Aviator (Ukrainian band)

Formation and first years (since 2005)

The future members of the band Igor Voevutskiy and Dmytro Todoriuk got acquainted during the third season of the TV-show Chance (Ukr. "Shans" «Шанс») in 2004. While on, the sound producer of the project was Yuriy Nikitin, a famous Ukrainian producer, and guys shared their idea to create a boys-band with him. To differ from another bands, it was decided to form a trio, so they invited Andriy Storozh to become the third member.

By the following members of the band – Igor Voevutskiy (guitar), Andriy Storozh (drums), Dmytro Todoriuk (keyboard) – on May, 29, 2005 they played the song "Return" (Ukrainian: "Vozvraschaysya") for the very first time at the big open-air concert on European Square in Kyiv.

Later on, the band started to work with session musicians, and Storozh started to play keyboards, Dmytro – bass guitar.

May, 29 is a day of the official formation of the Aviator band. At the same day, the band released their first video "Return", which was on the air of all Ukrainian musical channels.

The name "Aviator" was proposed by Storozh, because each member of the band, except music, had been interested in aviation – Ihor collected the children models of airplanes; Dmitry had practiced skydiving and Storozh was a fan of Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Aviator. Moreover, this title most accurately transferred the romantic direction of the band.

So, in 2005 the band had started its activity under the guidance of the production center "Mamamusic".

Albums and awards

On 7 December 2005 the band released their first album On air (Ukrainian: "V efire"). The album was a great success – in the first 6 weeks, it sold more than 200,000 copies and 21 February 2006 the band was awarded with a Gold Album certificate for the large quantity of sales.

In three days after the award, the band started their first Ukrainian tour with such stars as Verka Serduchka, Iryna Bilyk and Maria Burmaka – they visited 25 biggest cities of Ukraine.

In autumn 2006, the band received a "Showbiz Award" in the category "Discovery of the Year".

On summer 2007, their single "Ruzhaya" ("Red"), entered the hit-parade of Russian radio station Russkoye Radio and stayed there for 5-month in a row. At the same time, Aviator became a special guest of the international festival "Slovyanskiy Bazar".

From 2005 to 2008 the group became a regular winner of the "Song of the Year" festival.

In general, the band released 3 albums and 2 re-issues: On air (2005), On air – Golden Album (2006), Mania (2006), Green Mania (2007), The sun of Arizona (2008).

Aviator has experiences in creating cover versions and remakes. The new version of the famous hit "Grass in the home", performed by the band, was the undisputed hit. In 2009 for their version of the song, guys were awarded with the "Golden Gramophone". In addition, during the concert program, listeners can hear remakes of such songs, as "Letters from far away" and "You're in the Army Now".

New achievements

In 2012 Aviator and the executives of the production center "Mamamusic" decided to part ways. Even after that, the rights to use the name of the band and to perform the songs were left to the band (which is a phenomenon in Ukrainian show-business).

The head of the company, Juriy Nikitin, commented on this situation:

"Aviator is a great band, each member is a fully formed creative person, ready to work independently. There are no analogues of the band in Ukraine and it confirms a genuine interest of their fans to all kinds of band's creative activity"

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Currently, the team continues its successful touring, they're recording new songs, shooting videos under their own label "Aviator Music". As the band says – the most important thing for them is to bring joy to people.

Official members

Ihor Voyevudsky – vocal, guitar
Andrey Storozh – vocal, keyboard
Dmitry Todoruk – vocal, bass guitar

Session musicians

Anton Schelkonogov – drums (2005–2006)
Denys Haritonov – drums (2006–2013)
Iryna Cristinina – back-vocal (2007–2009)
Eve Bushmina – back-vocal (2007–2008)
Maria Kulish – back-vocal (2008–2013)
Sergiy Buginskyj – solo-guitar (2012–2014)
Kyryl Boldyriev – drums (2013-present)
Evgeniy Naumov - solo-guitar (2014-present)
Sergiy Goray - bass-gaitar (2014-present)

Discography

On air (2005)
On air – Golden Album (2006)
Mania (2006)
Green Mania (2007)
The Sun of Arizona (2008)
Evolution (2014)
EVO (ReMix) (2015)

Awards

"Song of the year" (2005–2008)
«Gold Album» (2006)
Showbiz AWARD "Discovery of the year" (2006)