Ivaylo Kraychovski – “I’m the only person on the planet who was lucky to make the transition from fan to member of FSB!”

Born on June 4, 1961, passed away suddenly in 2018
with FSB from 1983 to 2006

Started studying violin and solfège at the age of five. 1976 found him in the ninth grade of XXI High School in Sofia where students had a bass guitar, a drum kit and a MV-3 (an amplifier from former East Germany) at their disposal to experiment with. A band comprised of rejected Music School applicants was about to be formed and Ivaylo Kraychovski was invited to play that “strange 4-string instrument, just like a big violin” because “can read music and surely can cope”. So began Ivaylo’s rock and roll period. He used to play along Grand Funk Railroad and Black Sabbath records for days on end. His music guru of the time was Mel Schacher.

In 1983 he graduated the faculty of Pop and Jazz Arts at The State Music Academy in the bass guitar and double bass class of Simeon Venkov. The news that FSB were looking for a bass player to replace Alexander Baharov lead him to Balkanton studio where, among many of the competitors, he was the only one to ask for a break to tune up his instrument before playing. This decided his fate and he was accepted as a fulltime member right away.

The album FSB VI (1984) and the milestone concert FSB Live at Academic Stadium, where Ivaylo Kraychovski debuted on stage as the new bass guitarist in front of 15 000 people audience, put him on the crest of the wave, allaying all doubts and outlining new prospects.

“I have lived with the FSB longer than I have with my girlfriends and my wife. FSB taught me a lot more things than all my education and all my life managed to do!”

Ivaylo Kraychovski became also a part of the FSB organization, an syndicate which taught him how to be creative, enterprising and energetic. The active studio work as sound engineer and record producer, his numerous trademarked recordings serving as a reference even nowadays, his work for MMD Multimedia Bolkanmusic (1993 till 1995), established him as a preferable partner for a number of albums of Bulgarian pop singers, rock groups and jazz ensembles.Ivaylo Kraychovski became also a part of the FSB organization, an syndicate which taught him how to be creative, enterprising and energetic. The active studio work as sound engineer and record producer, his numerous trademarked recordings serving as a reference even nowadays, his work for MMD Multimedia Bolkanmusic (1993 till 1995), established him as a preferable partner for a number of albums of Bulgarian pop singers, rock groups and jazz ensembles.

Ivaylo Kraychovski was the ideologue and the mastermind behind the formation of super group Stari Mutsuni with the veteran of Bulgarian rock Georgi Minchev. In 1996 he became the music director of Sofia Film Fest. He is the Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of the Performing Artists and executive member of the Board of Association of the Recording Studios in Bulgaria (BNAPZ). He is a member of the Beer Party and the director of the annual memorial concerts A Flower for Gosho and various festivals and performances.

On the occasion of the release of FSB – Anthology and the subsequent concert tour Ivaylo Kraychovski said:

“The Anthology and the following tour were the best things that ever happened to us. The six-year break was a destiny – we had to let things settle for a while.... And it was destiny again that made us start over again on the eve of year 2000.”

Ivaylo Kraychovski took part in the augmented FSB line-up for the New Year’s Eve concert on the occasion of Bulgaria’s acceptance in the EU in 2007.