Ona

**Ona Bakirovna Teshayeva** (born 16 May 1988; Russian: *Она Бакировна Тешаева*), better known as simply **Ona**, is an Uzbek singer, songwriter, and model, dancer. One of the leading musicians in Russian popular culture, Teshayeva has become well-known for her electronic sound and deeply personal self-penned lyrics.

Born and raised in Tashkent, Teshayeva moved to Moscow with her mother at the age of 17 in order to pursue a career in music. After recording demos and beginning a career as a model and dancer, Teshayeva was signed to Russian record label Star Records in 2008. Her official debut as a singer came the following year, with the release of her debut single "Davleniye", which went on to become one of the most successful singles of the year in a number of post-Soviet nations. The success of the single was followed up with the release of Teshayeva's debut studio album *Ya ONA*, which won Teshayeva the Russian Music Award for Best Pop Album at the 2010 Russian Music Awards. Teshayeva has since released three other studio albums with Star Records, including *Nepobedimyy, Nerushimyy, Neuderzhimyy* (2011), *Gidra* (2014), and *Zhenshchina iz lesa* (2016), the latter of the three going on to be named the best-selling album of 2016 in Russia. She has completed three headlining arena tours: *Nepobedimyy: The Tour* (2011), *Gidra Tour* (2015), and *ONA Gala* (2017).

Teshayeva has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including twenty-two Uzbek Music Awards, twelve Russian Music Awards, and four Ukrainian Music Awards. She has sold over 20 million records worldwide, making her the most successful Uzbek musician of all-time. Both the Russian and Uzbek media have dubbed her as the "Uzbek Queen of Pop".

## Early life and education

Teshayeva was born on 16 May 1988 in Tashkent in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union to parents Bakir Teshayev (born 1958) and Tamar Mgeladze (born 1960; Georgian: *თამარ მგელაძე*). Her father is Uzbek and works in the oil industry, while her mother is originally from Tbilisi, Georgia and is a nurse. Her parents met while living in Ukraine and attending Shevchenko University in Kiev during the late-1970s and early-1980s. Following their marriage in 1984, they moved to Bakir's hometown of Tashkent to begin their family. Despite being half-Georgian, Teshayeva was raised speaking only Uzbek and Russian, and cannot speak the Georgian language. She was also raised Sunni Muslim, after her mother converted to the religion following her marriage to Teshayeva's father. Teshayeva was raised in the  Yunusabad district of Tashkent, and is the youngest of three children; her elder brothers include Bakir (born 1985) and Artem (born 1987).

Teshayeva began primary school in 1994, attending Tashkent International School (TIS). At TIS, Teshayeva began speaking English fluently, and yearned to attend an American university such as Harvard University or Yale University to become a pediatrician. While in school, she demonstrated immense academic ability, and her teachers began grooming her to pursue higher education outside of Uzbekistan. At the age of ten, Teshayeva asked her mother to sign her up for singing and dance lessons, and she soon began training as a ballerina. The following year, Teshayeva switched to hip hop dance after a disagreement between her mother and her ballet instructor. At the age of 17, Teshayeva left school with the permission of her parents in order to pursue a career in music.

## Career

### Early career

After not completing her final year of high school, Teshayeva moved to Moscow with her mother in 2005, where they at first lived with Teshayeva's elder brother Bakir who was attending the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia. After arriving in Moscow, Teshayeva began working as a professional model to support herself and her mother, while she finished her high school diploma through night classes. In her free time, Teshayeva recorded demos of herself performing original songs, primarily in English and occasionally Uzbek. After receiving little attention, she began performing primarily in Russian, which led her to develop a small fanbase.

In 2007, Teshayeva began working as a dancer in addition to her modeling career. She had performed as a backup dancer for multiple Russian musicians, and additionally auditioned for season one of *Tantsuyut vse!*, the Russian version of *So You Think You Can Dance*, although she did not advance to the live shows. In 2008, one of her demo recordings got the attention of Dmitry Maks, a producer at Russian record label Star Records. She was later signed to the label and Maks became her primary producer.

