[6] Included in the Top Hit Music Awards Hall of Fame, along with such performers as Svetlana Loboda and Andrey Makarevich.

[10] The band was formed in 1988 in Bobruisk, Belarus, by two teenagers, Aleksandr "Shura" Uman and Yegor "Lyova" Bortnik, who were amateur actors.

Initially, the band's name was "Bratya po Oruzhiyu" (Brothers in Arms), which was formed in 1988, then "Bereg Istini" (Shore of Truth), which resulted in the abbreviation BI-2.

In 1994 Shura formed a romantic and professional relationship with pianist and artist Victoria Bilogan and in 1997 they recorded their first album "Bespolaya i Grustnaya Lyubov" ("Sexless and Sad Love").

During this time, Lyova and Shura continued to compose music together, exchanging their recordings and guitar tabs via Internet and phone.

In 1999 Bi-2 moved to Russia, where the band had previously tried to release its 1997 album "Bespolaya i Grustnaya Lubov" ("Sexless and Sad Love," 1998), but those plans were ruined by the Russian financial crisis of 1998, which affected the record business.