Mike Naumenko

Mike Naumenko (Russian: Майк Нау́менко, born Mikhail Vasilyevich Naumenko, 18 April 1955 – 27 August 1991) was a Soviet rock and blues-rock musician, singer-songwriter, the leader of Zoopark rock group.

Born in Leningrad, in the 1970s he was a member of the Russian rock group Akvarium, and in 1981 he formed Zoopark, which became one of the most outstanding blues rock groups of USSR. Naumenko is considered one of the best lyricists of Russian rock, although drawing heavily on Bob Dylan and other UK/US songwriters, and occasionally retaining the original melody as well. Some of Naumenko's songs are more or less faithful translations or remakes of English language source material (the notions of copyright and plagiarism being hardly established in the Soviet Union, especially as regards works created on the other side of the Iron Curtain). Largely imitative, Naumenko's input was yet very significant as he adapted the Western rock tradition to Russian culture and the urban realities of Leningrad.

Mikhail Naumenko studied at a "school with an intensive English-language program" in Leningrad, where he got his stage name, "Mike", presumably from his English teacher.

Mike became interested in music at the age of 8, when he heard a Beatles song for the first time from the street while he was standing on a balcony. The first rock bands that attracted his attention were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Jefferson Airplane; also he collected magazine articles about T. Rex, The Doors and David Bowie. At the age of 15, he started playing guitar and writing his first songs. The lyrics of his first songs were in English, but in 1972-1973 he switched to Russian under the influence of his close friend, Boris Grebenshikov. Besides music, he had lifetime interests in aeromodeling and in translating from English to Russian, which also started while he was at school.

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