Arthur Berkut
Artur Vyacheslavovich Mikheev (Russian: Артур Вячеславович Михеев, born 24 May 1962), better known under his stage name Arthur Berkut (Russian: Артур Беркут), is a Russian singer. Throughout his career, he has participated in numerous bands, with the most notable being Autograph, Mavrik, and Aria.
Arthur was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, to a family of Moscow circus troupers during their Ukrainian tour. He grew up in Moscow and graduated from Moscow Gnessin Musical College as a vocalist. In the early 1980s, he participated in the cover band Magic Twilight, which was led by Vitaly Dubinin and Vladimir Holstinin, who later formed Aria. After a few years, he was invited to join Autograph, an already popular rock band in the Soviet Union, to replace its former vocalist. Since 1984, Arthur has performed under his stage name, "Berkut", which is Russian for golden eagle. Together with Autograph, Berkut toured over the United States in 1989, but in 1990, during the tour, Autograph disbanded.
Berkut remained in the USA and tried himself in different projects, formed a short-lived art rock band ZOOOM. In 1997, Arthur returned to Russia. He was a sessional vocalist in Master European tour, and together with some of Master musicians tried to resurrect ZOOOM. But a year after he dissolved the band and left to sing in Sergey Mavrin's solo project Mavrik.
Arthur joined Aria in November 2002, replacing the band's former vocalist, Valery Kipelov. The albums Kreshenie Ogneom and Armageddon feature his voice. In 2004, he played the role of Irdis the elven wizard in Epidemia's concept album Elven Manuscript. In 2011, Arthur left Aria and formed a new band, Arthur Berkut, with whom he has recorded two albums so far.