Сливки - Biography and discography, all albums and songs

Slivki, also known as VIA Slivki, is a Russian female pop group formed in 2000 in Saint Petersburg. The project was produced by Evgeny Orlov, who had already worked with the group “Otpetye Moshenniki”. The original lineup consisted of Karina Koks, Daria Ermolaeva and Irina Vasilyeva. Throughout the group’s first decade, Karina Koks remained its principal vocalist and most recognizable voice. Over the years, she was joined by Tina Charles Ogunleye, Regina Burd, Evgenia Morozova, Alla Martynyuk, Alina Smirnova, Maria Panteleeva, Evgenia Sinitskaya and other members.

Slivki reached the height of their popularity during the first half and middle of the 2000s. The group’s best-known songs include “Sometimes,” “You Got Caught,” “Where Does Childhood Go,” “The Weeks Flew By,” “I Am Different,” “I Will Love,” “My Star,” “The Best,” “Above the Clouds,” “Troubles,” “Enough” and “Club Zone.” During their main period of activity, the group released five full-length studio albums, from “First Spring” in 2001 to “Troubles” in 2007, as well as a separate English-language single for the Japanese market.

Discovery and the emergence of Slivki

The story of Slivki did not begin as a ready-made producer-created trio. Before meeting Evgeny Orlov, Karina Koks performed in the Saint Petersburg group Discovery, which made English-language music. Koks later described its style as a mixture of disco-funk and jazz-house and emphasized that the future Slivki effectively grew out of her earlier project. During one of Discovery’s performances, Orlov noticed the musicians and suggested that they try working in Russian and aim for a broader audience.

The collaboration led to a major restructuring of the project. The name Discovery was replaced by Slivki, the repertoire and stage presentation changed, and a female lineup was formed around Karina. In 2000, Daria Ermolaeva and Irina Vasilyeva joined the group. Karina, Daria and Irina represented Slivki during the first months of its existence and participated in promoting the debut material. All three members appeared officially alongside producer Evgeny Orlov at the press conference for the first album in April 2001.

Unlike many entirely manufactured female projects of the early 2000s, Slivki retained a connection with Karina Koks’s original musical environment. Studio recordings incorporated elements of pop, soul, funk and R&B, while musician Alik Avakov played an important role in arranging the material. Koks was the main vocal center, while the other members combined vocal parts with choreography and stage performance.

“Sometimes” and the first success

The first song to make the name Slivki widely known was “Sometimes.” Its music video appeared in the autumn of 2000 and was directed by Oleg Stepchenko. For the new group, the video was crucial: the song began receiving active rotation on music television channels and radio stations, while the image of three young performers quickly became associated with the group’s name.

In early 2001, a second video followed — “You Got Caught,” directed by Alexander Igudin. By this point, the basic model of early Slivki was already established: melodic dance-pop, R&B inflections, memorable choruses and a carefully constructed visual presentation centered on a female trio.

“First Spring”

On April 12, 2001, the debut album “First Spring” was released by ARS Records. Its official presentation took place the same day at the Metelitsa entertainment complex in Moscow. The album consolidated the success of the first music videos and transformed Slivki from a new television project into a fully fledged touring pop group.

Alongside original material, the repertoire included a new version of “Where Does Childhood Go,” written by Alexander Zatsepin and Leonid Derbenyov. The song had been famous long before Slivki, but the group’s version became one of the notable pop numbers of the early 2000s. A separate music video was filmed for it in July 2001.

Another important song from this period was “The Weeks Flew By.” It remained part of the group’s later repertoire and continued to be performed in concert years afterward alongside the main hits from the early albums.

Tina Charles Ogunleye and the best-known early lineup

After the first phase, Irina Vasilyeva left the group. She was replaced by Tina Charles Ogunleye, and the lineup of Karina Koks — Daria Ermolaeva — Tina Charles Ogunleye became one of the most recognizable in Slivki’s history. These years saw intensive album recording, constant television rotation and a major increase in touring activity.

