Oliver Dragojević (; 7 December 1947 – 29 July 2018) was a Croatian singer and composer, who was considered one of the most enduring musical stars and cultural icons in Croatia with a discography that spanned nearly five decades. His style blended traditional klapa melodies of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...

, a coastal region in his native Croatia, with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

motifs wrapped up in a modern production. For his influential musical career, he reached critical and commercial acclaim in Croatia and neighbouring countries, and numerous accolades, including numerous Porin and

Indexi Indexi was a Bosnian and former Yugoslav rock band popular in Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died. Some of their most notable songs are "Svijet u kome živ ...

awards. He is one of the few Croatian musicians who performed at major international venues such as

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

L'Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra G ...

, and

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. In 1995, he was awarded the

Order of Danica Hrvatska The Order of Danica Hrvatska ( hr, Red Danice hrvatske; lit. "Order of the Croatian Morning Star") is the fourteenth most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on 1 April 1995. The medal is awarded for different pu ...

for his services to culture.

Early life

Oliver's mother Kata (1907–1994) and father Marko Dragojević (1908–1991) had three daughters, all of whom died young during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. His family escaped to a refugee camp in

El Shatt The El Shatt was a complex of World War II refugee camps in the desert of the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, established in early 1944. The region of Dalmatia (in today's modern Croatia, then Yugoslavia) was evacuated by the Allies, following the Sep ...

, Egypt, together with many other women and children from

. Dragojević was born on 7 December 1947 in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

, not long after his family returned to their ancestral town of Vela Luka, on the Dalmatian island of

Korčula Korčula (, it, Curzola) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after ...

. He had an older brother Aljoša (1946–2011). When Oliver was five, his father bought each of his sons a

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

. Oliver mastered the instrument quickly, and entertained other kids on his street, as well as passengers on board of ships on the busy route of Vela Luka – Split. As Dragojević showed a strong passion for music, his parents decided to enroll him in a music school in his hometown. There he learned to play the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Music career

Dragojević's first performance was at the Split Children's Festival in 1961 with the song "Baloni" (Baloons). In a competition of amateur singers, his cult band from Split, Batali, won the first place for their rendition of " Yesterday", a

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

classic. In 1972 Dragojević went abroad to further develop his craft. He played in clubs across Germany, Sweden and Mexico. His solo singing career began in 1974 at the

Split Festival The Split Festival (officially ''Festival zabavne glazbe Split'' or ''Splitski Festival'') is a pop music festival held annually, in July, in Split, Croatia. It has been held since 1960. It is one of the premier Croatian music festivals. Since i ...

, where he won with the song "Ča će mi Copacabana" (What Do I Need Copacabana For). A year later, composer

Zdenko Runjić Zdenko Runjić (26 October 1942 – 27 October 2004) was a Croatian songwriter. In his long career, he established himself as one of the most prolific and most popular songwriters of former Yugoslavia and Croatia. Biography Runjić was born on 26 ...

and Dragojević, released the song "Galeb i ja" (Seagull and I); it proved to be a big hit across the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

and made Dragojević a household name. That was followed by hits "Romanca" (Romance), "Oprosti mi, pape" (Forgive Me, Father), "Stari morski vuk" (An Old Sea Wolf). Runjić would further collaborate with Dragojević on further 200 songs, until Runjić's death. Between 1975 and 1980, the Dragojević/Runjić duo dominated the music scene of the former Yugoslavia. Part of the secret of their success was a third contributor, Jakša Fiamengo, who wrote the lyrics to some of Dragojević's most iconic songs, namely: "Nadalina", "Piva klapa ispo' volta" (The Klapa Sings Under the Vault), "Karoca" (Carriage), "Ništa nova" (Nothing New), "Infiša san u te" (I Am Crazy About You), and "Ostavljam te samu" (I Leave You Alone). In 1990 Dragojević won the Split Festival with "Ti si moj san" (You Are My Dream), and the Jugovizija Jamboree with the song "Sreća je tamo gdje si ti" (Happiness is Where You Are), both collaboration with

Zorica Kondža Zorica Kondža (born 25 June 1960) is a Croatian pop-rock singer. She is best known for her soprano vocal range, which she displayed as the lead vocalist for the 1980s pop-rock music act ''Stijene''. Since 1981, she had participated in most of ...

