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Mike Naumenko
Mikhail Vasilyevich Naumenko was born in Leningrad on April 18 1955.
His interest in rock'n'roll started in his school days - Mike knew English quite well and translated a lot of literature on rock music. The beginning musician was mostly influenced by The Rolling Stones, T.Rex and American rock'n'roll. From 1977 to 1979 he played in the bands The Union of Rock Music Fans and Kapitalny Remont (Major Repair) and periodically appeared on stage as an invited guitarist with the Aquarium band and its frontman Boris Grebenshchikov. In the mid 1978 they recorded a joint album under the title All Brothers Are Sisters.
In summer 1980 Mike's first solo album Sweet N and Others was recorded, and in autumn same year Mike founded his own band titled Zoopark (The Zoo) that he was the leader and soloist till the rest of his days.
In the spring of 1981 the band debuted on the stage of the Leningrad Rock Club, and soon became popular in two Russian capital cities. The albums recorded in the period from 1981 to 1984 became widely spread around the country. Mike and his Zoo toured a lot, however in the second half of the 1980s the band’s activity slowed down - despite frequent shows, not a single album was recorded during this period, so the band’s repertoire was hardly updated, whereas its line-up was constantly changing. Mike's last performance took place on March 14, 1991 when he took the stage with the Aquarium band to sing his hit Prigorodny Blues (Suburban Blues).
Mike Naumenko died untimely of a cerebral hemorrhage on August 27, 1991. Lots of the songs written by Mike Naumenko are considered classics of Russian rock music and are still performed by well-known Russian rock bands.
