Alyona Apina (Еле́на Евге́ньевна А́пина; maiden name — Levochkina) is а Soviet and Russian singer, musical performer, actress and songwriter. Her career started in 1988 and continues to this day. For her unique tone of voice and "peculiar Apina's folk style, which she studied at the Faculty of Folk Song at the Saratov Conservatory", she has become one of the most popular Russian musical performers across the former Soviet Union and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (2002)
Alyona was born on August 23, 1964 in the City of Saratov. When she was 5 years old, her parents enrolled her to a local music school in the piano class. She successfully graduated from music school and attended music college. After she graduated from college, she enrolled to the Folk Song Faculty of the Saratov State Conservatory .
While studying at the Conservatory, Alyona was invited by a friend to the summer vacation to make some extra money as a singer in a band, and in 1988–1991, she was the lead singer of Russian female band Kombinaciya. The band's popularity peaked between 1989 and 1993, with major hits such as "Russian Girls", "American Boy", "Accountant" (Бухгалтер), and "Two Slices of Sausage" (Два кусочека колбаски). In 1991 Alyona Apina left the band to pursue a successful career as a solo performer. Her first solo song "Xenia" became an instant hit. In 1992, she released her first solo album 'Street of Love', but her second album "Dance until the morning" is considered to be the most successful. All eight songs from this album have become popular hits that all Russians knew and sang. In 1994 for the first time in history of Russian pop/folk music Apina produced a musical pop-novel "Limit". The songs for the musical were composed by the renowned Russian poet Mikhail Tanich. The musical "Limit" was very successful and had a full house for 5 days in Moscow and 5 days in St. Petersburg. It was broadcast on the main TV channels of the country.