### 2008–2010: Breakthrough and *Ya ONA*

After signing to Star Records in 2008, Teshayeva began working with Maks to find her sound and begin creating music. They experimented with a number of genres including hip hop, folk, and jazz, before finally settling on electronic-pop. The following year, Teshayeva released her debut single "Davleniye" in February. The song first received attention in dance clubs throughout Russia and other surrounding countries, before beginning to receive mainstream attention months after its release. The song went on to become a massive success in Russia, becoming a top ten hit in the country and the fourth best-selling single of 2009 in the country. It also charted in the top ten in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, and was a number-one hit in Ukraine.

Following the massive success of "Davleniye", Teshayeva began writing and recording music for her debut studio album with Maks. The album was recorded in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Teshayeva's hometown Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In June 2009, Teshayeva released her debut studio album, titled *Ya ONA*. The album's name heavily featured wordplay, as in Russian the title could mean *"I am Ona"* (her first name) or *"I am she"*, while in a combination of Russian and Uzbek the title could mean *"I am the mother"*, as *ona* translates to "mother" in Uzbek. *Ya ONA* became a massive success following its release, being certified 2x platinum in Russia. To support the album, she performed with Anastasia Lupina on her *Na Zadanii Tour* from September 2009 to February 2010, performing shows in Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. While on tour, Teshayeva released the singles "Ya oblazhalsya" and "Paltsy na mne", which both became successful dance club hits.

### 2011–2013: *Nepobedimyy, Nerushimyy, Neuderzhimyy*

Teshayeva began writing music for her second studio album while on tour with Lupina. She stated that a number of the themes explored in this new music were "themes of feeling unstoppable and powerful", claiming that "that's how [she] felt while on tour for the first time". After completing the tour in February 2010, Teshayeva returned to Moscow to continue writing with Maks. She later began recording the music that summer, revealing that her new music was "less dance club orientated" and more "radio-friendly".

In January 2011, Teshayeva released the lead single to her second studio album titled "Oksana". Lyrically, the song was written about Teshayeva's childhood friend Oksana Akhmyedova who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Sonically, the song was heavily inspired by electronic music and was described by Teshayeva as a "chilled-out electronic ballad". While promoting the single on Russian morning show *Dobroye utro!*, Teshayeva broke down into tears during her interview with host Maria Bulina. Three weeks after the release of the single Teshayeva revealed that Akhmyedeova had lost her battle with cancer, and that all proceeds from sales would be donated to a charity in Akhmyedova's honor. Possibly due in part to the media attention regarding the song's background, "Oksana" became a largely successful single in Russia, becoming Teshayeva's first number-one hit. It additionally won Song of the Year at the 2011 Russian Music Awards.

Teshayeva released her second studio album *Nepobedimyy, Nerushimyy, Neuderzhimyy* in April 2011. The album was certified 3x platinum in Russia, while also being largely successful in a number of neighboring nations. It produced the followup singles "Nepobedimyy", "Momenty zhizni", and "Cool", all of which went on to become top twenty singles in Russia, with "Momenty zhizni" becoming Teshayeva's second number-one single. Teshayeva supported the album with her first headlining arena tour *Nepobedimyy: The Tour*, which ran from June 2011 to January 2012, and performed shows throughout Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan.

### 2014–2017: *Gidra* and *Zhenshchina iz lesa*

After the completion of *Nepobedimyy: The Tour* in January 2012, Teshayeva took time off from performing in order to prioritize her personal life. She planned to return to her hometown of Tashkent, Uzbekistan for four months, but after finding it difficult to find time to herself due to her immense popularity in Uzbekistan, Teshayeva left to reside in Sydney, Australia for the remainder of her time off. While in Australia, Teshayeva became inspired by the vast wildlife that can be found in the country, and began writing music inspired by the Australian wilderness. After four months in Sydney, Teshayeva extended her stay in Australia and lived in rural Queensland for two weeks, where she completed a large amount of the writing for her third studio album.

