Daniel Kajmakoski-Gragevinac (, born 17 October 1983) is a Macedonian singer and songwriter. He is best known for having won the first series of

X Factor Adria ''X Factor Adria'', usually referred simply as ''X Faktor'', was a Balkan production of international talent show franchise of ''The X Factor''. The Adria edition of the show covered Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Mac ...

. He represented Macedonia in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

with the song " Autumn Leaves" after winning the Skopje Festival 2014.

Life and career

1983–2013: Early career

Kajmakoski was born in the city of

Struga Struga ( ; , sq-definite, Struga) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The name Struga ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, on 17 October 1983. When he was just 7 years old, he moved to

, together with his family. Daniel has two brothers, Dalibor and Filip Kajmakovski. Daniel participated in many competitions. He was 17 years old when he participated in a show for the first time. He reached top 12. In 2009, was his first performance in Macedonia at Ohrid Fest with the song "Nezhna ko princeza" which was composed and written by himself. Daniel has also participated in the Bulgarian show "Pej S'men. After that he returned to Vienna, where he got a job but meanwhile he always worked around the music. In 2010, he was part of the "One-Worl-Projekt" of Thomas Raber, which was one of the Austrian candidates for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, but the jury didn't vote it for the final show. In 2011, he wrote a song for Karolina Goceva called "Ne se vrajkas" which became a huge hit in Macedonia and in the Balkans.

2013–2014: ''X Factor Adria''

In 2013, he appeared in the auditions of the first series of ''

''. He sang the song "

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

" by

Daniel Merriweather Daniel Paul Merriweather (born 17 February 1982) is an Australian R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. Merriweather's debut solo album, '' Love & War'', was released in June 2009. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. It was ...

on his first audition and already impressed everyone, eventually winning the show on 23 March 2014. Daniel's first single came the summer right after his victory. The song was called "Skopje-Beograd" and was a duet between Daniel and one of the ''X Factor'' jury members,

Željko Joksimović Željko Joksimović ( sr-Cyrl, Жељко Јоксимовић, ; born 20 April 1972) is a Serbian vocalist, composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He plays 12 different musical instruments including accordion, piano, guitar a ...

, who represented Serbia during the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song ''Nije ljubav stvar''. *Week 1: "

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

" (by U2) *Week 2: "Čija si" (by Tose Proeski) *Week 3: "Sonce ne me gree" (by

Vlatko Lozanoski Vlatko "Lozano" Lozanoski (; born 27 June 1985) is a Macedonian singer. Together with Esma Redžepova, he represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. Career His first public appearance was as a participant in ...

) *Week 4: "

Counting Stars "Counting Stars" is a song by the American pop rock band OneRepublic from their third studio album, ''Native'' (2013). The song was written by lead singer Ryan Tedder, and produced by Tedder and Noel Zancanella. It was released as the album's ...

" (by

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) *Week 5: " Wake Me Up" (by

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

) *Week 6: "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

" (by

Hurts Hurts may refer to: * Pain, injury or suffering * Hurts (duo), British musical duo * Hurts (song), "Hurts" (song), by Emeli Sandé, 2016 * "Hurts", a song by Lany from ''LANY (album), LANY'', 2017 * "Hurts", a song by Mika from ''No Place in Heaven ...

) *Week 7: "

Unchained Melody "Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the prison film '' Unchained'' (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack.Robert ...

" ("Ghost") *Week 8: "Ljubavi" (by

) *Final: "

Sex on Fire "Sex on Fire" is the first single released from American rock band Kings of Leon's fourth studio album, ''Only by the Night''. The song gave Kings of Leon their first number-one single in Australia, Finland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, chart ...

" (by

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), "

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" (by

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

), " The Hardest Thing" (by

Toše Proeski Todor "Toše" Proeski (, ; 25 January 1981 – 16 October 2007) was a Macedonian singer and songwriter. Considered a top act of the local Music of North Macedonia, Macedonian and Balkan music, Balkan music scene, Proeski's music was popular acro ...

), "Red" (by Daniel Merriweather)

2014–present: ''Eurovision Song Contest 2015''

Daniel Kajmakoski represented Macedonia at the

, which was held in

. Kajmakoski was selected to represent the nation through his victory at the Skopje Festival 2014, which was organised by

Macedonian Radio Television Macedonian Radio Television (), or MRT () for short, is the public broadcasting organisation of North Macedonia. It was founded in 1993 by the Assembly of North Macedonia, Macedonian Assembly. Its legally defined service is the production and ...

in order to select Macedonia's entry for the 2015 Contest. With his song " Lisja esenski", he won the competition after placing second with an international jury and achieving first place from a public televote. At Eurovision the song received 28 points placing 15th (second to last) in the semi-final therefore not qualifying for the final. This was the 3rd time in a row that Macedonia did not qualify for the grand final. On 22 May 2016 he won the third season of '' Tvoje lice zvuči poznato'' (Serbian version of ''

Your Face Sounds Familiar ''Your Face Sounds Familiar'' ( Spanish: ''Tu cara me suena'') is a Spanish interactive reality television franchise series where celebrity contestants impersonate singers. The format, similar to Dutch television series '' Soundmixshow'', was ...

''). After a wide pallet of enjoyed performances as

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph ...

, Gibonni,

Karolina Gočeva Karolina Gočeva (, ; born 28 April 1980), sometimes credited as Karolina Gocheva or known only as Karolina, is a Macedonian singer. She launched her music career in 1991 with a performance at a local children's show and continued participating i ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

, and many more, he claimed the victory as

Måns Zelmerlöw Måns Petter Albert Sahlén Zelmerlöw (; born 13 June 1986) is a Swedish singer and television presenter. He took part in ''Idol 2005'', eventually finishing fifth, won the Let's Dance 2006, first season of ''Let's Dance (Swedish TV series), Le ...

Discography

Singles

*2009 "Nezna ko princeza" *2013 "Sloboda" (feat. Toni Zen) *2014
Skopje-Beograd
(feat.

) *2014 " Autumn Leaves" / " Lisja esenski" *2014 "Ne mogu protiv srca svog" *2014 "Sekoj" (feat. Zlatno Slavejce) *2014 "Za mig " (feat.

Tamara Todevska Tamara Todevska (, pronounced , born 1 June 1985), known professionally as Tamara, is a Macedonian singer. She has North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest, represented North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions; in M ...

) *2015 "Live It" Qatar 2015 Official Anthem "أغنية قطر 2015 الرسمية "عيشها (feat. Alexander Rybak, Ewa Farna, Lana Jurcevic, OCEANA, Rafal Brozozwski, ALYA, Marija Sestic, OLA, Amine Djammel, Fallulah, Lucas Silveira; Jon Jonsson, Nyusha; Pablo Lopez; Francesca Valenzuela; Shahab Tiam; Charlee; Mani; Fahad Al Kubaisi; Hasan Kharbesh; Carmen Suleiman; Daniela Herrero; Jaber Al Kaser) *2015 "Carry The Flame – Носи го огнот" (Official HH Anthem) (feat. BOBO, MERJ formerly from BLACKSTREET) *2015 "10 Leta", "Decenije" *2016 "Samo za ljubav"

References

External links

Kajmakoskidaniel.com

2015 Eurovision web site for Daniel Kajmakoski

2015 Eurovision press kit for Daniel Kajmakoski
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kajmakoski, Daniel Living people 1983 births 21st-century Macedonian male singers Macedonian pop singers People from Struga Yugoslav emigrants to Austria Austrian people of Macedonian descent The X Factor contestants The X Factor winners Your Face Sounds Familiar winners Indexi Award winners MTV Europe Music Award winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants