Popular female Russian singer and a Soviet agent. She was born Nadezhda Vasilievna Vinnikova (Винникова) to a peasant family in the village of Vinnikovo near Kursk. While on tour she was heard by the great tenor Leonid Sobinov. He brought her to the attention of a wider public, which soon included the tsar's family. After the October Revolution, she became a communist and sang for the troops of the Red Army. She died in Rennes prison of a heart ailment in the autumn of 1940, during the German occupation.
