Kipelov was among the founding members of Aria, alongside Vladimir Holstinin and Alik Granovsky, although he initially played a less active role in songwriting and the development of the band's style than the other two. For the first four albums, he only composed three songs (two of them slow ballads). Nevertheless, Kipelov's voice was one of the major reasons of band's success. After the breakup in 1987, Kipelov and Holstinin were the only two members who remained with their producer Vekshtein. Sergey Mavrin, Kipelov's friend, was invited into the new lineup to play guitar and Vitaly Dubinin joined on bass.