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Svetlana Ražnatović (; sr-cyr, Светлана Ражнатовић, ; ; born 14 June 1973), better known as Ceca ( sr-cyr, Цеца, links=no, ), is a Serbian singer. Dubbed the " Serbian Mother" (""), she made her recording debut in 1988 and has collectively released sixteen studio albums. She is recognized the most commercially successful Serbian artists of all time with collective sales of seven million records. Furthermore, with 150,000 attendees, her 2013 concert in Ušće, Belgrade was one of the highest-attended concerts in the world. In 2023, Ražnatović also became the youngest recipient of the Life Achievement Award at the Serbian Folk Music Assembly. She has been described as a regional music star. From 1995 until his assassination in 2000, Ceca was married to Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader Željko "Arkan" Ražnatović, with whom she had two children, including fellow singer Anastasija. In 2011, Ceca was convicted of embezzlement and illegal firearm possession.


Life and career

Veličković was born on 14 June 1973 in Prokuplje and raised in the nearby village of Žitorađa. She graduated from the high school of agriculture, studying
pig farming Pig farming, pork farming, pig production or hog farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food (e.g. pork: bacon, ham, gammon (meat), gammon) and l ...
. Veličković pursued a professional career in music as a child after she had been discovered by Serbian
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
instrumentalist and songwriter Mirko Kodić, who took her to
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
where she made her recording debut. Ceca rose to prominence by competing at the Ilidža Folk Music Festival with the song "Cvetak zanovetak", receiving the first award for a debut performance. Her first studio album of the same title was released in 1988 under PGP-RTB. In the following years, Ceca released three more records in succession: '' Ludo srce'' (1989), '' Pustite me da ga vidim'' (1990) and '' Babaroga'' (1991). In 1993, Ceca released her fifth album, '' Kukavica'', through JV Komerc, on which she began collaborating with the songwriting duo Marina Tucaković and Milan Radulović. The record saw great commercial success, whilst the title track has become one of her signature hits. Following the album's release, Ražnatović held her first solo concert at the Tašmajdan Center in Belgrade. ''Kukavica'' was followed by the albums '' Ja još spavam u tvojoj majici'' (1994) and '' Fatalna ljubav'' (1995), which included stand-out hits like: "Volela sam te", "Nije monotonija", "Idi dok si mlad", "Tražio si sve" and "Beograd". To promote ''Fatalna ljubav'' Ceca had a live show at Hala Pionir. In 1996, Ražnatović released '' Emotivna luda'' under Komuna. Same year she starred as Koštana in the film adaptation of the Borisav Stanković's novel '' Impure Blood''. However, her scenes were eventually excluded from the movie due to poor critical reception. The scenes were later included to the television series ''Tajne nečiste krvi'', which broadcast in the beginning of 2012. Ceca renewed her collaboration with PGP-RTS to release '' Maskarada'' in 1997. Her tenth studio album, '' Ceca 2000'', was subsequently released in December 1999. These two records produced popular songs like "Maskarada", "Nevaljala" and "Crveno". Following the death of her husband in 2000, Ceca took a break from music. She returned to the scene in 2001 with the album '' Decenija'', released under
Grand Production Grand Production ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Гранд продукција, separator=" / ", Grand produkcija) is a Serbian record label and production company predominantly focused on folk performers. The label produces the weekly television show ''Grand ...
. It saw commercial success, becoming her highest-selling album to date. To promote ''Decenija'' she embarked on a European tour, which ended with the concert at the Marakana Stadium in Belgrade on June 15, 2002, where she performed to 70.000 people. The album was followed by '' Gore od ljubavi'' and '' Idealno loša'' in May 2004 and June 2006, respectively. On 17 June 2006, Ceca held a solo live show in Ušće, Belgrade in front of 120.000 people, making it one of highest-attended concerts in the world. In June 2011, she released '' Ljubav živi'' under Miligram Music, which was sold in 150,000 copies. After she had served her detention for financial fraud and illegal firearm possession between 2011 and 2012, Ceca released her fifteenth studio album, ''Poziv'', through City Records in June 2013. It spawned hit-songs like "Da raskinem sa njom", "Ime i prezime" and "Turbulentno". The album was sold in over 100,000 units. ''Poziv'' was promoted with another concert in Ušće Park on the Vidovdan 2013. According to Ceca's management ''Ušće 2'' attracted 150,000 people, making it one of the highest-attended concerts by a solo artist in the world. Same year, Ražnatović also performed at the
New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...
concert in front of the House of the National Assembly in Belgrade. In June 2016, she independently released '' Autogram'' under Ceca Music. It featured popular songs like the title track, "Trepni" and "Metar odavde". ''Autogram'' circulated in 150,000 copies. She has served as a judge on the televised singing competitions '' Pinkove Zvezde'' (2014–2016) and '' Zvezde Granda'' (2021–present). In October 2022, Ceca's
reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
show, titled ''Ceca Show: Ceca i deca'', also began airing on Blic TV, as well her own
Late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show, originating in the American Media, United States. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It is charact ...
"''Ceca Show''".


