GRAMMY-winning star Alya says she is on a mission – to give a voice to those who cannot speak out for themselves.
Growing up through the collapse of the Soviet Union then starting life over as an immigrant in different countries – Alya Michelson – who has collaborated with Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder – says there has been many times in her life where she felt she had no voice.
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Her life today – with her latest releases Crazy and If You Only Knew charting on iTunes and popular on Spotify – is a far cry from her childhood in the Ukrainian town of Lviv where she would have to mend her own shoes and go house to house singing Christmas carols to earn small change and candies.
But even when she posted her CDs in the mailboxes of her musical heroes in England such as Paul McCartney – and received no response – Alya never gave up on her musical dreams.
And now she is partnering with UNICEF on her latest single Hope – proceeds from which will go to the international children’s charity.
“I really admire this organization for a long time because I really love the scope of their work,” she said.
“You know I have so many different stories within my personal story as an artist and as a human and very often I was in a position when I did not have a voice.
“Either I was too young to speak up or I moved to a different country and I felt very insecure about speaking up again. So I feel very compassionate to those who cannot speak up for themselves – especially when we talk about children from countries that are not privileged.
“So I really admire what UNICEF does and I had this song that I felt aligned with what they do and how much light and hope they can bring to the world. It was just an immediate connection and I was so happy that it resonated with them as well.”
The mom-of-three who experienced poverty as a child says she would also like to go out in the field to help underprivileged children and children in conflict zones.
“When I think about UNICEF, I am thinking not just an artist I’m thinking as a mother as well because I feel the pain of these kids that don’t have anything because I didn’t have anything…I remember I was sewing my little tennis shoes with a needle and thread because we couldn’t afford any,” she said.
“So I feel these kids, I understand that for me they’re no different from my own kids and whatever I can give with my art, as the artist, as a singer-songwriter, as a performer, as a mother, as the philanthropist, I’m over there.
“I want to go out in the field, to refugee camps. I was so affected by the latest military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. I cannot look at these faces of these children. I want to hug every one of them.”
I still dream big and I still believe in my dreams.
Alya
Alya said she always wanted to be a musician and perform on stage – but musical opportunities were very limited in her home town.
“So I was born in the Soviet Union and I spent majority of my childhood in Ukraine in Lviv, Neoviv,” she said.
“I always wanted to be a singer, always wanted to be a performer but my parents had a different vision. I grew up in a family that’s very far away from the music, my dad worked in the military and my mom was a housewife and raising me and my brother.
“The only musical inspiration I had was my Ukrainian grandma, she had a beautiful voice, and she was very religious too, so the majority of musical content that I was exposed in my early age was very religious.
“The first money actually I made was by singing Christmas carols.
“Back then people were not afraid to let their children go out in the evening and knock on the doors at Christmas Eve. And you know people open the door, you sing the song and they give you money or some candy.
“So I was doing that, that was the first money I earned. I still remember I earned six roubles in one evening, that was so much money to me then, I bought some treats for myself like bubble gum.
“I’ve always wanted to be on the stage… I was writing songs even when I was in math class.
Alya
“You know in the Soviet Union back then, there was not much variety but it was awesome. Even telling the story now, I remember the taste of that banana bubble gum. It was so great.
“So you know I’ve always wanted to be on the stage. I felt like I really loved writing songs and I was writing songs even when I was in math class.”
Alya’s parents were not too excited about her passion for music – but as a compromise they allowed her to play one instrument – the accordion, which helped start her musical pathway.
“I wanted to go to music school. My parents were very kind and were doing the best they could to raise us to be honest and hard-working human beings,” she said.
“But they didn’t think about our dreams or whatever and when I really wanted to go to musical school they weren’t so sure.
“We couldn’t afford piano and my mom absolutely hated violin players for whatever reason she had. And the third instrument on offer was the Russian “bayan” – which is kind of like an accordion – and I hated that.
“But my mom said if I play that I could go to music school, so I had to play this instrument for six years.
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“I hated it so much, but that was my trade-off and you know for me, it was still great opportunity because then I started doing choir, having proper singing training, competitions and we started touring with with our choir. It was a magical time.”
Alya eventually chose to pursue a career in journalism in Russia – but never gave up her musical ambition, pursuing it in secret.
She booked a week of leave, and without telling any of her colleagues entered a TV singing competition in England, where she almost got to the final before it was discovered she didn’t have the right Visa to work in the UK.
“It was a very interesting experience because it it pushed me to think harder and bigger and I got some self-confidence,” she said.
“It was sort of validation for me because they picked me out, they really loved my voice, they saw my talent.
“And you know I used my time in England very wisely, I remember that I made like a list of all these people that I admired including Paul McCartney.
“Then I went to all their houses and put my CDs in their mailboxes, things like that. They never responded of course, but I never gave up.”
It was when she left Russia and her journalism profession and moved to the US, Alya really started to pursue music seriously – and has never looked back.
She won a Grammy in 2023 as a featured vocalist for her work on “Mystic Mirror” with the group White Sun, which took home the best New Age Album award.
Her Christmas album – featuring Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder – is due out this fall.
“Looking back it’s such a long road and I feel like I’m just in the beginning of it, life is such an unpredictable and interesting thing…,” Alya said.
“I have an old recording somewhere where I was singing a Cinderella song on a competition on TV and I won – and somebody asked me ‘What is your dream?’.
“And I said, ‘that one day this little girl that nobody knew from this little town that nobody heard of will become famous’.
“My mom watched that and told me off, she said that is not modest, you can dream about something but don’t say it loud.
“But that was my manifestation and I still dream big and I still believe in my dreams.”