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Top 10 Most Famous Georgian people

Anna Tatishvili by Tatian from

Georgia has a long cultural history, and Georgians have made significant contributions to the world in a variety of sectors over the years. King David IV and Queen Tamar are two of Georgia’s most important historical personalities, as they reigned over the Kingdom of Georgia during its Golden Age.

Several major political conquests occurred in the following centuries, and the kingdom eventually became a unitary semi-presidential republic. Noe Zhordania, a social revolutionary and journalist, made history by becoming the first President of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

Aside from its vibrant political past, Georgia is known for producing notable religious and scholarly personalities like Grigol Peradze, Elie Melia, Ilia II, Grigol Tsereteli, and Mikheil Tsereteli.

1. Katie Melua

Katie Melua by Festival Poupet from

Ketevan “Katie” Melua is a singer, composer, and musician of Georgian and British descent. She moved to Northern Ireland when she was eight years old, and subsequently to England when she was fourteen.

Melua made her musical début in 2003, under the auspices of composer Mike Batt, on the modest Dramatico record label. In 2006, she was the best-selling female artist in the United Kingdom and the highest-selling female artist in Europe. Melua released her first album, Call off the Search, in November 2003, when she was nineteen years old. It went to number one on the UK album charts and sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months. Piece by Piece, her second album, was released in September 2005 and has gone platinum four times.

Melua’s third studio album, Pictures, was released in October 2007. Melua has an estimated net worth of £18 million, making her the fifth richest British musician under thirty, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008. She was said to have lost millions as a result of the worldwide economic slump in 2009. Melua was ranked second on the under 30 rich lists in May 2011, with a potential worth of £12 million.

2. Vladimir Mayakovsky

Mayakovsky Vladimir by Unknown photographer from

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a poet, dramatist, artist, and stage and film actor from Russia and the Soviet Union. He is regarded as one of the most important exponents of Russian Futurism in the early twentieth century.

3. Aram Khachaturian

Aram Khachaturian by Liana Karapetyan H from

Aram Khachaturian was an Armenian composer from the Soviet Union. Khachaturian is regarded as one of the three “titans” of Soviet music, with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. He is also regarded as “one of the twentieth century’s major musicians.”

Classical European music and Armenian folk music impacted Khachaturian’s work heavily. Khachaturian was born in Tiflis to an Armenian family and came to Moscow when he was 19 years old. In 1934, he received his diploma from the Moscow Conservatory. Khachaturian is most known for the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from his ballet Spartacus, as well as the “Sabre Dance” from his ballet Gayane and the adagio from the same ballet, both of which have been included in numerous films and television shows around the world.

4. Mikheil Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician and the leader of the United National Movement Party. He is the country’s third president. He became president on January 25, 2004, after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in the November 2003 bloodless “Rose Revolution,” which was orchestrated by Saakashvili and his political allies Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania.

In the Georgian presidential election on January 5, 2008, he was re-elected. He is widely considered a pro-NATO and pro-Western leader who has pushed for a number of political and economic changes. Despite the opposition’s criticism of his purported authoritarian inclinations and electoral fraud, he earned a 67 percent approval rating in 2010. Some non-Georgian publications spell Saakashvili’s first name as Mikhail, which is a Russian variant of Saakashvili.

5. Kakha Kaladze

Kakhaber Kaladze by

Kakhaber “Kakha” Kaladze is a Georgian politician and retired footballer. He played for the Georgia national team from 1996 to 2011. He was voted Georgian Footballer of the Year in 2001–2003, and 2006 and is considered as one of Georgia’s most important players.

Kaladze started his football career in 1993 at Umaglesi Liga club Dinamo Tbilisi and made 82 appearances in a five-year spell. In 1998, he moved to the Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv and made 71 appearances until 2001, when he was signed by the Italian Serie A club AC Milan.

His brother was abducted in a high-profile case in 2001 and proclaimed dead in 2006, resulting in two individuals being sentenced to a total of 30 years in jail. He is an ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages and runs a firm named Kala Capital and a foundation called Kala Foundation in addition to playing football. He is married and the father of a single child.

6. Valery Meladze

Valeriy Shotayevich Meladze is a Georgian-born Russian singer. He is the brother of Konstantin Meladze, a composer and producer who writes music for him.

7. Eduard Shevardnadze

From the height of the Cold War to the conclusion, Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze was a former Soviet foreign minister and afterwards a Georgian leader. From 1972 until 1985, he was the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, and from 1992 to 2003, he was the President of independent Georgia.

During the Gorbachev era, Shevardnadze was in charge of several key decisions concerning Soviet foreign policy. As a result of the bloodless Rose Revolution, he was compelled to retire in 2003. Shevardnadze began his political career as a major member of his local Komsomol organization in the late 1940s. He rose through the ranks of the internal affairs ministry and was able to accuse First Secretary Vasil Mzhavanadze of corruption charges.

8. Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Petrosian, a Soviet Armenian grandmaster and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969, was a Soviet Armenian grandmaster. Due to his nearly impenetrable defensive playing style, which prioritized safety above all else, he was dubbed “Iron Tigran.” Petrosian was a World Championship Candidate on eight occasions.

In 1963, he won the world title, successfully defended it in 1966, and then lost it in 1969. In ten successive three-year cycles, he was either the defending World Champion or a World Championship contender. He was the four-time Soviet Champion. According to the writers of a 2004 book, Petrosian is the most difficult player to beat in the history of chess.

9. Tamar of Georgia

Queen Tamar of Georgia by

Tamar the Great was Georgia’s Queen Regnant from 1184 to 1213, reigning at the height of the Georgian Golden Age. Tamar was a member of the Bagrationi dynasty, and the term mep’e, which was given to her frequently in medieval Georgian sources, underlined her status as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right.

Tamar was designated heir apparent and co-ruler by her reigning father George III in 1178, but when she ascended to full ruling powers after George’s death, she met substantial opposition from the nobility. Tamar was successful in overcoming this opposition and launched an aggressive foreign policy, aided by the retreat of the hostile Seljuq Turks.

10. Anna Tatishvili

Anna Tatishvili is a professional tennis player from Georgia. Her greatest singles ranking in the WTA is No. 50, which she achieved on October 8, 2012. In doubles, she has a career high of 78, which she achieved on October 31, 2011.

Tatishvili won the 2011 International Country Cuneo, which was her best ranking tournament on the ITF tour. Tatishvili advanced to the fourth round of the 2012 US Open, where she was defeated in straight sets by world number one Victoria Azarenka, 2–6, 2–6.

With so many interesting people from one country we guess we now understand why Vance Joy sang about having “Georgia” on his mind in 2014.