- Full name – Yevhen Yuriiovych Rybchynskyi
- Date of birth – December 21, 1969
- Place of birth – Kyiv, Ukraine
- Language – Ukrainian
- Occupation – poet, composer, producer, public figure
- Genre – pop music, popular song
Yevhen Rybchynskyi is a Ukrainian songwriter, composer, producer, public figure and journalist. Songs written by Rybchynskyi are part of the repertoires of Oleksandr Ponomariov, Nataliia Mohylevska, Sofia Rotaru, EL Kravchuk and other well-known artists.
Key Facts from His Biography
Yevhen Rybchynskyi grew up in a family where words and music were not simply professions but part of everyday life. His father was the renowned songwriter Yurii Rybchynskyi, although having such a famous name in the family did not mean that Yevhen enjoyed any special privileges. On the contrary, his childhood was quite modest and was spent mainly in Kyiv's Kurenivka neighborhood. The family did not have luxurious apartments in the city center, country houses or expensive cars.
However, people whose names are now well known in Ukrainian culture regularly visited their home. Among the guests were Volodymyr Ivasiuk, Sofia Rotaru, Maksym Dunayevskyi, Mykola Mozghovyi, Nina Matviienko, Tamara Gverdtsiteli and other artists. For the boy, this world seemed almost like a parallel universe: ordinary children's quarrels and fights prevailed on the streets, while behind the doors of his home there were music, poetry, creative conversations and famous people. Yevhen himself recalls this childhood as a kind of dissonance that significantly shaped his outlook on life.
The Role of His Father in His Artistic Development
The constant competition with his father was a story of its own. Yevhen tried to be better at everything – from competing for his mother's attention to sports, creative pursuits and intellectual activities. They played chess, checkers, billiards, burime and Scrabble together, and competed in solving crossword puzzles. According to Rybchynskyi, this period was very interesting, although it was not without childhood tears.
At the same time, he owes his particular understanding of songwriting to his father. Yevhen describes the ability to create popular songs loved by the general public as almost a mystical science that he tried to understand by observing his father. His example remains a source of inspiration for Yevhen to this day.
Education and Studies
During his school years, Yevhen Rybchynskyi was not limited to literature. He practiced boxing, wrote his own poetry and was interested in acting. His passion for creativity gradually combined with an interest in media and the written word, so after school Yevhen chose the Faculty of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University.
He graduated in 1991, gaining a professional foundation that later enabled him to work simultaneously in journalism, music, production and literature.
Professional Career
Yevhen Rybchynskyi became independent at a very young age. He started working while still at university and later left his parents' home, got married, became a father and built his professional career alongside his family life.
In his third year of university, Yevhen joined the State Committee for Television and Radio of Ukraine. He initially worked at the Moloda Hvardiia radio station on the «Blitz» programme and later moved to UR-2 «Promin», where he worked on the «Pan abo propav» project – the first commercial show on Soviet radio. He started as a radio host and later tried his hand at producing, gaining valuable practical experience in creating media products.
In 1992, Rybchynskyi founded the «MB Advertising» marketing and advertising company. Its clients included Oriflame, UMC, MTI and other well-known companies. The following year, he opened the «Muzychna Birzha» recording studio. Its main focus was the creation of exclusive audio advertising, including campaigns for brands such as Coca-Cola. However, the studio was involved not only in advertising – it also helped promote Ukrainian performers.
Successful Projects
In 1996, Yevhen Rybchynskyi became one of the organizers of the large-scale «Road to the Temple» campaign. The project helped raise the funds needed to complete the construction of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
At the same time, the cultural figure actively developed his own projects in the music and media industries. In 1997, Rybchynskyi launched the «Nashe Radio» radio project, followed two years later by «Radio Nostalgia». The latter eventually became one of the leading radio stations in Kyiv and at one point ranked first among the capital's radio stations.
From 2003, Yevhen also became actively involved in the print media industry. He became a co-owner of the «Vavylon» publishing house, which published the popular magazines «L’Officiel» and «Eva». As a result, his professional sphere increasingly encompassed several areas at once – music, radio, advertising, publishing and cultural projects.
The Work of the Songwriter
From 2011 to 2013, Yevhen Rybchynskyi spent three years in New England, deliberately stepping away from his usual media and production work and focusing on creativity. During this period, he recorded two solo albums – «Naviky, na roky» and «Pоки ty ne zdavsia, ty neperevozhenyi», as well as creating a poetry collection titled «Ya – dzerkalo».
His return to Ukraine coincided with the events of the Maidan and the beginning of the Revolution of Dignity. After that, patriotic lyrics, civic poetry and responses to the country's new reality became increasingly important in his work. His poems were widely shared online, performed at literary evenings and became part of the cultural reflection on these events.
