Leonid Utyosov was a popular singer and band-leader in the Soviet Union who is best known for the leading role in 'Vesyolyye rebyata' (1934). He was born Lazar Iosifovich Weissbein on March 21, 1895, in Odessa, Russian Empire (now Odesa, Ukraine). His father was a small business owner and his mother was a homemaker.