Ivan Shmelyov (1912–1960) was a Soviet popular singer. He received a prize at the Second All-Union Competition of Variety Artists in Moscow in 1946.
Born in Voronezh on June 14, 1912, he was the son of Dmitry Semyonovich Shmelyov, a riveter at a locomotive-repair plant, and Elizaveta Petrovna Shmelyova, a domestic worker. After completing seven years of school and factory apprenticeship training, he worked as a locksmith at the locomotive-repair plant. He performed with the plant's Blue Blouse variety ensemble before being sent to study voice at the Voronezh Music Technical School, now the Rostropovich Voronezh Music College. He graduated in 1935 from the class of I. I. Bereznegovsky.
Shmelyov continued his studies in the solo-singing department of the Moscow Conservatory, in the class of Professor K. N. Dorliak. While in his final year, he was engaged by the Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre, where he sang a number of leading roles. He was noted for the rare beauty of his soft, warm vocal timbre.
As a popular performer, Shmelyov sang Russian folk songs, lyrical songs by Soviet authors, and jazz compositions. His repertoire included “Dark Night,” “The Bryansk Forest Roared Sternly,” “The Cherished Stone,” and “Three Tankmen.” He was the first performer of such songs as “Cossacks in Berlin,” “I Am Infinitely Sorry,” “Paths and Roads,” “About a Hero,” “We Went on Campaigns,” “By the Volga River,” “It Happened in Krasnodon,” “Lenin Hills,” “Sormovo Lyric Song,” “About a Little Lantern,” “Oh, Roads...,” and “The Little Song About the Lapwing.”
In the postwar years, he performed Soviet songs as a soloist for All-Union Radio and later for the USSR Touring Bureau. He gave concerts in many cities throughout the country and also toured abroad. Shmelyov died in Moscow on May 30, 1960, and was interred in the columbarium of the Donskoy Monastery.