Dorian Gray was a 1980s Yugoslav

music group A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumen ...

which achieved great prominence in the former

Yugoslav rock Popular music in Yugoslavia includes the pop music, pop and rock music of the former SFR Yugoslavia, including all their genres and subgenres. The scene included the Federated state, constituent republics: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and H ...

scene for its artistic and extravagant style and stage performances. It was led by

Massimo Savić Massimo Moreno Savić (6 June 1962 – 23 December 2022), also known simply as Massimo, was a Croatian pop singer. Biography Savić was born in Pula. His father Sergio was from Banjevci, Municipality of Stankovci, near Lake Vrana. His mother ...

, who later started a successful

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

career. It should not be confused with the short-lived 1970s German band of the same name.

Biography

The band was formed in 1982 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, then

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

consisting of the

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Massimo Savić (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), Vedran Čupić (guitar), Emil Krnjić (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

), Toni Ostojić ( keyboards), and Branko Terzić (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

), who suggested the name ''Dorian Gray'' after the

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

's fictional character

Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly M ...

. Since the group was into

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

, influenced by artists such as

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt; 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan (band), Japan. During his time in Japan, Sylvia ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

and some

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's works, the other members found the suggested name appropriate and gladly accepted it. Their early rehearsals and gigs were taking place in the

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

of the Zagreb's Student Centre. After performing in Croatia and the then-

SR Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia (, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Socialist Slovenia or simply Slovenia, was one ...

the group soon got critically acclaimed across the whole former Yugoslav federation and took part in the notable

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

''YURM'' (Yugoslav Rock Moment). In the late-1983 Dorian Gray recorded its debut album ''Sjaj u tami'' ("Glow in the Darkness") produced by

Saša Habić Aleksandar "Saša" Habić (Serbian Cyrillic: Саша Хабић; born 17 March 1956) is a Serbian and SFRY, Yugoslav musician, record producer and composer. He's most notable for his music production work. Over his long career as a producer, he ...

, who played the

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

in the recording sessions, which also featured

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s by the bassist Jadran Zdunjić and the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

player

Miroslav Sedak Benčić Miroslav may refer to: * Miroslav (given name), a Slavic masculine given name * ''Young America'' (clipper) or ''Miroslav'', an Austrian clipper ship in the Transatlantic case oil trade * Miroslav (Znojmo District), a town in the Czech Republic S ...

. The album, which was a major success was also noted for its artistic

record sleeve A record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl record. Alternative terms are ''dust sleeve'', ''album liner'' and ''liner''. The term is also used to denominate the outermost cardboard covering of a record, i.e. the ''record jacket'' or ''albu ...

which was designed by Sanja Baharah and Mario Krištofić. Notable hit single was "Sjaj u tami", a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the famous song "

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore) "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was originally released as a single credited to Frankie Valli as a solo artist in 1965 on the Smash label, but was more successful when recorded by the Walk ...

". After the release of the album, the line up was changed since Terzić, Čupić and Krnjić decided to leave the group. New members became: Zdunjić, the drummer Dragan Simonovski and the guitarist Zoran Cvetković Zok, a former member of the eminent Croatian and

Yugoslav Rock Popular music in Yugoslavia includes the pop music, pop and rock music of the former SFR Yugoslavia, including all their genres and subgenres. The scene included the Federated state, constituent republics: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and H ...

acts Prljavo kazalište and

Parni valjak Parni Valjak (; trans. '' Steam Roller'') is a Croatian and Yugoslav rock band formed in Zagreb in 1975. They were one of the most popular acts of the Yugoslav rock scene, and have maintained large popularity in all former Yugoslav republics a ...

. The second album ''Za tvoje oči'' ("For Your Eyes Only") which was recorded in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and produced by Sjunne Ferger, was released in 1985. After Dorian Gray disbanded in 1986 due to overspending the production budget for their second album and pressures from

Jugoton Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, SR Croatia. History Jugoton was formed in 1947. It replaced Elektroton, which had been founded in 1937, nationalized in 1945, and liquidated ...

, Massimo Savić started a successful solo career as a

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

singer.

Discography

*''Sjaj u tami'' (

, 1983) *''Za tvoje oči'' (Jugoton, 1985) *''Dorian Gray'' (Croatia Records, 1997)

References

External links

*
Petar Janjatović, ''Ilustrovana Enciklopedija Yu Rocka 1960-1997''
a
Monoskop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorian Gray (Band) Croatian pop music groups Yugoslav rock music groups Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1986 Croatian post-punk music groups 1982 establishments in Yugoslavia 1986 disestablishments in Yugoslavia