Personal life


Marriage and motherhood

While performing for Serbian soldiers at a military camp in Erdut during the
Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
in 1993, Ceca was introduced by singer Oliver Mandić to war criminal,
paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
commander and politician, Željko "Arkan" Ražnatović. They got married on 19 February 1995. Their wedding, which was broadcast internationally, was portrayed as the "Serbian fairytale" by the local media. The wedding video was later also released on a VHS tape. The couple have two children, Veljko Ražnatović (born 1996) and Anastasija (born 1998). Arkan was assassinated on 15 January 2000.


Legal issues

Following the
assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
of
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Zoran Đinđić in March 2003, Ražnatović was arrested under suspicion of harboring the leaders of the Zemun Clan in her house, and subsequently spent 121 days in commitment. Due to lack of evidence she was ultimately released of the charge, however, the investigation raised suspicion of Ceca's illegal firearm possession as well as of embezzlement from transfers of her husband's football club, FK Obilić, between 2000 and 2003. After eight years of investigation, in March 2011, a criminal charge was filled against Ražnatović by Serbian state prosecutors under suspicion of illegal appropriation of 4 million
Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...
s and over 3 million US dollars from FK Obilić player transfers, as well as for illegal possession of 11 machine guns. Ceca, who took over the club after Arkan's murder, had argued that the deals were maintained by her late husband, and that the guns also belonged to him. In June 2011, Ražnatović, who had pleaded guilty, was charged for embezzlement and illegal firearm possession, and sentenced with a 1.5 million
euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
fine and a year under house arrest. In February the following year, she finished serving her detention, which was eventually reduced to eight months. Moreover, due to her past legal issues, Ražnatović is allegedly banned from entering
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, being proclaimed '' persona non grata'', however Ministry of Interior of Croatia has refused to comment on the veracity of that statement for data protection purposes.


Politics

Ceca was involved in politics by serving as the honorary president of the Party of Serbian Unity before Arkan was assassinated. Since her husband's passing, Ražnatović has maintained ties with Serbian politicians Ivica Dačić, who was also born in Žitorađa, and Dragan Marković, who was Arkan's former business associate. Ražnatović has publicly endorsed Aleksandar Vučić since the 2017 Serbian presidential election. In January 2019, Ceca, alongside President Vučić, representatives of the Serbian Government and Patriarch Irinej, was at the official welcoming party for
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
at the plateau of
Church of Saint Sava The Church of Saint Sava ( sr-Cyrl, Храм Светог Саве, Hram Svetog Save, lit='The Temple of Saint Sava') is a 79 m high Serbian Orthodox church, which sits on the Vračar plateau in Belgrade, Serbia. It was planned as the bishopric ...
. Ražnatović has also maintained close ties with Bosnian Serb politician Milorad Dodik and has publicly endorsed him and his party SNSD. In June 2021, according to the reports of '' Insajder'', Ceca was flown in from Belgrade by the
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
-owned helicopter to Dodik's hometown of Laktaši in
Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...
to attend a private wedding party. In July 2021, CNN's affiliate in the
Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
, N1, aired an episode about Ceca as a part of the documentary series ''Junaci doba zlog'' (''Heroes of the Evil Age''), which discussed her involvement in politics throughout the years. Before its premiere, Ražnatović threatened the creators with legal consequences in order to "protect her own reputation and work", unless they fulfil her request to not air the episode. The documentary episode was briefly taken off
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
on the behalf of Ceca Music for copyright infringement.


Discography

;Studio albums * '' Cvetak zanovetak'' (1988) * '' Ludo srce'' (1989) * '' Pustite me da ga vidim'' (1990) * '' Babaroga'' (1991) * '' Šta je to u tvojim venama'' (1993) * '' Ja još spavam u tvojoj majici'' (1994) * '' Fatalna ljubav'' (1995) * '' Emotivna luda'' (1996) * '' Maskarada'' (1997) * '' Ceca 2000'' (1999) * '' Decenija'' (2001) * '' Gore od ljubavi'' (2004) * '' Idealno loša'' (2006) * '' Ljubav živi'' (2011) * '' Poziv'' (2013) * '' Autogram'' (2016)


Filmography

;Television performances * ''Tajna nečiste krvi'' (2012); as Koštana * '' Pinkove Zvezde'' (2014-2016); as a judge * '' Zvezde Granda'' (2021-present); as a judge and mentor * ''Ceca Show'' (2022-present)


Tours

* Šta je to u tvojim venama Tour (1993) * Ceca Tour '94 (1994) * Fatalna ljubav Tour(1995) * Decenija Tour (2002) * Ceca Tour '05 (2005) * Grom Tour (2006-10) * Ljubav živi World Tour (2012-13) * Poziv Tour (2013-16) * Autogram Tour (2016-20) * The best of Ceca Tour (2021)


References


External links


Official website
(partial archive) * *
"Arkan & Me"
''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' interview dated 4 January 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceca 1973 births Living people People from Žitorađa 20th-century Serbian women singers 21st-century Serbian women singers Serbian turbo-folk singers Serbian folk-pop singers