Vinko "Vice" Vukov (3 August 1936 – 24 September 2008) was a

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 ...

n singer and politician.

Biography

Vukov was born in

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

. In 1959, he achieved instant fame by winning the Opatija Music Festival in his singing debut, with the song "Mirno teku rijeke" (). During the 1960s, he was one of the most popular singers in

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 ...

, appearing at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1963 The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the eighth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and took place in London, United Kingdom. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation ...

with the song " Brodovi" () and at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1965 The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the 10th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 20 March 1965 in the in Naples, Italy and presented by Renata Mauro. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RAI), t ...

with the song " Čežnja" (). In the aftermath of the 1971

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring (), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republics comprising Yugoslavi ...

movement, he was branded a Croatian nationalist by Yugoslav authorities and had his apartment searched by the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

during the 1972 wave of arrests of Croatian Spring leaders. Vukov was touring

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the time. His wife warned him not to return to Yugoslavia to avoid arrest, so instead he went to live in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, returning to Yugoslavia four years later in 1976. By that time, the authorities had lost interest in his case, but his singing career was effectively over; he was blacklisted, barred from performing publicly and all his records were pulled out of stores. In 1978, he graduated from the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FFZG) majoring in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. In 1989, an album of his new songs, albeit without his name on the cover, reappeared in Croatian music stores, signalling the political change. Later that same year, Vukov made a public comeback with a series of 14 sold-out concerts at the

Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall () is a large concert hall and convention center in Zagreb, Croatia. It is named after Vatroslav Lisinski, a 19th-century Croatian composer. The building has a big hall with 1,841 seats and a small hall with 305 s ...

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 ...

. Vukov is best remembered for recording some of the most popular lyrical Croatian patriotic songs, including "Zvona moga grada" (), "Hrvatski kraj" () and "Tvoja zemlja" (). After the first multi-party election in

and the country's independence in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, Vukov became a prominent supporter of the opposition

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SDP). He ran several times for a seat in the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

, finally succeeding as an independent candidate on the SDP party ticket in 2003. On 17 November 2005, while descending the stairs in the Parliament building, Vukov slipped and fell, sustaining a serious head injury. He was hospitalised and underwent surgery, but fell into a coma shortly afterwards. In March 2006, according to his doctors, he was in a

persistent vegetative state A vegetative state (VS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative state, the patie ...

with no chance of recovery. However, in November 2007, Vukov was reported as being conscious at times, aware of his surroundings, and his condition was described as stable. He died in Zagreb in September 2008 aged 72.

References

External links

Biography

Preminuo Vice Vukov

Hronika smrtne oholosti
(Part 1)
Hronika smrtne oholosti
(Part 2) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vukov, Vice 1936 births 2008 deaths Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Croatian pop singers 20th-century Croatian male singers Yugoslav male singers Croatian columnists People from Šibenik Social Democratic Party of Croatia politicians Croatian expatriates in France Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni Eurovision Song Contest entrants