The roles of the members within the group, however, were different. Koks remained the principal vocalist, while Daria and Tina were actively involved in both the stage and vocal aspects of the project. On releases from this period, they were credited among other things for backing vocals, while the instrumental side was created with the participation of regular musicians and arrangers.

“Mood...” and “I Am Different”

In June 2002, the second album “Mood...” appeared. It was released only thirteen months after the debut, reflecting the intense pace of work during the group’s rapid rise. The album included “I Am Different,” “The Weeks Flew By,” “Probably,” “River,” “Without You,” a new album version of “Where Does Childhood Go,” and other material.

The song “I Am Different” became one of the central tracks on the second album. Musically, the record continued to combine early-2000s Russian pop with soul and R&B inflections. Catalogs of the original editions classify “Mood...” as both pop and funk/soul, which fairly accurately describes the project’s original musical foundation.

An attempt to enter the Japanese market

At the end of 2001, Slivki signed an agreement with the Japanese company Toshiba EMI. In 2002, an English-language maxi-single titled Station Radi-O-Love was released in Japan under the name Cream. The release included original English-language material and an English version of “The Weeks Flew By.”

The project did not develop into a separate international career for Slivki, but it remains an unusual part of the group’s history: in the early 2000s, a Russian pop act received an official release on a major Japanese label long before the era of global streaming platforms.

Daria Ermolaeva’s temporary departure

At the end of 2002, major lineup changes began. Daria Ermolaeva temporarily stopped working with Slivki for health reasons. She was first replaced by Evgenia Morozova, who appeared in the video for “Всего и D-Love,” and then by Alla Martynyuk, who appeared in the video for “I Will Love.” In March 2003, producer Evgeny Orlov confirmed Ermolaeva’s return to the group.

“I Will Love” was a song by Igor Krutoy that had previously been part of the repertoire of Alexander Serov. A separate music video was produced for Slivki’s version. As with “Where Does Childhood Go,” the group periodically turned to well-known songs from previous decades and reworked them within its own pop aesthetic.

“Easy!?” and “My Star”

In 2003, the third studio album “Easy!?” was released. It included “My Star,” “Clouds,” “Всего и D-Love,” “Easy,” “I Will Love,” “River,” “Important,” “Plenty of Options,” “Everything You Need” and other songs. The album continued the group’s most productive recording period.

A special place belongs to “My Star,” recorded together with Otpetye Moshenniki. Both groups worked with producer Evgeny Orlov and frequently appeared together at concerts. Alexander Igudin directed a music video for the collaboration in 2003. The song became one of Slivki’s most notable collaborative projects.

Regina Burd — Michelle

At the end of 2004, Daria Ermolaeva permanently left the regular lineup. After a selection process, she was replaced by Regina Burd, who was given the stage name Michelle within the group. By then, she had extensive dance training, which allowed her to fit easily into Slivki’s stage model, where vocals were combined with choreographed performances.

This produced another well-remembered lineup: Karina Koks, Tina Charles Ogunleye and Regina Burd. This trio represented Slivki during the middle of the decade.

“The Best” with Angelica Varum

One of the group’s most notable collaborations was “The Best,” recorded together with Angelica Varum. The song was written by Leonid Agutin and premiered in the summer of 2004 at the New Wave festival in Jurmala. The music video was directed by Oleg Gusev.

“The Best” also became firmly established in Slivki’s own concert repertoire, with the group performing it without Varum as well. The collaboration showed that by the middle of the 2000s, Slivki was already regarded as an established part of the Russian pop scene, capable of releasing joint songs with artists from an older generation.

“Above the Clouds”

The fourth studio album, “Above the Clouds,” was released in 2005 by ARS Records. According to the musical classification of the original release, it continued to combine pop with elements of funk/soul and vocal mainstream music.

The main song was “Above the Clouds,” for which director Vladimir Yakimenko created a dedicated music video. The visuals were built around stylized images of the group members, while the song itself continued Slivki’s more melodic side, softer than some of the dance singles from the group’s earlier period.

