| The talented boy from Krusevo, Tose Proeski was born on 25 January 1981 in Prilep and is one of the best Macedonian vocalists ever.
He had his first, most significant, public appearance at Prilep’s teenage festival, "Melfest" in 1996 and 1997, when he was awarded first prize twice in a row. His vocal abilities were amazing and soon, he was enthusiastically welcomed by a wider audience.
He performed the song, "Pusti me"("Let me go") at the "Makfest" festival in Stip in 1997.
A year later he participated at the Skopje Festival -- the national contest for "Eurosong" entry -- with the song "Ostani do Kraj" ("Stay 'Till the End").
That summer, he took part in the "Ohridski Trubaduri" festival in Ohrid and started working with well-known composer, Grigor Koprov.
It turned out to be a very successful cooperation and resulted in many hits.
The first two were "Usni na Usni" ("Lips on Lips") which won the jury’s second prize and "Sonce vo Tvoite Rusi Kosi" ("The Sun in Your Golden Hair") which came first at Eurofest.
With these two songs, Tose made a breakthrough at a national level and showed he would have a serious place in the Macedonian music scene.
In 1999 Tose Proeski signed an exclusive contract with ambitious production house, "Avalon."
His debut album, "Nekade vo Nokta" ("Somewhere in the Night") with 11 beautiful songs was released on 15th May -- a day after he performed "Tvoite Baknezi na Moite Beli Kosuli" ("Your Kisses on my White Shirt") at the Skopje festival 1999.
He won the first prize as voted for by the audience and the song topped the charts for months.
The same album included songs written by Grigor Koprov, Kristijan Gabroski, Hari Kotlarovski, Goran Miloseski, Valentino Skenderovski, Ognen Nedelkovski, and Tose himself.
The most popular of them were "Eh, da sum Zlato" ("I Wish I Were Gold"), "Ruski Rulet" ("Russian Roulette") "Ostani do Kraj" ("Stay 'Till the End), "Usni na Usni" ("Lips on Lips"), "Sonce vo Tvojte Rusi Kosi" ("The Sun in Your Golden Hair"), as well as the above mentioned "Pusti Me" ("Let Me Go").
That summer Tose had his first solo concert in Skopje which -- in spite of the rain -- was unforgettable for all his fans.
In autumn 1999 he sang "Morska zvezdo" ("Starfish") at "Makfest" and won the second prize of the jury. In the beginning of 2000, at the prestigious manifestation "12 Velicestveni" ("12 Magnificent") he won all the major awards for his album, "Nekade vo Nokta" ("Somewhere in the Night") including best male vocalist, concert of the year, and best video.
Tose took part in Skopje festival 2000, with the song "Solzi Pravat Zlaten Prsten" ("Golden Ring Made of Tears") but even though he won the majority of votes by the tele-voting system, he came third and didn't represent Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm that year.
In that period he started recording tracks for his second album, "Sinot Bozji" ("The Son of God"), which was promoted at the end of June 2000.
On this ambitious album Tose worked together with composers, Kire Kostov and Grigor Koprov, lyricists Ognen Nedelkovski, Miodrag Vrcakovski and Mirjana Danilovska, while the arrangements were made by Kire Kostov, Davor Jordanovski and Slobodan Markovic.
The album brought some great hits, like "Nemir"("Restless") -- a duet with Karolina Goceva) -- "Vo Kosi da ti Spijam" (" Sleeping in Your Hair"), "Izlazi me Uste Ednas" ("Lie to Me One More Time”), as well as "Iluzija" ["Illusion"] which won the ‘Grand Prix’ at the "Slavjanski Bazar" festival in Vitebsk and "Tajno Moja" ("My Secret") which came second at the "Suncane Skale" festival in Herceg Novi, Monte Negro.
The Belgrade record company BK Sound purchased the rights to release this album edition in their market, which became one of the best-selling projects in Yugoslavia. As a student of the Music Academy, Tose took part in the Operetta, "Despina and Mister Doks" at the end of 2000 and beginning of 2001.
Second prize at the Podgorica Festival 2001 for the duet with Karolina Goceva, "Nemir" ["Restless"] followed. At the prestigious "Oskar Popularnosti" ("Oscar of Popularity") he was awarded as the most successful vocalist from the former Yugoslav republics in 2000.
Tose Proeski performed a track from his debut album called "Sonce vo Tvojte Rusi Kosi" ("The Sun in Your Golden Hair") at the "Suncane Skale" 2001 festival when he won the second prize of the jury. But, according to the audience, the real winner was Tose!
By selling out five concerts in a row at the Skopje’s Universal Hall in March 2001, he confirmed his immense popularity on domestic ground. In the beginning of October 2001, Tose Proeski held a concert at the "Sava Centar" in Belgrade - the greatest concert hall in Yugoslavia.
Immediately after this, he set off for an Australian tour, with several Macedonian music artists. The encounter with the manager Ljiljana Petrovic changed the direction of Tose Proeski's career.
He started working on the third album "Ako me poglednes vo oci" ("If You Look Into My Eyes") in a music studio in Athens, Greece. The album was recorded in two versions -- Macedonian and Serbian.
The Macedonian version of the album, written by the composer Phoebus, the lyricist Marina Tucakovic and the arranger Manolis Vlachos, was released by the end of October 2002.
Besides the title song, the greatest hits on this album are: "Nemas ni blagodaram" ("You Didn't Even Thank me"), "Magic" (duet with the famous ‘Esma’), "Soba za taga "("Room for sorrow"), Ledena ("Icy lady") and "Limenka" ("A Can").
On 26 November 2002, with a spectacular concert at Skopje Fair Site in front of an audience of 7,000, Tose launched his 25-day Macedonian tour.
The audience throughout the country reacted euphorically to his appearance.
His latest album edition was released for the Serbian market by BK Sound and had its promotion in Bosnia, Republika Srpska, Monte Negro, as well as Bulgaria (under the label of Bulgarian Music Company, BMK).
His latest triumph was the victory at the "Beovizija" festival in Belgrade in April 2003, with "Cija si" ("Who Do You Belong To"), a song which became a huge hit in Macedonia and the other former Yugoslav republics.
Currently, Tose Proeski is working on his world promotion together with manager, Ljiljana Petrovic. |
