Autograph (russian: Автограф, or ''Avtograf'') was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

/ AOR band, considered a pioneer of progressive rock music in Russia.

History

The group was founded in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1979 by Alexander "Sasha" Sitkovetsky, and achieved a considerable success at the first Soviet state-sanctioned rock festival held in

Tbilisi, Georgia Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

with Sitkovetsky's songs "Fasten Seat Belts", "Ireland. Ulster" and "Blues Caprice". In 1982 vocalist

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 p ...

joined the band to finalize the lineup: *

– lead vocal * Alexander Sitkovetsky – guitar, vocals * Leonid Makarevich – keyboards * Leonid Goutkin – bass * Victor Mikhalin – drums, vocals Autograph was atypical for a

Russian rock Rock music became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its Western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s (especially the era of perestroika), when the Soviet underground r ...

band, playing more instrumental-based sound and much less symbolist lyrics. They are credited as a pioneering Soviet

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy pa ...

/ AOR band. After a triumphal success and exhaustive touring throughout the USSR, Autograph became the first Soviet rock-group to achieve commercial success in the West, having toured more than 30 countries. On July 13, 1985, the band - the only one to represent the entire Eastern Europe - took part in

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part of ...

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concert, performing before more than 2.5 billion people worldwide (transmitted live from Moscow). The signature song they performed was "Нам нужен мир" (or "Nam Nuzhen Mir - We Need Peace"). In 1987 the band represented the USSR in the Soviet-American concert Our Move organized by Bill Graham with Santana,

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Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporate ...

and

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, hav ...

as featured artists. Autograph also performed at numerous international festivals along with John McLaughlin,

Murray Head Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946) is an English actor and singer. Head has appeared in a number of films, including a starring role as the character Bob Elkin in the Academy Award, Oscar-nominated 1971 film ''Sunday Bloody Sun ...

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, Tom Cochran,

Glass Tiger Glass Tiger is a Grammy Award-nominated Canadian rock band from Newmarket, Ontario that formed in 1983. The band has released five studio albums. Its 1986 debut album, '' The Thin Red Line'', went quadruple platinum in Canada and gold in the Un ...

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, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes; opened for

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

; worked closely with

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and Moscow, became a winner of the '' Sopot International Song Festival 1987'' contest in Poland bringing home coveted independent press and audience awards as well as the best song prize for Sitkovetsky's "The World Inside". After two years working successfully with an American manager Mary Becker, in 1989 the band signed a contract with

Herb Cohen Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, Geor ...

(Frank Zappa's management) in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, California. Their debut album ''Tear Down the Borders'' on

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

was released in 1991 and one of the most popular songs "I Need You" from that album was recorded by

Rick Springfield Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debu ...

for the blockbuster movie ''

Iron Eagle II ''Iron Eagle II'' (also titled ''Iron Eagle II: The Battle Beyond the Flag'') is a 1988 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and written by Furie and Kevin Alyn Elders. It is the first sequel to the 1986 film '' Iron Eagle'', with Louis Gossett ...

'' (1988). Disbanded in 1990, Autograph reunited in summer of 2005 for a major re-union tour and a final grand anniversary concert at Moscow

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

. This historical event attracted thousands of the legendary band's fans and was the first ever to be held in 'live-surround' format in Russia. The ''Autograph - 25 Years'' DVD and a live CD were released soon after. In 2012 the band played in a unique 'Legends of Russian Rock' concert at Moscow's Green Theater, broadcast on the national and international TV.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Autograph-1'' (1982) * ''Autograph-2'' (1984) * ''Autograph-LP'' (1986) * ''Stone Land'' (1989) * ''Tear Down the Border'' (1991)

Notes

External links

Official home page
Band story

* {{Authority control Musical groups from Moscow Russian progressive rock groups Soviet rock music groups