Mykola Mykolaiovych Bortnyk ( uk, Микола Миколайович Бортник, born 8 March 1990), better known by his stage name Max Barskih ( uk, Макс Барських) and alter-ego Mickolai, is a Ukrainian singer and songwriter. He was raised in
Kherson
Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...
, Ukraine, and moved to
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
after his graduation. He has released six studio albums, one compilation album and one
extended-play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. .
Career
Max Barskih rose to fame in Ukraine and
post-Soviet countries in 2008 as participant of the Ukrainian talent show "
Fabryka Zirok
Fabryka Zirok ( uk, Фабрика зірок – ''Star Factory''), is a Ukrainian televised talent show, which began in 2007 that features a group of young male and female candidates, aged 16 or older, across the country.
The show became a huge ...
2" (Star Factory 2).
, Max Barskih won his first big prize with being awarded "Best Ukrainian Act" at the
MTV Europe Music Awards.
Max Barskih also had his acting debut in 2010, when he starred in
Lara Fabian's musical feature film
Mademoiselle Zhivago
''Mademoiselle Zhivago'' is an album by pop singer Lara Fabian. The whole set of songs composed by Fabian with Igor Krutoy is in English, French, Italian, Spanish and also in Russian.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end cha ...
(that was published in 2013).
In 2012, Barskih entered the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
Auditions for Ukraine with the English version of his song "Dance",
but narrowly lost to
Gaitana
{{confusing, date=May 2014
Gaitana, also known as Guaitipan, is referred to as La Gaitana and Cacica Gaitana, was a 16th-century Yalcon ''cacica'' from the region of Timaná, Huila, a leader who, in 1539–40, led the indigenous people of the U ...
who represented Ukraine in
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
with her song "Be My Guest".
Max Barskih has won numerous awards, including "Singer of the Year" Awards at the Baltic Music Awards 2011,
the "Crystal Microphone" Awards 2011,
the
M1 Music Awards 2017,
the
GQ Men of the Year Awards
''GQ'' (formerly ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and ''Apparel Arts'') is an American international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though articles on ...
2018,
the New Radio Awards 2019,
the Love Radio Awards 2019
and at the Top Hit Music Awards 2020.
and
Vogue Ukraine
''Vogue Ukraine'' (or ''Vogue Україна'' in Ukrainian) is the Ukrainian edition of the American fashion and lifestyle monthly magazine ''Vogue''. The magazine has been published since March 2013, becoming the twenty-first local edition of ''V ...
called Barskih "the internationally most successful Russian language singer".
Throughout his career, Barskih has worked closely with
Alan Badoev
Alan Kazbekovich Badoev ( uk, Алан Казбекович Бадоєв; born January 1981) is a Ukrainian movie director, music video director, screenwriter, TV producer, TV presenter and music producer of Ossetian origin. He first gained int ...
, who is his producer and has also directed most of his music videos.
Barskih's videos have gained popularity in the CIS nations. The director likes to use a variety of visual effects for many of his videos, such as in the music videos for "Теряю тебя" ("Lost in Love") which was released in 3D format in the CIS nations.
Barskih composes the music
and writes the lyrics of his songs himself (and was e.g. nominated at the 2019
Russian National Music Awards for "Lyricist of the Year"),
and partly also does the producing.
Most of his songs are in Russian,
but he has also sung in Ukrainian (e.g
"Небо"ref name=":17"> an
"Двоє" and in English (e.g
"Z.Dance"''(partly in English)''
an
"Silence"''(entirely in English)).''
During the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
Barskih joined the
Armed Forces of Ukraine
, imports =
, exports =
, history =
, ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine
, country=Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...
.
Other ventures
Songwriting
Barskih writes his songs himself and occasionally also works as a songwriter for other artists.
Acting
Barskih has starred as an actor in two musical feature films.
Discography
Studio albums
* 1:MAX BARSKIH (2009)
* Z.Dance (2012)
* По Фрейду (By Freud, 2014)
* Туманы (Mists, 2016)
* 7 (2019)
* 1990 (2020)
Compilation albums
* Words (2015)
EPs
* Mickolai – EP (2015)
Singles
* 2009: S.L. (Suka Lyubov')
ove is a bitch* 2009: Пусто (Pusto)
mpty* 2009: DVD
(with Natalia Mogilevskaya
Natalia Oleksiyivna Mohylevska,. née Mohyla. (born 2 August 1975), also known by her stage name Nataliya Mogilevskaya,. is a Ukrainian singer, songwriter, composer, actress and TV presenter, producer. National Artist of Ukraine (2004).
She gra ...
)
* 2010: Агония (Agoniya)
gony* 2010: Сердце бьётся (Serdtse Byotsya)
eart is Beating(with Svetlana Loboda
Svitlana Serhiivna Loboda ( uk, Світлана Сергіївна Лобода; born 18 October 1982), also known by the stage name LOBODA, is a Ukrainian singer and composer. Loboda represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and ...
)
* 2010: Студент (Student)
* 2011: Lost in Love , Теряю тебя (Terayu Tebya)
osing you* 2011: Белый ворон (Beliy Voron)
hite Raven* 2011: Atoms , Глаза-убийцы (Glaza-ubiytsi)
yes of a Killer* 2011: Downtown
* 2011: Dance
* 2012: F**K OFF
* 2012: Higher
* 2012: Alive , Пылай (Pylay)
laze* 2012: I Wanna Run , Я болею тобой (Ya boleyu toboy)
'm a fan of you* 2013: По Фрейду (By Freud)
* 2013: Какой была твоя любовь? (What was your love?)
* 2013: Hero_in
* 2013: Небо (Sky)
* 2014: Отпусти (Let Me Go)
* 2014: Всё серьёзно (Everything's Serious)
* 2015: Хочу танцевать (I Want To Dance)
* 2015: Подруга – Ночь (Night is my friend)
* 2016: Займёмся Любовью (Let's Make Love)
* 2016: Последний летний день (Last Day of Summer)
* 2016: Туманы (Mists)
* 2016: Неверная (Unfaithful)
* 2017: Моя любовь (My love)
* 2017: Февраль (February)
* 2018: Берега (Shores)
* 2019: Неслучайно (For a Reason)
* 2019: Лей, не жалей (Pour, Have No Regrets)
* 2020: Небо льёт дождем (Sky is Raining)
* 2020: ПО СЕКРЕТY (In Secret)
* 2020: Silence
*2021: Bestseller
(feat. Zivert
Yulia Zivert (russian: Ю́лия Зи́верт, born 28 November 1990), known professionally as Zivert, is a Russian singer. Her career started in 2017 after releasing her first singles "Чак" ("Chak") and "Анестезия" ("Anestesia"). ...
)
*2021: Tequila Sunrise
*2022 Don’t Fuck With Ukraine
[ ]
Filmography
}
, Singing talent show
, Guest performance
, Guest performance in the 10th Season's Final; Performed his songs «Февраль» (in a duet with the show's finalist Maria Stopnyk) and «Лей, не жалей»
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barskih, Max
1990 births
Living people
21st-century Ukrainian male singers
English-language singers from Ukraine
MTV Europe Music Award winners
Musicians from Kherson
Russian-language singers
Ukrainian pop singers
Winners of the Golden Gramophone Award
Ukrainian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Military personnel from Kherson