| Željko Joksimović, the writer of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s song for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, was born on 20 April 1972 in Belgrade.
He has been fascinated by music since he was a child. At the age of just 12, he scored his first international success by earning the title of the First European accordion player, in Paris. Today, Željko is one of those rare musicians who can claim to be familiar with eleven instruments.
Since releasing his debut album in 2000, Zeljko has been very popular throughout the Balkans. 2001 was not only the beginning of the new millennium for Željko Joksimović, but also a year of great importance to his career.
The success of his first album was not unexpected. It was preceded by two prestigious international awards in 1999 – the Grand Prix u Mogilov (Belarus) and the Grand Prix u Vitjebsk (Belarus) – for his song ‘Pesme sirena’ (‘Songs of sirens’). This song also won him FIDOF and SOKOJ awards at the ‘Pjesme Mediterana’ festival in Budva in 1998.
As a composer, Željko Joksimović has been well-known to festival audiences for many years. His songs won awards at the ‘Beogradsko proleće’ in 1993, 1996 and 1997. Besides pop music, Željko Joksimović has written for other genres such folk music and old town music. His song ‘Zvone Tambure’ won him the first prize at the ‘Zlatna Tamburica festival’ in Novi Sad in 2000.
Željko has won prizes for writing the following plays: ‘Mandagora’, ‘Ljubinko i Desanka’, ‘Rob ljubavi’, ‘Pešice’ (the best play of the year in 1999), ‘Nemam da platim neću da platim’. As a composer, he wrote the soundtrack of the popular blockbuster ‘Ivkova slava’.
His first Eurovision entry for Serbia & Montenegro was ‘Lane Moje’ (‘My Precious One’) - a song written and arranged by himself. It finished second in the 2004 Final.
At the end of 2005, Željko Joksimović’s latest CD, simply named ‘IV’, was released featuring ten new tracks. Ljilja Jorgovanović, Duško Trifunović, Aleksandra Milutinović, Srdjan Simić-Kamba are just some of the people who helped to make this album, the quality of which should set new standards in pop music. |
