Pianoboy is the solo project of Ukrainian musician Dmytro Shurov (former keyboardist for Okean Elzy, Esthetic Education, and Zemfira) created in 2009 and performs songs in Ukrainian, Russian, and English. Dmitry's sister, Olga Shurova, a graduate of the Kyiv National Linguistic University, also takes part in the project.
At the beginning of 2009, Dmytro Shurov began working on the opera âÂÂLion and Leia,â part of which was performed at the fashion designer Alena Akhmadullina's show in Paris. During the work, Shurov came up with the idea of creating his own group. His sister Olga Shurova, a graduate of the Kyiv Linguistic University, helped him in working on the project, called âÂÂPianoboyâÂÂ.
Dmitry Shurov's first performance as Pianoboy took place in September 2009 as part of the second Moloko Music Fest. In addition to Dmitry and Olga as a backing vocalist, another backing vocalist Lida Tutuola, guitarist Ilya Galushko and drummer Andrei Nadolsky took part in it. After that, Pianoboy performed at the fashion show of Liliya Litkovskaya's collection, opened the week of British cinema with his set, and played a concert at the birthday celebration of Harper's Bazaar magazine in Kyiv.
In November 2009, the first song, âÂÂSmysla.net,â premiered on radio and television, and on December 29, 2009, Pianoboy played his first full-fledged solo concert in Kyiv, where a video for this song was also presented. The video was created by the father of the band's guitarist, theater artist Alexander Druganov Sr., together with Kyiv animator Dmitry Lisenbart, based on the drawings of artist Maria Druganova, Alexander's daughter.
In January 2010, Pianoboy began recording his debut album, and at the end of February he began a club tour in Ukraine. The first lineup of the group included the Shurovs, Tutuola, Nadolsky and guitarist Alexander Druganov. In February 2011, Pianoboy, together with the group Boombox, recorded the song âÂÂFloorsâÂÂ. After this, the group began collaborating with the Music for the Masses company and producer Alexei Sogomonov, who is also the producer of Boombox. In 2011, videos were recorded for the songs âÂÂWitchâÂÂ, âÂÂWeekendâÂÂ, âÂÂLeak Awayâ and âÂÂFloorsâ (the latter together with âÂÂBoomboxâÂÂ).
In March 2012, Pianoboy, thanks to the song âÂÂWitch,â won the âÂÂDiscovery of the Yearâ category at the âÂÂChartâÂÂs Dozenâ award of the Russian radio station âÂÂNashe RadioâÂÂ. In May 2012, the group's debut album, âÂÂSimple Things,â was released. The album was released by Lavina Music. In August 2012, Pianoboy, together with Boombox and TNMK, recorded a cover of Micah and Jumanji's song âÂÂFor Youâ for a tribute concert, and in January 2013 they released a video for this cover.
In September 2013, the album âÂÂDon't Stop Dreamingâ was released. In April 2014, Pianoboy recorded a video for the song âÂÂMotherlandâÂÂ. In July 2014, the group's planned concert in Moscow was banned by the government of the Russian capital.