By Tim Saunders on
Former Soviet leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev has recorded and sold a one-of-a-kind album of love songs for charity.
The 78-year-old recorded an album of old Russian romantic ballads to raise money for a charity dedicated to his late wife, Raisa, who died of leukaemia in 1999. The Raisa Gorbachev Foundation is an international non-governmental organization dedicated solely to the control of child cancer. Its primary goal is to eliminate this life-threatening disease for future generations. As a non-profit organization, it is committed to action and acts as a voice for change.
“The disc includes seven of Raisa Maximovna’s favorite romantic songs,” said Gorbachev. “I sang them myself, with Andrei Makarevich [a well known Russian musician] playing the background music.”
The only copy of the album was auctioned at the Foundation’s gala dinner on June 6 for $164,940. The former leader also performed one of the songs at the event.
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