After returning to Russia in June 2012, Teshayeva continued to be inspired by Australia while continuing to write new music. In December 2012, she took Maks to Queensland on a writing workshop, where they wrote several new songs for the album. Teshayeva later confirmed that the new album was sounding "more electronic" than its predecessor but "just as radio-friendly". She took another hiatus from making the album in March 2013 for the birth of her first child, but later returned to working on it during the autumn of 2013. In summer 2014, Teshayeva released the single "Ukushennyy", the lead single to her upcoming third studio album and her first release since 2011. The song broke records in Russia, becoming the fastest single to reach the number-one position on Russian iTunes, and its music video became the fastest Russian music video to reach one million views. "Ukushennyy" became Teshayeva's third number-one single in Russia and fourth number-one single in Ukraine. It preceded the release of her third studio album *Gidra*, released in November 2014. *Gidra* became Teshayeva's first chart-topping album in Russia, and was certified 2x platinum. It also produced the singles "Gidra", "Pryatki", "Olivia", and "Siniye morya". She promoted the album with her second headlining arena tour *Gidra Tour*, which ran from January 2015 to May 2015, and performed shows in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Teshayeva first began writing for her fourth studio album while on tour promoting *Gidra*. She has stated that her inspiration for the album came from the empowerment she felt while on tour, meeting "strong powerful women" who came to her shows and "inspired [her]" to be the best version of herself. In 2016, prior to the release of the album's lead single, Teshayeva confirmed that the album would be called *Zhenshchina iz lesa*, and that the lead single would be titled that as well. The single "Zhenshchina iz lesa" was later released in July 2016, and featured a darker sound and deeper electronic influences than her previous work had featured. Critics also noted a heavy influence from industrial music in the song. "Zhenshchina iz lesa" became Teshayeva's fifth number one single in Russia, and additionally won Song of the Year at the 2017 Russian Music Awards.

The single was followed up by the release of its parent album *Zhenshchina iz lesa*, which also had stylistic influences similar to its lead single. The album went on to become the most successful album of Teshayeva's career, becoming the best-selling album of 2016 in Russia and her second chart-topping release, being certified diamond in Russia. It produced the follow-up singles "Opasnaya", "Chernyye okeany", "Svezhiy vozdukh", "Krasivyye devchonki", and "Vyshe". Its singles set a number of records, with all six of them peaking at number-one in Russia, *Zhenshchina iz lesa* became the only album in Russian history to produce six chart-topping singles. Teshayeva promoted the album with the *ONA Gala*, which became her largest arena tour of all-time, performing shows in Russia, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, New Zealand, Poland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan from January 2017 to December 2017.

### 2018–present: Upcoming fifth studio album

Following the completion of *ONA Gala*, Teshayeva revealed that she had begun writing new music for her fifth studio album, and expected it to be released "sometime in 2019".

## Personal life

Since 2010, Teshayeva has resided in Rublyovka, an unofficial grouping of suburbs of Moscow and the most expensive neighborhood in all of Russia. She has never received Russian citizenship, and remains solely an Uzbek citizen. Regarding her citizenship, Teshayeva has stated that she "[doesn't] know why [she's] never applied for Russian citizenship", claiming that she's always been too busy and it seemed like a non-issue. Teshayeva speaks fluent Russian, Uzbek, German, and English, and additionally owns apartments in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Berlin, Germany, Sydney, Australia, and New York City. Despite being raised a Sunni Muslim, Teshayeva has distanced herself from the religion, calling herself "a spiritual person" but not identifying with a sole religion.

Teshayeva began a relationship with Russian actor Alexey Nikolovsky in 2011, after they had met at the 2011 Russian Music Awards in Moscow. They soon began a relationship, which was heavily reported on by the Russian media. Teshayeva and Nikolovsky became engaged in May 2014 and later married in June 2015. They have two daughters together: Ariadna Alexeyevna Nikolovskaya (born 2013) and Mikaela Alexeyevna Nikolovskaya (born 2018).

## Discography

*Main article: Ona discography.*

* *Ya ONA* (2009)
* *Nepobedimyy, Nerushimyy, Neuderzhimyy* (2011)
* *Gidra* (2014)
* *Zhenshchina iz lesa* (2016)

## Awards and nominations

*Main article: Awards and nominations received by Ona.*