Alongside Nazariy Yaremchuk, Sofia Rotaru and Volodymyr Ivasyuk, Zinkevych was one of the faces of the Ukrainian roots revival music of the 1970s.

His interpretations of Volodymyr Ivasyuk's songs "Chervona Ruta", "Myla moia" and "Na shvydkykh poizdakh" made him known all over the Soviet Union.

[2] Zinkevych was born several days before the end of World War II in the village of Vas'kivtsi in western Ukraine.

[3] After completing military service, he moved to the tradition-rich Bukovina region, where he thought he could learn the craftmanship of metal work best.

When Dutkivsky struggled to find a replacement, Vasyl Vaskov, the leader of the dance ensemble Smerchina, suggested Zinkevych.

I remembered the student of the medical institute, Volodya Ivasyuk, who during the dances at the House of the Officers had sung my song "Bazhannya".

[4] In 1970, Zinkevych, without having any prior acting experience, was cast as the lead role of Boris in Chervona Ruta, one of the first Soviet television musicals.

In the film, Zinkevych sang several songs that became hits throughout Ukraine and most of the wider Soviet Union, such as "Myla moia" and "Chervona Ruta".

Due to the group's growing popularity, Smerichka was asked to perform a song during the first annual Pesnya goda in Moscow in 1971, alongside already established names such as Iosif Kobzon, Eduard Khil and Muslim Magomayev.

According to a fellow Smerichka singer, Zinkevych treated Yaremchuk, who had already lost both his parents by age of 20 in 1971, as a younger brother.

"After moving to Lutsk in 1975, Zinkevych had to deal with the loss of several of his former Smerichka colleagues, with Ivasyuk being found dead in 1979 and Yaremchuk dying of cancer in 1995.

[10] Vasyl Zinkevych played a major role in the early steps of Ruslana's career, being among the first professional musicians to see her musical potential.

His wife left him not long after the birth of their sons, which led Zinkevych to be a single parent, which he suffered from emotionally.

[16][17] For an artist of his status, Zinkevych leads a generally reclusive life and rarely lets journalists interview him.

In comparison to his contemporaries as Sofia Rotaru and Nina Matviyenko, he rarely makes public appearances and treats the stage like a "church".