Arthur Berkut

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Arthur Vecheslavovich Mikheev (born May 24, 1962), better known under his stage name Arthur Berkut (Russian: Артур Беркут), is a Russian singer. Through his career he participated in numerous bands, most notable are Autograph, Mavrik, and Aria.

Arthur was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He graduated Gnessin State Musical College as vocalist. In the early 1980s he participated in the cover band Magic Twilight, led by Vitaly Dubinin and Vladimir Holstinin, who later formed Aria. After a few years he was invited to join Autograph, already a popular rock band in 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 USA in 1989. But in 1990, during the tour, Autograph was disbanded.

Berkut remained in 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.