Denis Klyaver teases Chai Vdvoem reunion after decade-long split
Denis Klyaver Hints at Possible Reunion with Stas Kostyushkin in "Chai Vdvoem"News.ru looks at what is known about the singer's personal life and whether the legendary duo will make a comeback.
A "Chai Vdvoem" Reunion? According to Klyaver, the most important thing right now is that their songs are still being heard. He believes reconciling with Stas Kostyushkin is only a matter of time.
"I think it will happen someday. The main thing is that these songs are still playing—they're being listened to, remixed, like Zhelannaya (The Desired One). It's very heartwarming," Denis shared.
The group Chai Vdvoem (Tea for Two) was formed in 1994 and rose to fame with hits like Den Rozhdeniya (Birthday), Laskovaya Moya (My Tender One), and Ty Ne Odna (You're Not Alone). In 2012, Klyaver and Kostyushkin announced the end of their collaboration, pursuing solo careers instead.
"Ten years ago, we found ourselves trapped in a single genre… Chai Vdvoem had hit a creative dead end. We're completely different people—there's the eccentric Stas Kostyushkin, and then there's me, the rugged romantic," Klyaver explained at the time. However, in May 2023, the musicians reunited to perform a new song, Nezhnaya (Tender). That November, Klyaver announced the group's return to the stage.
Personal Life Klyaver's first wife was Yelena Shestakova—they married in 1998. Early in their relationship, they moved to St. Petersburg together, where she effectively became the group's manager. The couple split after their honeymoon.
Later, Denis married Julia, a ballet dancer in Laima Vaikule's troupe, who had a child from a previous relationship. Their marriage lasted seven years, and they had a son, Timofey.
During his second marriage, Klyaver was in a relationship with singer Eva Polna. In 2005, she gave birth to their daughter, Evelyn. For years, Polna kept the father's identity a secret, but in 2010, Denis officially acknowledged paternity. They remain on friendly terms today.
While Klyaver and Polna were together, those around them believed she was dating their bandmate Yury Usachev. It later emerged that Eva and Denis had agreed to keep their relationship private, even asking Usachev to drive her to the hospital when she went into labor.
"Denis only officially recognized his paternity five years after Evelyn was born. I didn't want outsiders meddling in my life, and for a long time, I managed to keep it that way. Not even our mutual friends in the industry knew," Polna recalled.
Later, the singer married lawyer Irina Fedotova. Klyaver emphasized that she was not a "homewrecker"—they only began dating after he realized his feelings for his wife had faded. On September 24, 2013, they welcomed a son, Daniel.
Klyaver regrets that he never had the chance to spend more time with his father—the late actor Ilya Oleynikov, who passed away in 2012—due to their competing schedules.
"From 1995 onward, we were constantly on tour, and my father was always traveling with Yury Stoyanov as well," Klyaver recalled. "Back then, there were no mobile phones or video calls. My father knew he had achieved the kind of fame he had always dreamed of, and he savored every moment of his tours and performances."
The singer admitted that he had spent his whole life in an unspoken rivalry with his father. Oleynikov never mocked or belittled his son, but Denis always felt the need to prove to him that he was "the real deal."