The “Above the Clouds” period was one of the last during which Slivki retained a stable identity specifically as the trio of Karina Koks, Tina Charles and Regina Burd. In 2006, Tina left the group, after which the lineup began changing much more frequently.

Lineup changes after Tina’s departure

After Tina Charles Ogunleye left, several new members passed through Slivki. At different times, Alina Smirnova, Maria Panteleeva, Anna Poyarkova and other singers and dancers performed alongside Karina Koks and Regina Burd. Despite the changes, Koks remained the group’s permanent vocal center and the person most strongly associated with its name by the public.

The constant replacement of members gradually changed how the project was perceived. While audiences in the early 2000s were familiar with specific Slivki lineups, during the second half of the decade Karina Koks effectively became the main element connecting the group’s different versions.

“Troubles”

The group’s final full-length studio album, “Troubles,” was released in 2007. It included “Summer Moscow,” the title track “Troubles,” “Enough,” “From Simple to Complex,” “New Clouds,” “Tarantino” and other songs. Compared with the earlier albums, the influence of contemporary mid-2000s electronic dance-pop became more noticeable in the group’s sound.

The title track was recorded with Dominik Joker. The collaboration continued in 2008, when the artists released another joint track, “Club Zone,” accompanied by a music video directed by Alexey Golubev.

After “Troubles,” Slivki did not release any further full-length studio albums. The record therefore closes the main album discography of the group.

Regina Burd leaves the group

In 2008, Regina Burd left Slivki because of pregnancy. Producer Evgeny Orlov publicly confirmed that her departure was directly connected with expecting a child. Regina was replaced by Evgenia Sinitskaya.

Burd’s departure brought another relatively stable period in Slivki’s history to an end. The project continued to perform, but its lineup increasingly differed from the trios associated with the major albums and music videos of the first half of the decade.

Why Karina Koks left Slivki

The major turning point came in the summer of 2010, when Karina Koks announced her intention to leave the group and begin a solo career. Her contract did not allow her to depart immediately, however, so she continued fulfilling her obligations to the project until the end of the year. Her final performance as a member of Slivki was scheduled for New Year’s Eve, and from the beginning of 2011 she was no longer part of the group.

Koks later explained the decision primarily in terms of emotional and professional exhaustion: by then, she had spent roughly ten years living under an intensive touring schedule and working constantly within a single project. Her departure was crucial for the group because it was her voice and stage presence that had connected all of its previous lineups.

The final years of the project

At the beginning of 2011, Evgeny Orlov announced a six-month creative break for Slivki, intended to be used for renewing the lineup and preparing new material. However, no new phase comparable to the Karina Koks era emerged: after “Troubles,” the group released no new studio albums, and regular activity gradually faded. Later sources generally place the end of the project at around 2013.

The history of Slivki can therefore be divided most meaningfully into two periods. The first is 2000–2010, when Karina Koks was present in every lineup and the group’s main songs and albums were released. The second is the brief attempt to continue the project after her departure, which did not result in a new stable repertoire.

One-off reunion

In May 2026, Karina Koks, Regina Burd and Tina Charles Ogunleye appeared on stage together again during the celebration of Sergey Zhukov’s 50th birthday. For the three former members, it was a rare joint performance many years after Slivki had ceased regular activity. The reunion was a one-off event and was not accompanied by any announcement of the group’s revival or a new album.

Slivki’s musical style

Slivki’s music occupied a position between early-2000s Russian mainstream pop and the more Western-derived sound of R&B. The origins of this approach can be traced back to Karina Koks’s Discovery, which incorporated disco-funk and jazz-house. After the transition to a Russian-language repertoire, the music became considerably more accessible, while elements of soul and funk remained present in the vocal phrasing and arrangements of the early albums.

At the same time, Slivki was never exclusively a vocal trio in the traditional sense. Instrumentalists and arrangers were involved in the early studio work, while the group’s stage model was built simultaneously around songs, dance and the recognizable visual image of three female performers. This combination allowed the project to fit naturally into the television-driven music culture of the 2000s.

