Volodymyr Mykhailovych Ivasyuk or Volodymyr Ivasiuk () (4 March 1949 – 24–27 April 1979) was a Ukrainian songwriter, composer and poet. He is the author and composer of the widely popular song "Chervona Ruta" popularized by Sofia Rotaru in 1971, and later covered by other singers. Biography Ivasyuk was born in Kitsman, Chernivtsi Oblast. His father Mykhailo Ivasyuk was a well-known writer from Bukovyna. His mother Sofiya Ivasyuk, from Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was a teacher in a local school. He had two sisters, Halyna (b. 1944) and Oksana (b. 1960). As early as the age of five, Volodymyr began learning to play the violin at a music school. Later, he learnt to play the piano as well. In 1964 he created an ensemble - "Bukovyna" - in his school and wrote their first songs, the first of which was "Lullaby". After Volodymyr had already graduated from secondary school, his family moved to the city of Chernivtsi where his father was offered a teaching position at the Bukovynian State Medical University. Volodymyr went on to study at the Lviv Medical Institute while he continued his musical career. He joined the "Karpaty Ensemble" at a local community centre and played the violin and offered his songs to be performed. He became an overnight national sensation in the Soviet Union, after a public performance on 13 September 1970 of his compositions "Chervona Ruta" (Ukrainian for 'Red Rue') and "Vodohray" with Olena Kuznetsova. In 1971 his "Chervona Ruta", performed live in Moscow with Vasyl Zinkevych and Nazariy Yaremchuk, and won the Best Song of the Year award of the Soviet Union. His composition "Vodohray" won the best song award the next year as well. "Chervona Ruta", sung by Sofia Rotaru, was featured in the musical-film Chervona Ruta. Ivasyuk moved to Lviv to formally study composition at the Lviv Conservatory of Music. Upon graduation from the medical institute, he worked as a doctor, and joined the post-graduate courses at the Department of Pathological Physiology to work for his next degree. In Lviv Volodymyr created the songs: "I am your wing", "Two rings", "Ballad about mallow", "Ballad about two violins". All these songs and other works of Ivasyuk were premiered by Rotaru. On 24 April 1979, after finishing a phone call, he was scheduled to meet someone at the Lviv conservatory. He never got there nor did he report for duty as a doctor. 3 days later,