Collaboration with Artists
From 2014 to 2022, Yevhen Rybchynskyi was no longer as actively involved in producing pop performers as he had been in the 1990s, but his songwriting legacy continued to live on. Songs featuring his lyrics and music, including «Ty podobayeshsia meni» and «Bal rozluchenykh serdets», regularly appeared in retrospective music collections dedicated to the finest examples of Ukrainian popular music.
At the same time, the artist recorded his own audio poetry, reciting his verses himself with musical accompaniment. As 2022 approached, he increasingly focused on contemporary patriotic works that later became part of new wartime poetry collections.
An important part of Rybchynskyi's creative work has been his collaboration with Khrystyna Okhitva, a soloist of the Honored Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After 2022, their collaboration became particularly close. Together, the artists performed for Ukrainian military personnel, presenting updated versions of Rybchynskyi's well-known hits.
The friendship between Rybchynskyi and Iryna Bilyk also deserves special mention. The singer is a close friend and godmother to Yevhen, as well as the godmother of one of his sons. Despite their professional connection, Rybchynskyi deliberately avoided entering into a full-fledged commercial producer relationship with the pop star in order to preserve their friendship. Other artists he has collaborated with include Tonya Matviienko and other performers.
Contemporary Period
From 2022 to 2026, Yevhen Rybchynskyi's creative work gained new momentum. Having stepped away from active political activity, he focused on music, poetry, author performances and preserving the creative legacy of the Rybchynskyi family. One of the important directions of this period was bringing well-known songs back into a contemporary patriotic context.
After a long break, the artist has once again become active on the concert stage with author evenings, combining poetry with music. A notable event was his major solo concert in Kyiv on the terrace of the Gulliver shopping mall in August 2026. The open-air audience heard both new patriotic and lyrical works and songs that have long been part of Ukraine's musical heritage.
Yevhen Rybchynskyi also continues to hold creative meetings and charity performances in different Ukrainian cities. His current activities combine original poetry, music, concert programmes and support for the Defence Forces, making creativity one of his main ways of speaking about Ukraine, its people and the times in which the country lives.
Political Experience
In October 2014, Yevhen Rybchynskyi became a Member of Parliament of Ukraine of the 8th convocation, winning a single-member constituency in Kyiv as an independent candidate. In the Verkhovna Rada, he served as Deputy Chair of the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy. From October 2014 to November 2015, he was a member of the «Petro Poroshenko Bloc» parliamentary faction.
In 2019, he ran for the Verkhovna Rada as a candidate from the «Batkivshchyna» party but did not win a parliamentary mandate. Yevhen does not plan to return to politics. According to him, he considers being a member of parliament an ungrateful profession, while people's attitude toward poets, composers and singers is completely different.
Civic Position
In parliament, Rybchynskyi consistently supported pro-Ukrainian initiatives. In particular, he co-authored legislative amendments introducing language quotas on radio and television and restricting Russian propaganda content.
After the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Rybchynskyi adopted a firm patriotic position. He openly condemns collaborators and artists who betrayed Ukraine, including those with whom he had worked in the past. Today, his main front remains the information and cultural space: he creates contemporary patriotic poetry and takes part in charitable creative events in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Features of the Poet and Composer's Style
Yevhen Rybchynskyi's distinctive style as a poet and composer developed at the intersection of the classical Ukrainian songwriting tradition and modern urban romance. His poetry has a pronounced inner musicality: a clear rhythm, natural rhymes and the richness of the Ukrainian language allow his texts to easily become the basis for songs.
In his work, the artist readily uses metaphors and imagery through which simple everyday situations become reflections on love, loss, choice and human destiny. His romantic lyrics are particularly recognizable – emotional, sincere and sometimes intimate. They are filled with a gentle sense of melancholy, nostalgia and drama while retaining their melodic quality.
As a composer, Rybchynskyi gravitates toward expressive, easily memorable melodies. His musical style combines elements of pop ballads, folk intonations and the traditions of popular romantic song. This ability to create compositions that are accessible to a broad audience without simplifying their meaning has become one of the reasons his songs have remained relevant for so long.
Awards and Distinctions:
- «Person of the Year 2009» (publisher of the country's best women's magazine).
Interesting Facts:
- Among his father's prominent friends who visited the Rybchynskyi family, Yevhen remembers Hennadii Tatarchenko most vividly and is particularly grateful to him – he was the one who taught the boy to play the guitar and write music;
- the composer is interested in the work of contemporary Ukrainian artists. His playlist includes Pianoбой, Tina Karol, Wellboy, Adam, Tvorchi, Molodi and Jerry Heil;
- Yevhen Rybchynskyi has a large family with four sons. The composer is also already a grandfather;
- he wrote his 1990s hit «Chortopolokh» in just one night.
