Pop singer Yuri Shatunov, who was wildly popular in the 1980s and 1990s, died Thursday at the age of 48.

"Last night Yuri's heart stopped in an ambulance," said Shatunov’s manager, Arkady Kudryashov, the state-run news agency TASS reported. 

Shatunov was perhaps best known as the frontman of band Laskovy Mai (‘Gentle May’), which filled stadiums all over the Soviet Union during sold-out tours at the end of the 1980s.

Some of their most successful songs include the nostalgia infused Belye Rozi (‘White Roses’) and Sedaya Noch (‘Grey Night’).

Born in 1973, Shatunov spent much of his childhood in an orphanage and first began performing with Laskovy Mai aged 13 alongside other orphanage residents. 

When Laskovy Mai split in 1992, Shatunov launched a solo career, but never achieved the same heights of success. 

He leaves behind a wife, Svetlana, and two children.

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