Hvost (Aleksei Hvostenko, acronym means a tail in Russian) was a famous Russian avant-garde poet, composer of song lyrics and an artist. He wrote lyrics to more than 100 songs and several plays in co-authorship with Henri Volohonskim (joint pseudonym A.H.V.). Alexei Hvostenko was born on 14 November 1940 in Sverdlovsk, Russia. In childhood he moved to Leningrad (St. Petersburg), where he later graduated from Leningrad Institute of Theater, Filmmaking and Music. In 1968 he moves to Moscow, where he becomes an active member of an underground art movement. He writes poems and art works and illegally publishes them. He was accused by soviet government with social parasitism and faced with either jail or deportation. He chose deportation and emigrated to France in 1977. In France he becomes the editor of the Echo magazine. In 1989 he takes a role in the film Mit'ki in Paris. Since mid-90s he gives performances and concerts in Russia often with another famous underground band Auction. Hvost died on 30 November 2004. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.