Valery Alexandrovich Kipelov (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Валерий Александрович Кипелов; born July 12, 1958) is a Russian musician and composer who was the vocalist and a founding member of heavy metal band

Aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

. Since 2002, Kipelov leads his own metal band,

Kipelov Kipelov () is a Russian heavy metal band formed and led by former Aria vocalist Valery Kipelov. Origins In 2002, dissension in the heavy metal band Aria led to Aria members Valery Kipelov (vocals), Sergey Terentyev (guitar), and Alexander M ...

Early life

Kipelov was born in 1958 in Kapotnya,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Career

Aria

Kipelov was among the founding members of Aria, alongside Vladimir Holstinin and Alik Granovsky, although he initially played a less active role in songwriting and the development of the band's style than the other two. For the first four albums, he only composed three songs (two of them slow ballads).. After the breakup in 1987, Kipelov and Holstinin were the only two members who remained with their producer Vekshtein. During the Germany tour 1994, Kipelov's relations with Holstinin and Dubinin became tense. He ceased appearing at Aria's studio and was fired from the band. Then Mavrin refused to play without Kipelov and left the band, too. After participating in a few of Master's concerts, Kipelov tried to form a band of his own, but later returned to Aria following the threat from Moroz Records to sue the band for breach of contract. In 2002, after the release of 'Himera', Kipelov refused to start recording the new album, already written by Dubinin and Holstinin. He stated his wish to start a solo career.This disagreement broke Aria apart after 'Judgement Day', August 31, 2002.

Kipelov (band)

On September 1, 2002, the day after Kipelov left Aria, Kipelov, Terentyev, Mavrin and Maniakin launched a new band named

(named at Terentyev's suggestion as the bandmembers couldn't come up with any better name). In 2003, they released the live album ''Put Naverh'' (Way to the Top), recorded in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Personal life

Kipelov is married to Galina Kipelova. He is Orthodox Christian.

Views on Ukraine

Kipelov expressed support of

Russia's annexation of Crimea Annexation of Crimea may refer to: * Annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire (1783) *Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, a ...

, and said it should have been returned to Russia in 1991. He performed at music festivals celebrating the event in Crimea. In July 2022, Kipelov performed in the hospital in front of

Rosgvardiya The Federal Service of Troops of National Guard of the Russian Federation (), officially known as the (),#Official website, Official website is a federal executive body which is responsible for law enforcement, internal security, counter-terro ...

servicemen wounded during the war in Ukraine. In January 2023, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Valery for his support of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kipelov, Valery 1958 births Living people Russian heavy metal singers 20th-century Russian male singers Russian rock singers Aria (band) members Singers from Moscow 21st-century Russian male singers Honored Artists of the Russian Federation