Nelly Paltinienė

Famous Lithuanian pop singer and wife of Kopų Balsai bandleader Arvydas Paltinas. Original surname was Etevičiūtė, and during her first marriage - Klimenko. Born 1929 or 1934 (exact date unknown due to WWII but considered either of these) in Mińsk Mazowiecki, Poland - died 2020 February 29th in Mannheim, Germany. Daughter of Lithuanian father and Polish mother, she only learnt to speak Lithuanian in post-war years. Started singing in 1951 in Amateur arts ensemble of Klaipėda city's communication workers' labor union. Before singing briefly was guitarist in same ensemble. In 1960 started singing at Variety orchestra of Klaipėda city cultural house. In 1961 she came to sing to ensemble led by her Arvydas Paltinas, later given the name Kopų Balsai ("Voices of the Dunes"), where her professional career started, as she only sang during free time previously. Started becoming nationally recognized after performing on TV for the first time in 1966. In 1967 she started singing in duet with Eugenijus Ivanauskas and it remained so until 1982. In 1982 she left Lithuanian SSR together with Arvydas Paltinas for West Germany, where Paltinas' parents lived already. Kopų Balsai band, left in LSSR, was disbanded soon afterwards, due to the leader and main singer having left. Despite the recognition and popularity, for next several years, their names were not to be mentioned, the LPs were all removed from retail and libraries, and radio/TV were ordered likewise to remove the recordings - as was usual practice with all artists who managed to leave the USSR and thus were deemed traitors of the state. In the West, the career soon resumed, and she'd traverse between Germany and US, singing for audiences of local Lithuanians there. Due to perestroika warming of political climate, they were allowed to visit Lithuania SSR once again in 1989, performing successful sold-out gigs as locals have not forgotten them, and many times later. First album abroad was released in 1984, unusually on cassette only, and then once a year afterwards every year. These albums were smuggled back to Lithuanian SSR, copied widely and listened there despite no official availability, until from 1990 on the most new releases became officially available to purchase in post-soviet Lithuania. In 1993, she resumed the duet with Eugenijus Ivanauskas, which regularly continued until 2007, after which Eugenijus' health was too poor to continue singing. Nelly by herself continued singing regularly until she passed away.