Željko Joksimović ( ,
(pronounced ); born 20 April 1972) is one of the most popular
singers and composers of Serbia
, but is also
well-known in Austria
, Bosnia and
Herzegovina
, Bulgaria
, Germany
, Greece
, Hungary
, Israel
, Republic of
Macedonia
, Romania
, Slovenia
, Sweden
, Switzerland
, Turkey
, Ukraine
, and nearby
countries. He represented Serbia and Montenegro in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest
with the song "Lane moje", where he
finished second behind Ukrainian singer Ruslana.
Professional life
Željko’s
first international success came at the age of 12, when he won the
title of First Accordion of Europe on the prestigious
music festival in Paris
.
Željko Joksimović graduated as an honours student at the University
of music. He started his professional career in 1997 when he
released an album produced by record label
PGP-RTS. In 1999, he made a deal with the
City Records music label owned by a private
Serbian television station
RTV Pink. His
first style of singing was folk and pop. However, later on in his
career, his style changed, performing and composing mostly ballads
and Ethno Serbian songs.
In 2003, Željko wrote a song for Macedonian legend
Toše Proeski, and Toše won on Beovizija
(Serbia).
In 2004, Joksimović shocked many after changing his music label to
City Records' biggest rival BK Sound. That same year he represented
Serbia & Montenegro in the
2004 Eurovision Song Contest
with the song
Lane moje. This was the country's debut at
the contest. In the semi-finals, Joksimović finished first.
However,
in the finals, he came second behind Ukrainian singer Ruslana and he won
"The MACEL BEZENCON Press award" (Best Composer Award).
Lane moje was the best selling single in Serbia and Europe
for a long period. This turning point gave a special tone to his
musical opus and the songs he made after. In 2004, Željko
Joksimović founded
MINACORD PRODUCTION. Since then, he
works and composes in this studio.
In 2005, he once again composed a song for Serbia's national
pre-selection for Eurovision called
Beovizija. Željko composed the ballad
Jutro (
Morning) which was performed by
Jelena Tomašević.
The song seemed
well-placed to make it to the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
contest in Kiev
after it
emerged as the highest-scoring qualifier from the Serbian
pre-selection, but ultimately missed out in controversial fashion
at the overall Serbia and Montenegro final (Evropesma), when all four Montenegrin
jurors overlooked it in distributing their
points. No Name, a qualifier
from Montenegro's pre-selection, instead represented Serbia and
Montenegro in Eurovision 2005, finishing in 7
th place.
This was to be the countries last ever appearance in the contest
and in 2006, Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from Eurovision after a
similar controversy to 2005. Since then, Serbia and Montenegro have
become independent states.
In October 2005, he composed and performed a duet with
Austrian singer
Tamee
Harrison. The song was titled
I live my life for you
and was a success throughout Europe.Around this time, Željko wrote
his first film score. In cooperation with
Cobra production
he composed music for the movie
Ivkova slava (Ivko's
slava).
In 2006,
he composed the Eurovision
Song Contest 2006 song Lejla for Bosnia and
Herzegovina, performed by Hari Mata
Hari. The song finished in third place, making it
Bosnia's best performance in the contest. He also won the
prestigious Best Composer Award (COMPOSERAWARD 2006), assigned to
Željko by all composers who participated in that festival.
His album called
Ima nešto u tom što me nećes or just
IV released that year was a great successes all over
former
Yugoslavia. The CD sold over
800,000 copies.
In 2007,
in front of an audience of 18,000, Željko Joksimović performed all
of his hits in the Belgrade
Arena
.
In 2008, Željko Joksimović composed a song that was performed by
Jelena Tomašević in the Serbian national final for the Eurovision
song selection,
Beovizija 2008, which
is called
Oro. The song, a ballad, represented Serbia in
the
Eurovision Song Contest
2008 in Belgrade. On March 24
th 2008, it was
announced by the 2008 Eurovision organisers
RTS that together with
Jovana Janković he would host the
Eurovision Song Contest, giving him two roles in the contest.
Today, Željko is one of few musicians that can play more than 14
musical instruments.
Discography
Albums
- 1999 Željko Joksimović [City Records]
- 2001 Rintam [City Records]
- 2002 III [City Records]
- 2005 Ima nešto u tom što me nećeš [City Records]
- 2009 Ljubavi [Minacord]
Album + DVD Live
Singles
- 2004 Željko Joksimović - Leđa o leđa [City
Records]
- 2004 Željko Joksimović - Lane moje CD+DVD [PGP
RTS]
- 2004 Željko Joksimović - Lane moje/Goodbye
(maxi-single) [Warner Music Group]
- 2005 Željko Joksimović & Tamee Harrison - I live my
life for you [Warner Music]
- 2007 Željko Joksimović - Devojka [Minacord]
- 2007 Željko Joksimović - Nije do mene [Minacord]
- 2008 Željko Joksimović - Ono nase sto nekad bejase
[Minacord]
Duets
Soundtracks
- 2005 "Ivkova slava", (Željko Joksimović, Jelena Tomašević & Nikola
Kojo) [Minacord - City Records]
- 2009 Orao" [Minacord - City Records]
Compilations
Other CD’ s
See also
External links
See also
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