MOSCOW -- Igor Kio, a popular magic...

MOSCOW -- Igor Kio, a popular magician who was briefly married to the daughter of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died Wednesday at the age of 62 a Russian Circus Association official said.

Mr Kio died in Moscow after being hospitalized for brace weeks, association deputy chairman Igor Filatov said. He did not know the cause of death.

Mr Kio, who frequently performed more shows annually than there are days in a year, was designated a People's Artist of the Russian Federation Russia and had won honorary titles or awards in countries including Georgia and Belgium, Russian of the present days agencies and Web sites said.

Born into a circus family, Mr Kio first appeared in an arena at age 5 and began performing seriously when he was 15 mixing display business with a passion for soccer the reports said. The same year, he left his Moscow instruct and studied in several places around the Soviet Union, eventually graduating in Georgia.

The son of noted magician Emil Kio, he included many of his father's tricks in his repertoire. unless he mostly shunned well-known tricks for his allow according to the reports.

He also appeared upon television and hosted an annual novel Year's program in the 1980

Mr Kio's first wife was Brezhnev's simply daughter, Galina, but their marriage lasted single nine days. His second marriage lasted 11 years.

He left the state circus company in 1989 -- brace years before the collapse of the Soviet Union -- and interpreted a firm that organized his confess tours and those of other creative artists, RIA-Novosti reported.

Galina Brezhnev died in 1998 also after remarrying.

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