Prime Minister

Formation and Early Success (1997–2000)

Prime Minister (in Russian, Premyer-Ministr) is a Russian pop group formed in 1997 by producer Evgeny Fridlyand. The idea was to create a boy band aimed at a broad pop audience, not only teenagers. The original lineup included four young men: Jean Grigoriev-Milimerov and Peter Jason from Moscow, Vyacheslav Bodolika from Moldova, and Dmitry Lanskoy. The band blended western boy-band style with Russian pop music, featuring polished vocal harmonies and danceable melodies. In 1999, they released their debut album Griaznyye tantsy (“Dirty Dances”), establishing themselves on the late-90s Russian pop scene. The group’s first major hit came in 2000 with a remake of the popular song “Oriental Song,” which became a huge hit across Russia. This early success brought Prime Minister nationwide recognition.

Eurovision Breakthrough (2001–2002)

In late 2001, Dmitry Lanskoy left the band to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Marat Chanyshev, a singer who had won a TV music contest back in 1991. With this new lineup, Prime Minister’s popularity continued to grow. The band gained international attention when they were selected to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia. Performing under the anglicized name Prime Minister, they competed with the upbeat song “Northern Girl.” Their performance earned Russia a top-ten finish. Prime Minister scored 55 points and placed 10th in the Eurovision final. In the same year, they released an album titled Devochka s Severa (“Girl from the North”), named after the Russian version of “Northern Girl”. The song became a hit at home, winning the prestigious Golden Gramophone award in Russia. By 2002, Prime Minister had firmly established itself as one of Russia’s leading pop acts.

Continued Success and Changes (2003–2005)

Following their Eurovision success, Prime Minister continued their musical development with more releases and public appearances. The group toured extensively in Russia, capitalizing on their rising fame. In 2003 they put out the album Pyatyy Okean (“Fifth Ocean”), further expanding their discography. Prime Minister’s members became pop celebrities, and the group played at many major concerts and festivals in the early 2000s. However, behind the scenes, challenges began to emerge. Over time, creative differences and management issues started to put strain on the band. The lineup remained stable for a few years after 2001, but by 2005 internal conflicts reached a breaking point. In 2005, the band’s producer decided to remove Peter Jason from the lineup and brought in a new singer, Taras Demchuk. This sudden change upset the other members and led to a major rift in the group’s dynamics.

Split into Two Groups (2005–2013)

The firing of Peter Jason in 2005 sparked a conflict that split Prime Minister into two camps. The remaining three original members, Jean, Vyacheslav, and Marat, sided with Peter and decided to break away from their producer. They could not legally use the name “Premyer-Ministr” anymore (the producer owned the rights), so the four left to form an independent act called Group PM. Under this new name, they continued performing, although they were initially barred from singing the old Prime Minister hits due to legal restrictions.

Meanwhile, producer Evgeny Fridlyand quickly assembled a new official lineup for Prime Minister, retaining Taras Demchuk and adding Sergey Demyanchuk, Amarkhuu Borkhuu, and Vasily Kireyev as the fresh members. Both versions of the band carried on in parallel: Group PM with the original singers, and a revamped Prime Minister with the new faces. Despite releasing some new songs and albums in the following years, neither the breakaway Group PM nor the producer’s new Prime Minister could recapture the massive success of the original lineup. By the late 2000s, their mainstream popularity had waned compared to their early 2000s peak.

Reunion and Later Years (2014–present)

After nearly a decade apart, the paths of the two factions eventually converged again. In early 2014, Vyacheslav Bodolika left Group PM and moved to Spain, prompting the remaining original members  to reconcile with producer Fridlyand. They effectively reunited under the Prime Minister name and resumed working together. The reunited group continued to perform in concerts and television shows, bringing back some nostalgia for their fans. However, by the 2010s the music landscape had changed, and the band maintained a lower profile than in their heyday.

In 2020, Jean Grigoriev-Milimerov decided to leave the band and focus on a solo career. He released his own music, and his departure left Prime Minister with only two founding members. In 2022, Marat Chanyshev also announced plans to step away from the group to pursue solo projects. With key members gone, the band’s activity slowed to a halt. By 2023, Prime Minister officially disbanded, closing the final chapter of the group’s long run.