Max Barskikh

From the first chords to a stellar career

Singer, composer, and songwriter Max Barskikh, whose real name is Mykola Bortnik, was born in Kherson on March 8, 1990. After graduating from school and HTLI, he moved to Kiev.

Max Barskikh's musical biography began in the capital of Ukraine. There he graduated from the Kiev Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts, his specialty was pop vocals.

The singer's first fame was brought by participation in the show "Star Factory-2". He successfully performed, but left the project before its completion. However, this did not prevent further success, because at the "Factory" Nikolai met Alan Badoev, who later became his producer, and Natalia Mogilevskaya became his music agent.

Singer Max Barskih presented his debut album "1: Max Barskih" in December 2009, and later some songs from this album were filmed with music videos.

The artist took the pseudonym Max Barskih when he came to "Star Factory" (on the advice of the producers of the show). Now this is not the only creative name of Nikolai. He is also known as Mick Sunday.

Evolution as a singer: from pop ballads to dance hits

Max Barskikh's career has been developing rapidly. In 2012, he released such singles as "Agony" and Alive. And in 2013 his singles "On Freud", "What was your love?", Hero_In and "Sky" were released.

Max Barskikh's hits are played at his live concerts and give fans unforgettable emotions. The artist is known for turning his performances into colorful shows.

During his creative career Max Barskikh has already managed to record 6 albums, among which - "On Freud", "Fogs", "7", "1990", "Zorepad". His songs are successfully rotated on the radio and occupy the top lines of popular charts. For example, in 2015, the composition "Friend Night" became the leader of the Ukrainian chart.

Music videos as a feature of the singer's style

The creativity of Max Barskikh combines sincere performance and entertainment. From the very first days of release, his music videos gain millions of views on the YouTube platform.

Each video of the singer is carefully thought out. The most viewed video of Max Barskikh was "Fogs/Invalid", released at the end of 2016. The unchanging clip maker is Alan Badoev.

The singer's video works stand out in scale. And when other colleagues, such as Sergey Solodkiy, join the tandem of Badoev-Barskikh, it turns out really something. For some clips, such as, for example, "In confidence", shooting took place, in particular, in Los Angeles.

Personal life and interesting facts about Max Barskikh

Very little is known about the family of Max Barskikh. In 2018, the singer during one of the performances reported that he lost his father. And in 2025 he shared that he has not been in a relationship with anyone for more than 7 years.

The life of the artist is very saturated. Each of his concerts is a grandiose event, and preparation takes a lot of time, and also requires complete dedication.

Nikolai actively maintains pages in social networks, telling fans about upcoming premieres.

Where is Max now

Max Barskikh now actively performs in Ukraine, and in the fall of 2025 will go on a large-scale tour through the cities of the United States, Canada and European countries. The vocalist often collaborates with other celebrities. During his career he recorded duets with Artem Pivovarovarov, Zivert, ETOLUBOV and others.

The performer is regularly engaged in charity work. Thus, he presented a social video in December 2024 with an appeal to support women survivors of violence.

The artist also always actively expresses his civic position. For example, in 2020 he declared in his social networks about the support of the Black lives matter movement.

Interesting facts from the biography of Max

The singer does not get tired of surprising fans. He is fond of pottery, and also launched his own clothing brand. In addition, an unusual fact of his biography is an unrequited love affair with singer Svetlana Loboda.

And also on tour with the artist happened a lot of funny stories. So, once he jokingly asked a fan to marry during a concert. She attended 15 performances of the artist and gave him and his team gifts.