parliament - Duma.

In 2005 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent complicated surgery to remove the tumor at a clinic in Germany which led to weakening of immunity, blood clot in the pulmonary vessels, pneumonia and inflammation of the tissue in the kidneys. On August 28, 2018, he fell into a coma and died two days later, on August 30, 2018, just two weeks before his 81st birthday.