| Severina Vučković was born in Split on 21 April 1972 into a working class family, the third child (after Zdenka and Mare) of Ana and Sever.
She visited elementary school and secondary school for music in Split.
Her musical talent was obvious from her earliest childhood. In the first grade, Severina was accepted into the school choir and two years later she performed as understudy to an adult singer.
Severina also performed in Splitsko kazalište (Theatre of Split) and won the first prize, as voted by the audience.
She spent her time dancing, playing the piano, singing and acting. Later she joined KUD Mozaik, an association for culture and art in Split, under the guidance of Lepa Smoje. As a talented 13 year old, she starred in the musical for children ‘Frane Štrapalo’ as Frane’s girlfriend, Karmela.
Severina later joined the band ‘Treća smjena’ (‘Third Shift’) as their singer.
In the mid-80s, she won a series of young talents competitions including ‘Prvi pljesak’ (‘First applause’) in Split and ‘Daruvarski susreti’ (‘Meetings in Daruvar’). Severina was also voted best singer at the ‘Studentsko ljeto’ (‘Student Summer’) festival.
After winning these prizes, Severina entered the DEMO-X competition, winning the first prize and the chance to record her first album.
In the same year, she appeared at the Zagrebački festival, after being invited by its director Drago Diklić.
Around that time, Severina was given the job of host and singer on the music show ‘Top cup’.
Her first album was recorded for the record company Orfej (Orpheus) under the guidance of the composer Tomislav Mrduljaš.
In 1992, Severina signed a contract with Croatia Records and released her second studio album ‘Severina’ which was produced by Tutico.
Alongside Zrinko Tutić, the number one singles on the album were written by Gibboni, Dino Dvornik, Hus Hasanefendić, Jurica Pađen, Đorđe Novković.
In 1993, the album ‘Dalmatinka’ (‘Dalmatian Girl’) was released. On this album she worked for the first time with Neno Ninčević.
Severina’s 1995 album ‘Trava zelena’ (‘Green Grass’) achieved gold status and was followed in 1996 by the album ‘Moja stvar’ (‘My thing’).
In 1998, Severina went back into the studio to record the album ‘Djevojka sa sela’ (‘Country Girl’). Most of the songs on the album were written by Severina herself.
The first hit single from the album became the anthem of the Croatian national football team during the World Cup in France in 1998.
In 1999, she released another album with a significant title ‘Ja samo pjevam’ (‘I’m only singing’). Almost every song on the album became a hit, including ‘Ante’ (‘Ante’), ‘Ja samo pjevam’ (‘I’m only singing’), ‘Da si moj’ (‘If you were mine’) and ‘Dodirni mi koljena’ (‘Touch my knees’). Severina continued to win over Croatian audiences. On this album she revived her cooperation with Đorđe Novković. At the same time, Menart and Tutico released the album ‘Paloma Nera uživo’ (‘Paloma Nera live’), a live recording of Severina’s concert in Zagreb in 1993 during her Dalmatinka tour.
Two years later, Severina released an even more successful album under the title ‘Pogled ispod obrva’ (‘Gaze beneath the eyebrows’). The album contained many hits – including ‘Virujen u te’ (‘I believe in you’), ‘Mili moj’ (‘Honey’), ‘Pogled ispod obrva’ (‘Gaze beneath the eyebrows’) and ‘Krivi spoj’ (‘Wrong connection’) – written by Ante Pecotić, Đorđe Novković, Dino Šaran, Ante Muštra. Once again, most of the lyrics were written by Severina herself.
Riding high in the Croatian music scene, Severina went on a big tour in 2002.
The tour spawned an album and DVD ‘Virujen u te uživo’ (‘I believe in you, live’) which was released by her record company Dallas Records.
The album ‘Virujen u te – najbolje uživo’ (‘I believe in you – The best of, live)’) was, at that time, the pinnacle of Severina’s career on the Croatian music scene. Months after its release, the album went gold.
Meanwhile, Croatia Records released a compilation called ‘18 najvećih hitova’ (‘18 biggest hits’).
In 2003, after more than 15 years, Severina returned to the theatre. Mani Gotovac, the manager of Hrvatsko narodno kazalište u Rijeci (Croatian National Theater of Rijeka), invited Severina to be a part of the play ‘Karolina Riječka’.
In 2004, through Dallas Records, Severina released her ninth studio album under the name ‘Severgreen’. Along with songs such as ‘Šta me sad pitaš šta mi je’ (‘Why do you ask me now how I feel’) which highlighted Severina’s talent as a composer in collaboration with Matija Dedić, this colourful album contained a remarkable song ‘Sama na sceni’ (‘Alone on the stage’) by Arsen Dedić.
In 2005, Severina starred alongside Enis Bešlagić and Davor Janjić in the movie ‘Duhovi Sarajeva’ (‘Ghosts of Sarajevo’) by Dejan Radonić. The premiere of the movie was scheduled for 2006.
In the same year Severina starred in the one-woman show ‘Čekajući svog čovika’ (‘Waiting for my man’) by Jagoš Marković.
In 2005, she entered and won the DORA competition. |
