Volodymyr Dantes

Early years

He was born to a Jewish mother, and he has a Star of David tattoo.^[2] His Christian father is a policeman.^[3] Attended Kharkiv's school № 36. Graduated from a music school in Kharkiv and studied economics at the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute ("Financial management of business" faculty).^[4]

Singles

• 2009 – Мне уже 20 (Russian: Мне уже 20, romanized: Mne uzhe dvadzat', lit. 'I'm 20 already')
• 2010 – Rington (Рингтон, 'Ringtone')
• 2011 – Ty zria yemu dala (Ты зря ему дала, 'You gave it to him in vain')
• 2012 – Otkrytaya rana (Открытая рана, 'An open wound')
• 2012 – Medlyak (Медляк, 'Power ballade')
• 2013 – Naoborot (Наоборот, 'The other way')

The band disbanded in April 2015, with Dantes choosing to continue as a TV and radio personality.

Radio

Dantes is a radio personality of a Ukrainian radio station "Lux FM".^[5]

Television

Dantes often starred on various television programs on Ukrainian and a few Russian TV channels.

Since October 2012, he has been hosting the "Blyzhche do tila" program together with Victoria Batui on the Novyi Kanal.^[6] In 2014–2015 Dantes was the host of the culinary travel show "Yizha, ya lyublyu tebe" on the "Friday!" Russian TV channel.^[7] Since 11 October 2015 Dantes was one of the coaches of the children's talent show "Malenki hihanty" on the 1+1 TV channel. He was a guest star in the fourth season of the show "Liga Smikhu" in 2018 and a coach-joker in the fifth season of the same show in 2019. In 2021 was a judge of the show "Masquerade" on "1+1",^[8] and in 2022–2023 was host of the show "Ya lyublyu Ukrayinu" on the "TET" TV channel.^[9]

YouTube

In 2021 Dantes started his first YouTube show "Stand up 380", in which he aims to introduce interesting Ukrainian comedians and to popularise Ukrainian stand-up among a wider audience.

Between 2020 and 2022 Dantes hosted the project "Mama, ya delayu bizness"(Мама, я делаю бизнес, 'Mama, I do business'), the purpose of which was to talk about Ukrainian startups, introduce their founders, and show how Ukrainian local businesses develop.

In 2022–2023 Dantes was the host of the travel show "Mama ya haniayu tachky" (Мама, я ганяю тачки, 'Mama, I drive cars') the goal of which was to deliver cars from Europe to Ukraine to help the military. According to him, during the program, "people, businesses, programs, volunteer hubs that continue to do something cool for Ukraine" are filmed.^[9]

In 2023 Dantes started the "Budynok Kultury" (Будинок культури, 'House of culture') project, which is filmed in the de-occupied territories. The goal of the project is to revive the Ukrainian culture and remind it to Ukrainians. In each episode, Volodymyr and an invited guest organize a concert, creating "revivals in the houses of culture".

Musical solo career

In 2021 Dantes released his first solo-album "Tvoya lubimaya muzika" (Твоя любимая музыка, 'Your favorite music').^[10] Multiple Ukrainian musical artists Dorofeeva, Jerry Heil, Potap, Maxim Fadeev took part in the album.

In 2022 Dantes released singles "Obiimy" (Обійми, 'Hug[me]'), "Not a refugee" and "Tilky my" (Тільки ми, 'Only us').

In 2023 he released the single "Chuiesh" and the second solo album "KITY" (КИТИ, 'WHALES'), which included the new tracks "Chuiesh" (Чуєш, '[You]Hear'), "Kyty" (Кити, 'Whales'), "My ne odyn narod" (Ми не один народ, 'We are not one people'), "Buty z toboyu" (Бути з тобою, 'To be with you'), "Kolyskova" (Колискова, 'Lullaby') and the translation of the singles "Devochka Olya" (Твоя любимая музыка, 'Your favorite music'), "Sasha" (Саша), "Grustnye tantsy" (Грустные танці, 'Sad dances').^[9]

In August 2024, he released a duet, "Huby u hubakh" with Ukrainian singer, Jerry Heil.^[11] The song peaked at No. 14 on Ukraine's top 20 singles chart.^[12]