From album to album, the sound became increasingly straightforward and pop-oriented. While the early recordings relied especially heavily on R&B and soul, by “Above the Clouds” and “Troubles” the group was using contemporary dance-pop arrangements more actively. Relationships, breakups, falling in love and emotional independence remained the principal lyrical themes.

Karina Koks and the importance of her role

No biography of Slivki can treat its members as completely interchangeable. The lineup did change repeatedly, but Karina Koks remained with the group from its creation until the end of 2010 and continued to be its principal voice. Koks herself later stated directly that the project had been formed around her after the transformation of Discovery.

For this reason, the departures and replacements of Daria Ermolaeva, Tina Charles, Regina Burd and later members changed Slivki’s visual and stage image but did not completely destroy the project’s recognizability as long as Koks remained within it. Her departure was a much more significant event than the earlier lineup changes.

Main members of Slivki

• Karina Koks — 2000–2010, principal vocalist and central member;
• Daria Ermolaeva — 2000–2002, then 2003–2004;
• Irina Vasilyeva — original lineup, 2000–2001;
• Tina Charles Ogunleye — 2001–2006;
• Evgenia Morozova — temporary member during Daria Ermolaeva’s absence;
• Alla Martynyuk — 2002–2003;
• Regina Burd (Michelle) — 2004–2008;
• Alina Smirnova — member during the second half of the 2000s;
• Maria Panteleeva — member during the second half of the 2000s;
• Anna Poyarkova — member of one of the later lineups;
• Evgenia Sinitskaya — joined after Regina Burd’s departure.

Because of the large number of lineup changes, the exact intermediate lineups for individual months vary between reference sources, but the sequence of the principal members and major replacements is supported by InterMedia reports published during the group’s active years.

Slivki’s main songs

• “Sometimes”;
• “You Got Caught”;
• “Where Does Childhood Go”;
• “The Weeks Flew By”;
• “I Am Different”;
• “Всего и D-Love”;
• “I Will Love”;
• “My Star” — with Otpetye Moshenniki;
• “The Best” — with Angelica Varum;
• “Above the Clouds”;
• “Troubles” — featuring Dominik Joker;
• “Enough”;
• “Club Zone” — featuring Dominik Joker.

Most of these songs received dedicated music videos and form the most recognizable part of Slivki’s catalog.

Complete studio discography of Slivki

• “First Spring” — 2001;
• “Mood...” — 2002;
• “Easy!?” — 2003;
• “Above the Clouds” — 2005;
• “Troubles” — 2007.

These five releases make up Slivki’s main full-length studio discography. Some reference materials list the 2002 release Station Radi-O-Love alongside the albums, but it is not a studio album: it is a CD maxi-single released in Japan and is therefore more accurately considered separately.

Other notable releases

• Station Radi-O-Love — 2002, Japanese English-language maxi-single released under the name Cream;
• “My Star” — 2003, collaboration with Otpetye Moshenniki;
• “The Best” — 2004, collaboration with Angelica Varum;
• “Club Zone” — 2008, collaboration with Dominik Joker;
• “Don’t Say” — 2010, later video single featuring Ivan Breusov.

The Japanese edition of Station Radi-O-Love was released by Toshiba EMI on July 31, 2002, and represents a separate chapter in the group’s international discography.

Slivki’s place in Russian pop music

Slivki became a characteristic yet fairly distinctive phenomenon on the Russian pop scene of the early 2000s. Among the large number of female groups of the period, the project stood out through the stable central voice of Karina Koks, the noticeable influence of R&B and soul in its early arrangements, and a repertoire in which original hits coexisted with new interpretations of well-known songs and collaborations with other artists.

Slivki’s main period was relatively compact, but it produced a whole series of songs firmly associated with Russian popular culture of the 2000s. “Sometimes,” “Where Does Childhood Go,” “The Weeks Flew By,” “My Star” and “Above the Clouds” outlived the group’s original television era and remained its most recognizable legacy. Slivki’s story ended not with the sudden breakup of one particular lineup, but with the gradual disappearance of the project after the departure of its principal voice, Karina Koks, without whom repeated lineup changes were no longer able to create a new independent era for the group.