As a youth, Makarevich was a big fan of English rock band The Beatles. In 1969, he founded Mashina Vremeni, a rock band largely inspired by western rock and blues of the time. He is the band’s singer and guitarist. While their music is written by all the members, Makarevich is the band’s exclusive lyrics writer. Mashina Vremeni had a big influence into development of rock music in USSR.

Makarevich had a cameo in the 1999 cult film 8 ½ $ and played an important acting role in Eldar Ryazanov’s 2000 film Tikhiye omuty (Still Waters). He has also composed music for a number of films.

Makarevich also released eight solo albums, participated in regular TV shows and assisted other groups and artists. He authored several poetry collections and two volumes of memoirs. Makarevich is also interested in painting. He accompanied Mikhail Gorbachev on his solo album in 2009.

Makarevich performed for Ukraine’s internally displaced people during the war in Donbass in the Ukrainian town Svyatogorsk in August 2014. Deputy of the State Duma Yevgeny Alexeyevich Fyodorov vowed to strip Makarevich of all Russian state honors, describing his performance in Svyatogorsk as “collaborating with the fascists”. Later that month, NTV aired a documentary titled 13 Friends of the Junta in which Makarevich was described as a “traitor” and supporter of fascists. The Moscow Times reported that footage of his concert “was merged with images of the fighting that he supposedly endorsed. The program never mentions that the concert was for the benefit of Ukraine’s internally displaced children.”

In 2014 Makarevich received the Dr.Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by Alexandra Hildebrandt. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.

In July 2015, Makarevich together with Ukrainian band Haydamaky and Polish singer Maciej Maleńczuk presented a new song, Only love will keep you alive (Тільки любов залишить тебе живим). The lyrics of the song are written in three languages – Russian, Ukrainian and Polish.