Aleksandr Sklyar

Alexander Felixovich Sklyar (Александр Феликсович Скляр, born March 7, 1958, in Moscow, USSR; usually stylized as Alexander F.Sklyar) is a Russian rock musician, radio presenter, actor and author. Sklyar, who in the 1980s and early 1990s fronted the popular punk metal band Va-bank, later moved into the traditional Russian singer-songwriter territory covering the vast stylistic spectrum (Alexander Vertinsky, Vladimir Vysotsky, Leonid Utyosov, Mark Bernes). Sklyar was born in Moscow, to Felix Sidorovich, a physicist, and his journalist wife Irina Viktorovna, a one time Rabotnitsa magazine second editor. In 1985 Sklyar graduated from the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations and joined the Soviet embassy in North Korea as a minor official. Upon return later this year he became a member of the band Tsentr, fronted by Vasily Shumov (whom he played with in 1979 as a guitarist in 777, the band's first incarnation) and took part in the recording the Priznaki zhizni (Signs of Life) LP.In 1991 Sklyar debuted as a children's writer with the book Petrovich and Potapum in the Magic Labyrinth, co-authored by Roman Kanushkin. The same year he started his own rock radio series Utchites plavat (Learn to Swim) on Radio Maximum (it later re-surfaced on Station-2000). In 1995 he formed the duo Botsman i brodyaga (The Boatswain and the Tramp) with Garik Sukachov of the Brigada S fame. 1998 saw Sklyar going solo with the album Po napravleniyu k tango (Moving Closer to Tango), starting to experiment with different retro styles of popular Russian music. In 2001–2009 Sklyar appeared in seven Russian feature films and tried himself as a TV film and music programs' presenter on TV3 and TV Kultura.