Bering Strait (band)

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Bering Strait was a country music band made up of musicians from Russia, that mixed country music with traditional Russian song making. Their style was sometimes "redgrass" (a reference to bluegrass). The band achieved prominence in 2003, being nominated for a Grammy Award and featured in a segment on the prestigious American news program 60 Minutes, but never caught on with major sales. The group disbanded in 2006.

1 History
2 Works
3 Current projects
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Bering Strait is actually the band's second name. In 1996 they first recorded in the US under the name Siberian Heatwave and were guests on TNN's Prime Time Country.

One of the band's members is a child of a scientist who had died from the results of the Chernobyl disaster.

The members of Bering Strait dissolved the band in late May, 2006. The official announcement was made on June 01, 2006.

At the time of its dissolution, the band comprised five musicians:

Alexander Arzamastsev (drums)
Natasha Borzilova (lead vocals, acoustic guitar)
Sergei “Spooky” Olkhovsky (bass)
Alexander “Sasha” Ostrovsky (dobro, steel guitar, lap steel)
Lydia Salnikova (lead vocals, keyboards)

In addition, Ilya Toshinsky played electric guitar, acoustic guitar and banjo on the band’s first album but left the band after recording the second album. Other previous musicians in Bering Strait included Sergei Passov on mandolin and fiddle, and Andrei Misikhin on bass.

[edit] Works

Bering Strait’s self-titled debut album was released in 2003 on Universal South Records. The song “Bearing Straight” from the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance, but eventually lost out to the Dixie Chicks. A full-length documentary film entitled "The Ballad of Bering Strait" chronicled an extensive part of the band's career and was released to theaters, as well as broadcast on CMT. The band was featured in a segment on 60 Minutes and several tracks from the album were used in television shows on Animal Planet and in an episode of Alias. Despite this, however, the album sold only about 150,000 copies and received almost no radio airplay.

The band’s second album, Pages was released in 2005 and featured a more rootsy, less polished sound. The first single from the album was a country remake of Fleetwood Mac’s "You Make Lovin’ Fun".