Alisher Morgenshtern

Alisher Tagirovich Morgenshtern (né Valeyev;; February 17, 1998), known mononymously as Morgenshtern (stylized in all caps), is a Russian rapper, singer, record producer, and songwriter.

He first gained fame in 2018 as the author of parodies of popular music artists of that time, publishing these videos on his YouTube channel. Alisher Tagirovich Valeyev was born on February 17, 1998, in Ufa; he changed his last name to Morgenshtern (Russian and Bashkir: Моргенштерн) as a teenager. His mother is of Russian-Jewish descent, while his father was of Bashkir descent. His mother was a florist; his parents divorced and when Alisher turned 11, his father died of liver cirrhosis due to severe alcoholism.

He has been interested in music since his childhood, and as a teenager he stated that he loved skateboarding.

He released his first music video in 2010.

He attended university for some time, but shortly after starting, he was expelled due to his "frank activities on YouTube", as the rector of the university stated.

Morgenshtern was also a street musician, and was the head singer of the rock band MMD Crew, with whom he collaborated in a song with the Russian rapper Face.

He is best known for his YouTube show "#EasyRap".

In April 2021, Morgenshtern donated to the fund for helping orphans "Our Children" in Bashkiria. This is reported on the foundation's page in VKontakte. The organization clarified that the musician sent a total of 666,666 rubles, which was the largest donation to the NGO from a private person. This money will be spent on the development of the project "Mentoring".

In May 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice put Morgenshtern on the list of foreign agents after receiving funding from the Israeli media company Yoola Labs and for his remarks about Victory Day. Morgenshtern later apologised on his Telegram channel and tried to appeal against the decision to put him on its foreign agents list, but still continues to be on the list as of 10 March 2023.