Alsou was born in Bogelma, Tatarstan. He is also the owner of the Sochi football team Zhemchuzhina and was named the 100th richest Russian by Forbes Magazine in 2004. Alsou is an ethnic Tatar. At the age of 15 Alsou was introduced to music manager Valeriy Belotserkovskiy. In 2000, Alsou recorded her first English language single "Solo" and was entered into the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, eventually finishing second overall. In the summer of 2002, Alsou began a tour of the former Soviet countries. On March 18, 2006 Alsou married Yan Abramov, a millionaire, who comes from a Mountain Jewish family.