Tatiana Nikolaevna Kotova (; born 3 September 1985) is a Russian singer, actress, and television personality. She is the winner of the title Miss Russia 2006 and former soloist of Ukrainian female pop group Nu Virgos.
In 2006 she won the title of Miss Russia and had the opportunity to represent Russia in the contests Miss World 2007 and Miss Universe 2007. Tatiana was one of the favorites in the Miss Universe 2007, but did not reach the semi-finals. Tatiana Kotova is the third Russian to participate in both Miss Universe and Miss World after Anna Malova and Svetlana Goreva.
From March 2008 to April 2010 she was a vocalist of the pop-band Nu Virgos, replacing Vera Brezhneva. She currently works in a solo career.
1985–2005: Early life
Tatiana Kotova was born on 3 September 1985, in Sholokhovsky (Rostov region) in a small close-knit family. Her father, Nicholay Kotov, worked as a miner, trucker, and later engaged in business activity. Her mother, Marina Kotova, worked in a bank. Tatiana has a younger sister Ekaterina. Tatiana Kotova took part in her first beauty contest "Miss Autumn 98" at school and won the title "Miss Charm". During her studies for a degree in Crisis Management at the Faculty of Economics of the Southern Federal University, Tatiana was invited to a modeling training course by agency "Image Elite".
2006–2007: Miss Russia, Miss World and Miss Universe
A few months later, Kotova received an offer to take part in the competition "Best Model of the South of Russia". She entered the top five finalists. Then there were many beauty contests and victories in her career. In December 2006, Kotova won "Miss Russia 2006" title with 53% viewers' votes. In 2007, she represented Russia in international competitions "Miss Universe" and "Miss World". Tatiana was one of the favorites of the contests.
2008–2010: Nu Virgos (VIA Gra)
On 17 March 2008 Kotova became a participant of the famous pop group Nu Virgos (VIA Gra in Russian spelling). Debut music video featuring Tatiana called I'm not afraid (Я не боюсь). At the shooting time (February 2008) Kotova was not yet a participant of Nu Virgos, therefore video was filmed with Albina Dzhanabaeva and Meseda Bagautdinova. Episodes with Tatiana were added later. The first performances as a trio took place in Moscow, in Sungate Port Royal (Antalya, Turkey) and in Ogre (Latvia). First television shooting was a concert dedicated to the thirtieth of the newspaper Arguments and Facts. In summer 2008, Nu Virgos presented videos My emancipation and American wife (Американская жена).
In early January 2009, the first participant Nadezhda Granovskaya returned in Nu Virgos. Trio recorded two singles Anti-geisha (Антигейша) and Crazy (Сумасшедший) and shot videos, directed by Alan Badoev and Sergey Solodkii. The last Kotova performance in the group «Nu Virgos» was held in Ukrainian Star Factory. Super final on 21 March 2010. Kotova officially announced her retirement at a press conference on 22 April 2010. Tatiana was replaced by Eva Bushmina from third Ukrainian Star Factory.
2010–present: solo career
In June 2010, Kotova played a role of business-woman Ksenia Morozova in the television soap opera Happiness is somewhere near (А счастье где-то рядом) directed by Vasily Mishchenko. In September 2010, Kotova started a solo music career. The song He (Он, written by Irina Dubtsova) became her debut solo single. The video was directed by Alan Badoev. Second single was named Red on red (Красное на красном). It was written by Alexey Romanoff.
In 2010, Kotova became a TV-presenter. She compered the program Fashion Emergency assistance (Скорая модная помощь) on Muz TV Channel paired with designer Max Chernitsov. On 28 September 2010 Kotova debuted with solo live performance in St. Petersburg. She presented a song Vampiritsa (Вампирица). Then the release of the singles Obladi (Облади) and Peace for strong men (Мир для сильных мужчин) was followed.