"The Secret" is a Soviet and Russian rock band. It achieved great success with its classic "beat-quartet" lineup, which figuratively and musically evoked associations with the rock group The Beatles. The "Secret" beat-quartet was assembled in 1983 in Leningrad by Nikolai Fomenko, Maxim Leonidov and Dmitry Rubin, graduates of the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography. The ensemble took The Beatles quartet as a model, borrowing from their idols' external image (hairstyles and costumes), characteristic sound and lyrical lyrics. The name came from one of The Beatles' songs - "Do You Want to Know a Secret?".
The first concert of the band "Secret" was given as a warm-up to Mike Naumenko in Moscow, in the DK of the watch factory "Slava" (the concert was stopped by the police). On April 20, 1983 the first rehearsal of the band took place in the line-up that later became "classic": Maxim Leonidov, Nikolay Fomenko, Andrey Zabludovsky and Alexey Murashov.
In October 1983, Leonidov and Fomenko left to serve in the Soviet army (tank troops, then - "Song and Dance Ensemble"); it was at this time that the famous red ties appeared. N. Fomenko: "We couldn't find red ties, so my mother bought pioneer ties for 75 kopecks, silk ones. She took four military ties from the parade uniform and sheathed them in red"[3].
In the spring of 1984, the musicians recorded a tape album "You and I" (the sound engineer was the former drummer of "Automatic Satisfiers" Igor "Punker" Gudkov), a little later joined the Leningrad Rock Club and in May became winners of its II festival, performing their first hits "A Thousand Records" and "She Doesn't Understand", as well as a cover version of the song "Major Rock and Roll" by the leader of "Zoo Park" Mike Naumenko.
Also on July 21 and 22, 1984, the musicians of "Secretariat" Andrey Zabludovsky and Alexey Murashyov participated in the recording of the first album of the future leader of the rock band "Alisa" Konstantin Kinchev "Nervnaya Nacht". The project itself was named Dr. Kinchev and the group "Style".
In early 1985, the band moved to the professional stage as part of the Lenconcert activity.
Participated as a warm-up act in Rosenbaum's concerts.
On July 25, 1985 "Secret" made a triumphant performance in the Leningrad Youth Palace, in 1984-1989 participated in the TV programs "Discs are Spinning", "Morning Mail" and "Musical Ring" (with songs in video clip format), toured the whole Soviet Union with concerts, toured with the group "Mashina Vremeni".
In 1987, the company "Melodiya" released the second album of the group, twice platinum album "Beat-quartet "Secret"". Almost all of the album's songs were already hits: "Hello" (its co-writer Rubin took the song with him when he moved from "Secret" to the group "Integral" in his time, and it entered the repertoire of both groups), "Your Daddy Was Right", "Sara Baraboo", "My Love on the Fifth Floor" and others.
The album was instantly sold out throughout the USSR - demand exceeded supply.
In 1988 the band members organized the rock-theater-studio "Secret", where they staged the play "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" about Elvis Presley and took part in dozens of TV programs, some of which they themselves invented. At the same time the band recorded its third album "Leningrad Time" (1989), which somewhat departed from the style of the early Beatles: heavier modern sound and more "serious" lyrics.
In 1989 "Secret" gave a tour in Europe and performed at the twentieth anniversary of the band "Mashina Vremeni" with the song "Way towards the sun".