. Most of Dragojević's songs are considered evergreen on the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. Dubbed "the Cosmic Dalmatian" Dragojević was widely lauded and remembered for his emotionally intense ballads and equally candide performances. These include "Vjerujem u anđele" (I Believe in Angels), "Kad mi dođeš ti" (When You Come to Me), "La Musica di Notte" (covered also by the Dubrovački Trubaduri), "Bez tebe" (Without You), "Pred tvojim vratima" (transl. "In Front of Your Door", released 24 November 2002 on ''Trag u beskraju''), "Cesarica" (from the album ''Sve najbolje'', released 15 July 1994), "Pismo moja" (My Song) and "Vjeruj u ljubav" (Believe in Love) (from the same-named album, released 1 January 1979 and as a rendition on 15 June 2009). Dragojević participated five times in national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. He made his debut in the Jugovizija 1988 with hopes to represent Yugoslavia performing "Dženi", which finished second. He returned to the contest again in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

with Zorica Kondža performing "Sreća je tamo gdje si ti" (Happiness is Where You Are) and finishing third. After the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, Dragojević participated in the Dora 1994 with hopes to represent Croatia, with "Arja". The song ended up in fourth place. He participated in the Dora 1995 again with "Boginja" (Goddess), finishing second, and in the Dora 1997 with "Lucija", finishing eight. For his album made with long-term collaborator

Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni Zlatan Stipišić (born 13 August 1968), also known as Gibonni, is a Croatian singer-songwriter and composer. He is one of the most successful and awarded recording artists from Croatia, receiving record-high 43 Porin music awards for his albums ...

, ''Familija'' (''Family''), they were awarded a Porin Award for Album of the Year in 2017.

Personal life

Family

Dragojević married his wife Vesna in 1974, with whom he had three sons: Dino (b. 1975), and twins Damir and Davor (b. 1978). He had five grandchildren.

Death

In August 2017, Dragojević revealed he was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

. In June 2018, he was hospitalised in the Split Clinical Hospital Center due to breathing difficulties, where on 29 July 2018 at 2:00 am, Dragojević died after succumbing to a year long battle with the disease. He was 70. The

Croatian Government The Government of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Hrvatske), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Republike Hrvatske), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government ( hr, hrvatska Vlada), is the main executive branch of government ...

declared 31 July as the National Day of Condolences to honour him. The same day, over 10,000 people on Split waterfront terraced the coffin with his body to the catamaran for Vela Luka. Dragojević was buried at the cemetery of St. Roko in Vela Luka on 1 August.

Discography

* 1975: ''Ljubavna pjesma'' * 1976: ''Našoj ljubavi je kraj'' * 1976: ''Split 76'' * 1977: ''Malinkonija'' * 1978: ''Poeta'' * 1979: ''Vjeruj u ljubav'' * 1980: ''Oliver 5'' * 1981: ''Đelozija'' * 1981: ''Jubavi, jubavi'' * 1982: ''Karoca'' * 1984: ''Evo mene među moje'' * 1985: ''Svoju zvizdu slidin'' * 1986: ''Za sva vrimena'' * 1987: ''Oliver'' * 1987: ''Pionirsko kolo'' * 1988: ''Svirajte noćas za moju dušu'' * 1989: ''Oliver u HNK'' * 1990: ''Jedina'' * 1992: ''Teško mi je putovati'' * 1994: ''Neka nova svitanja'' * 1994: ''Sve najbolje'' * 1995: ''Vrime'' * 1996: ''Oliver u Lisinskom'' * 1997: ''Duša mi je more'' * 1998: ''Štorija 1'' * 1998: ''Štorija 2'' * 1998: ''Štorija 3'' * 1998: ''Štorija 4'' * 1998: ''Štorija 5'' * 2000: ''Dvi, tri riči'' * 2001: ''Oliver u Areni'' * 2002: ''Trag u beskraju'' * 2003: ''Vjeruj u ljubav 2003'' * 2005: ''Vridilo je'' * 2006: ''The Platinum Collection'' * 2006: ''Oliver à l'Olympia'' * 2007: ''Kozmički dalmatinac'' * 2010: ''Samo da je tu'' * 2013: ''Tišina mora''

References

External links

*
Discography of Oliver Dragojević
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragojevic, Oliver 1947 births 2018 deaths People from Vela Luka 20th-century Croatian male singers Croatian baritones Croatian pop singers Musicians from Split, Croatia Hayat Production artists Deaths from lung cancer in Croatia Indexi Award winners Yugoslav male singers 21st-century Croatian male singers