Irina Levshakova | |
---|---|
Ирина Левшакова | |
Born | Irina Yuryevna Kuznetsova 6 May 1959 Leningrad, Soviet Union |
Died | 31 January 2016 (aged 56) Komarovo, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Nationality | Russian |
Alma mater | Leningrad State University |
Occupation(s) | Paleontologist, geologist, artist and musician |
Children | 3 |
Relatives | Irina Linnik (mother) Yuri Linnik (uncle) |
Irina Yuryevna Levshakova[a] (née Kuznetsova; Russian: Ирина Юрьевна Левшакова; 6 May 1959 – 31 January 2016) was a Russian paleontologist, geologist, artist and musician. She is most famous for her deep involvement in the underground rock music scene in Leningrad during the 1980s and 1990s.
As a paleontologist, Levshakova studied trionychid turtles and other reptiles. In 1986 she named a new extinct species of monitor lizard, Varanus darevskii. Levshakova also spent several years in Central Asia doing geological surveys. In 1984, Levshakova inherited the Linnik Dacha, a house in Komarovo previously owned by her grandfather Vladimir Pavlovich Linnik
. She turned the dacha into a haven for rock musicians, converted one of the rooms into a recording studio, regularly held parties, and allowed bands to play concerts there. Levshakova rehearsed with several of the most famous local rock musicians of her time. In 1992 she survived a murder attempt by her then-boyfriend Fyodor Chistyakov of the band Nol .Levshakova was also a talented artist, creating cover art for many rock albums and having her artwork shown at exhibitions in both Russia and internationally. Levshakova was in 2010 arrested for having grown the largest ever plantation of cannabis in northwestern Russia, though she was sentenced only to five years probation. She died in 2016, aged 56, due to heart failure.
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