Yuliya Olegovna Volkova born February 20, 1985 is one half of the Russian music duo t.A.T.u.
Volkova was born into the family of a businessman in Moscow. At the age of 6, parallel to ordinary school, Yuliya entered a music school and began learning how to play the piano. When she was 9, Volkova became a member of the children's singing chorus Neposedi, singing the Russian folk song "Oy, to ne vecher" at the casting. A year later, Lena Katina joined Neposedi, and they became good friends.
At age 11, Yuliya switched from ordinary school to a school fostering artistic talent, and three years later left Neposedi to join t.A.T.u. She has insisted that she was banned from Neposedi for drinking and swearing, but Neposedi representatives deny this, saying that she simply graduated as all of their members did at a certain age.
In February 2003, Volkova was reported to have had an abortion, as she was seen at an abortion clinic in Moscow. This was confirmed by Volkova in the December 2003 documentary series "Anatomy of t.A.T.u.". In May 2004, Volkova announced that she was pregnant; daughter Viktoria Pavlovna Volkova was born on 23 September 2004. Her then long-time boyfriend Pavel Sidorov is the father; some reports say they dated since primary school. There was controversy as Sidorov left his wife and baby for Yuliya and Viktoria. Yuliya publicly commented "Obviously we won't be celebrating a wedding". Just six months later in Spring 2005 Volkova and Sidorov split because Sidorov left Yuliya for another woman.
PS: Volkova gave birth to a baby boy on December 27th, 2007 at 6:35am. Yuliya and the baby's father, Parvis, wish to keep the baby's name a secret.