"I always wanted to do it," said Kirilenko, whose professional billing will be Masha K. She said the single will be released on cdbaby.com and iTunes later this month. "It will be a great journey. I'm really hoping people will like it."

She said the impetus for recording an album isn't fame or money -- Andrei is set to make more than $34 million in the next two seasons -- but is another way to benefit her family's charity, Kirilenko's Kids, which aids disadvantaged children in Russia and Utah. All of the money Kirilenko will make from her music career will go to the charity, she said.

"I am not fascinated by show business," the blunt Kirilenko said. "It doesn't intrigue me. I'm not driven by [money], but by helping and bringing more awareness of [Kirilenko's Kids]. ... I really believe in karma. There's no way to escape it. I am so blessed. [My family] is happy, and good-looking, and rich."

Masha Kirilenko was born in Riga, Russia, and is the daughter of former Russian national Basketball player Andrey Lopatova. After college, she moved to London, where she managed a band. She returned to Russia to start a sports marketing firm, when she met and married Andrei.

She used her connections and knowledge from managing the London band to record a popular album in 2001 -- the same year Andrei was drafted by the Utah Jazz. The album, "Sahirny" -- which translates as "Sugary"-- hit No. 1 in 2002. By then, the Kirilenkos had moved across the world to Utah.

Moving to Salt Lake City was an adjustment. "I am not a housewife by nature," Kirilenko said. She and Andrei have two sons, and Masha has opened two high-end Fleur de Lis fashion boutiques in Utah and another in Moscow. But now that her two sons --- born in 2002 and 2007 -- are in school, she decided to record an album.

"She is determined, determined, determined," said Damon Elliott, Kirilenko's Grammy-winning producer and son of singer Dionne Warwick. He has worked with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mia, Ziggy Marley, Destiny's Child and Pink, and said after listening to Kirilenko's demo he was impressed with her "amazing abilities."

Kirilenko used Sound Design Studios in Salt Lake City to record much of her music, styled much like Lady Gaga. Although she recorded other people's compositions exclusively, Kirilenko "was the boss," said Sound Design recording and mixing engineer David Evanoff. "She was the rudder, steering the ship."

Each year when the Basketball season ends, the Kirilenkos have spent much of past summers overseas in France and Russia, but this year will be different. She will be spending more time in Los Angeles and even Utah this summer, promoting her single, "Come Alive," out in June on an independent label.

After eight years in Utah, Kirilenko said she has grown to love the children of Utah, whom she wants to help with her charity. "I consider [Utah] to be my home," she said. "This is the place where I feel the most comfortable, the most secure, the most loved. People in Utah are very loyal. They treat me as [if] I am related to them. That's the outstanding thing. People are brought up very sincere. I feel like I can live [here] after Andrei is done."