But in Russia, the 58-year-old American is a near-legend, feted by rock fans and musicians for her fearless championing of Soviet underground music during the cold war. “You are the mother of Russian rock!” a fan shouted as Stingray promoted her new autobiography at a Moscow bookstore. Photograph: Tass/Getty ImagesOn her arrival in Leningrad, Stingray and her younger sister ditched their state-employed tour guides to meet a rock musician whose telephone number they got from a Russian émigré. Boris Grebenshchikov fronted Akvarium, regarded at the time as the Soviet Union’s leading underground rock group. Determined to get the music of Leningrad’s underground rock scene to the west, Stingray enlisted the foreign diplomatic community.

Source: The Guardian June 05, 2019 12:00 UTC