ALMATY -- Batyrkhan Shukenov, a prominent Kazakh-Russian singer-songwriter, has died at the age of 52.
Shukenov's friend and colleague Erkesh Shakeev told RFE/RL on April 29 that Shukenov died of a heart attack in his apartment in the Russian capital overnight.
Shukenov was a founder and frontman of the pop group A' Studio, previously known as Arai (Dawn) and Almata-Studio, which became very popular across the Soviet Union during the "perestroika" period in the late 1980s.
A'Studio collaborated with iconic Russian pop diva Alla Pugachyova and worked with British sound producer Greg Walsh in 1990s.
Several songs written and sung by Shukenov -- including Julia, White River, Stop Night -- were highly popular in former Soviet republics.
In 2000, Shukenov left A'Studio and started a solo career, recording albums in Russia and Kazakhstan.
