Singer Dakota (real name Margarita Gerasimovich) is not only an excellent vocalist, but also a very talented composer and author of texts. Today, her songs are performed by such famous artists as Ani Lorak, Anita Tsoi, Dominic Joker and others.
Childhood
Her date of birth is March 9, 1990. Born in the capital of Belarus, the city of Minsk. As a child, Rita was not particularly interested in typical games for girls: Barbie dolls and coloring books with princesses were lying under the bed. And she herself at that time was chasing in the yard and playing war games with the boys and Cossack robbers.
But performing abilities began to appear even then. In the evenings, among other peers, Rita entertained local grandmothers with yard concerts. The boys sang the songs of Andrei Gubin and the group “Ladybug”, and the girls rehearsed the compositions of Natasha Koroleva, Tanya Ovsienko and Kristina Orbakaite.
School of Music
Mom as a child drew attention to the musical gift of her daughter. She heard how purely from the point of view of intonation Rita sings songs, read verses that she wrote; heard the tunes she composed. The family decided to send the girl to study at a music school. Then, being a seven-year-old child, having come with her mother to enter the piano department, she subdued the main vocal teacher with her singing. As a result, it was decided, in addition to studying to be a pianist, also to sing in the choir. Later, thanks to the pedagogical skills of teachers and the natural gift of Rita, she became one of the best participants in this vocal group. Singer Dakota with her team went on tour in almost all countries of Europe. It should be noted that the members of this choir at different times were singer Bianca, pianist Vlasyuk and other famous personalities.
Tough choices
After graduating from music school, fourteen-year-old Rita decided to enter the music school. Glinka at the faculty of composition. All documents were collected, but at the last moment, literally in front of the school’s doors, she changed her mind. As the singer Dakota herself admitted, she unexpectedly came to the conclusion that if a person painstakingly studies, then as a result she can understand how the correct music is written. But you can learn to write good music only with talent. Having decided then that the composition would be her hobby, she went to perfect her vocal abilities by entering the Forte pop singing studio.
Star Factory
Not having passed the casting to participate in the Belarusian musical show project "Star Stagecoach", singer Dakota (photo below), accused by the jury of "lack of patriotism" for performing a song in English, for some time refused desire to build a solo career.
At that time, she was much more interested in writing her own compositions. Therefore, when Rita learned from her friend Armen (a well-known singer in Belarus) about the start of the casting of the seventh Star Factory, she decided to go there to show Konstantin Meladze her works of authorship. To do this, she made a demo of her songs, determined to prove to the producer that a good composer would come out of her.
But everything did not work out as planned by Dakota. The singer, whose biography proves the versatility of her talent, was accepted to the TV show "Star Factory-7" as a participant.
During the project, Rita wrote several new songs, met a lot of creative people. Teachers appreciated her vocal abilities, recognizing her voice as one of the best in the history of Star Factory. Margarita became the finalist of the project. She recorded such popular author’s songs as “Matches”, “I Knew Everything”, “One” and “Best Friend”.
Meet Dominic Joker
At the end of the project, numerous tours of the “manufacturers” followed, in one of which the singer Dakota met Dominic Joker, also a graduate of one of the previous “Factories”. He at that time was a successful singer, composer and producer. Subsequently, these two creative people became close friends. But friendship is not the only thing that connected them. Dominic and Rita recorded several collaborative songs. Their most famous work is the soundtrack to the TV series “Mama-Moscow”.
On the edge of poverty
At the end of the tour, Dakota, still bound by the contract, turned out to be unclaimed. But the obligations did not allow her to leave for her native Belarus. In the absence of work, there was practically no livelihood. She lived in a small room outside the Moscow Ring Road, practically starving, but she did not lose her fortitude. The desire to create music did not disappear.
Not far from the then home of Rita was a school. The girl asked the guard to let her into the assembly hall at night in order to compose new songs on the old piano. There, covered with a blanket, she recorded the fruits of her work on a dictaphone, once donated by Konstantin Meladze. At some point, the realization came that her songs might be of interest to other artists. Dakota offered them for execution to several novice performers. When I realized that her creations were in demand, she began to collaborate with "stars" of higher rank.
When all the difficulties are behind
Now that the difficult period in Margarita’s life has ended, she is a sought-after composer and author of texts. It is enough to mention a few songs that are now heard on the waves of all radio stations. The song “I Will Remember, ” performed by Alexander Marshall and T-killah, “Sky” performed by the Christmas tree, “No Need”, performed by Svetlana Loboda.
Also, Dakota now takes part in the project "Main Stage", where he mainly performs songs of his own composition.
