Alexander Monin Russian vocalist (Kruiz), died from peritonitis.he was , 55,

Rock musician, the soloist of the band “Kruiz” Alexander Monin, passed away on the 56th year of life, RIA “Novosti”, referring to the words of the collective drummer Nikolaj Chunusov.

According to the musician’s wife, Monin was hospitalized around 1 p.m. with peritonitis. He was operated on, but the heart appeared to be weak.

The funeral will take place on Monday, but the place and time has not been still defined.

Alexander Monin is the author of such popular songs as “Krututsya volchok”, “Kak skuchno zhit bez svetloj skazki” and many others.

The musician was born on December 19, 1954 in Budapest in the Soviet Army military baze, where his father served. The father was a military pilot, and the mother – a teacher. At school he created a band, in which he was a drummer and sang. After leaving school he entered the Medical University. But his passion for music brought him to the professional stage, and didn’t graduate from the University as a result.

In the year of 1977 Monin managed to be a member of three musical bands –“SNG”, “Kordinal”, “Novye elektrony” and then got acquainted with Valerij Gain, Alexander Kirnitskij, Vsevolod Korolyuk and worked jointly with them in the band “Magistral” till 1978.

 History

Kruiz was formed in 1978, originally playing soft and hard rock songs with Russian lyrics. The original lineup consisted of Alexandre Monin (vocals), Valery Gaina (guitars), Alexander Kirnitsky (8 November 1956-7 November 2008) (bass), Serge Sarychev (keyboards), and Seva Korolyuk (drums). In 1980, they released their first album called The Top, which was really a collection of demos.

In 1981, they released their first official album, Крутится Волчoк (transscription: Krutitsya Volchok, translation: The Top Keeps Turning), featuring Alexander Kirnitsky on bass, and additional keyboards by Matvey Anitchkin. This was followed by another album Послушай Человек (Poslusshay Chelovek, translation: Listen Man).
In 1983, the lineup changed to Monin (vocals), Gaina (guitars), Gregory Bezougly (guitars), Oleg Kouzmitchyov (bass), Vladimir Kapoustin (keyboards), and Nikolai Tchunusov (drums). This lineup released the album Путешествие на Воздушном (Puteshestvye na Vozdushnom, translation: Balloon Journey). Shortly after the release of this album, the band unfortunately drew the ire of the Communist government and were ordered to disband. The band released one final album P.S. Продолжение Слeдует (P.S. Prodolzhenye Sleduet, translation: P.S. To be Continued) in 1983, before stopping all activities.
In 1985, Valery Gaina decided to reform the band and take a heavier approach to their music. The new lineup consisted of Gaina (guitars and vocals), Alexander Kirnitsky (bass), Vsevolod Korolyuk (drums), with Vadim Malikov (additional vocals). They released an album called КиКоГаВва (translation: KiKoGaVva), named after the first two letters of the band members names.
This lineup was short-lived and Valery Gaina soon recruited another lineup with himself on vocals and guitars, Fyodor Vasilyev (bass), and Sergey Efimov (drums). This particular incarnation of the band had a speed metal sound . They released a demo and an album, Kruiz-1 on Melodia records (a state owned record company). One song (Rock is Forever) was promptly banned by the authorities and hence, only appears on the demo. Only two years later the song was included in compilation album "A Place To Meet ... " with other soviet rock bands.
Kruiz became known to the west, when they opened a few shows for the German band Rage. The band redid some of their songs with English lyrics and released the album Kruiz in 1988, for WEA Records (Warner Bros. Records). The song In Flames from this album received a lot of air-play in the Canadian metal show, The Power Hour. It is on the strength of this album and the video that Kruiz became known as a speed metal band, and their past as a soft-rock/hard-rock band was largely unknown in the west.
The band went on a European Tour in 1989 and were featured on a German TV program, "Mosh Special", on February 5, 1989. Kruiz opened for bands such as Metallica and Slayer and were scheduled to release a third album, titled Culture Shock, but their contractual obligations prevented them from doing so. Sergey Efimov flew back to Russia. Gaina and Vasilyev attempted to finish the album using the services of Iain Finlay (then drummer for Running Wild), but could not complete the album. Shortly after this, the band broke up.

Post breakup

Valery Gaina then formed the band Gain, with Vladimir Bajin (vocals), Alexander Shprot (bass), and Andrei Shatounovsky (session drummer). This band recorded an album in 1990 but it only came out in 1995, with two bonus tracks from the unreleased third Kruiz album Culture Shock. Valery Gaina then moved to Los Angeles, mainly because of the rise of the Russian Mafia. He formed a band called Karma and released an album (Fence) under the Frozen Hound label. This album was described as a cross between the Stone Temple Pilots and Red Hot Chili Peppers, very unlike the music of Kruiz. Gaina also built his own studio and produced music for local bands. Karma nearly signed with Mercury Records, but the deal fell through. Meanwhile Gaina put out a dance/hip-hop album called Fantasy, which went gold in South Korea.
Bassist Fyodor Vasilyev went on to play for a Russian hard rock band called Black Coffee, where he found success.
Drummer Sergey Efimov also moved to the United States and later played in bands called Wolves and Hippies of Chaos, where he also sang in the band. He also found work as a session musician.

Reunion

In 1994, the original vocalist of Kruiz, Alexandre Monin, upon the success of V.Gaina, reformed the band, with the lineup consisting of himself, Gregory Bezougly (guitars), Vladimir Kapoustin (keyboards), Oleg Kouzmitchyov (bass), and Nikolai Tschunosov (drums). This lineup returned back to their original style of soft and hard rock music and released three albums, Live at Robin Hood Festival in 1994, Bcem BCTATb (translation: Stand Up Everyone) in 1996 and Live Collection in 1998. This lineup also opened for Ronnie James Dio on May 3 1999, at Moscow, Russia at the Olimpiyskey Stadium. This particular lineup still plays gigs to this day, but do not play any metal, and in fact, don't want anything to do with the Metal Kruiz.
In 2002, Valery Gaina regrouped with the 1988 lineup of Vasilyev and Efimov, and also released a demo under the name of Kruiz. The bass and drums were recorded in Moscow and the tapes were mastered by Gaina in Los Angeles. Gaina also announced plans for a full reunion.
On August 27, 2010 Alexandre Monin died at age of 56 of peritonitis.^[1][2]

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