Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sabinin

Vladimir Sabinin, now forgotten, was very popular in Russia at the beginning of the 1920s. We have now very little available on him. He was born in 1885. He was a child prodigy, and started to sing in public when he was 8 years old. He was very popular singing Russian songs in concerts in the period 1909–1918. Sabinin was forced to change his repertory after the Russian revolution. He began to sing opera (not quite, he already sang opera before the revolution) – in Ekaterinburg (1926–28), Baku, Moscow (1929), and St. Petersburg (1930). Among his best operatic parts were: José, German, Hoffmann, and Almaviva. Sabinin died tragically in May 1930, a fate similar to the ones of Esenin and Majakovskij. He recorded between 1910 and 1915, but unfortunately no operatic arias.
Vladimir Efimenko

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sabinin was one of the best-known singers of pre-revolutionary Russia. He sang in opera and operetta, but he became most famous for his interpretation of songs and romances, many of which he composed himself.
1914–1916, Sabinin was recorded by Gramophone and Ekstraphon (and by Gnom) while he was also a volunteer in the army. He revived the famous romance "Shine, shine my star" (written by Bulakhov in 1846 and since forgotten), which he recorded in 1915. Since then this romance was sung by practically all vocalists in the country. After the revolution, Sabinin had a chance to emigrate from Russia, but he refused.
Reference (you'll also find more recordings there)

Source for the recordings: the extraordinary site Russian Records.