Zdravko Čolić

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Zdravko Čolić


Img_capt = Zdravko Čolić in 2007
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Alias = Čola
Born = birth date and age|1951|5|30
Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia
Died =
Origin = Belgrade, Serbia
Instrument =
Genre = Rock
Pop-rock
Disco
Pop
Pop-folk
Occupation = Singer, songwriter
Years_active = 1968 - present
Label = Beograd Disk, Jugoton, PGP RTB, Diskoton, Komuna Belgrade, Grand Production
Associated_acts = Ambasadori
Korni Grupa
URL = [http://www.zdravkocolic-cola.com Official website]

Zdravko Čolić (Serbian Cyrillic: Здравко Чолић) (born May 30, 1951 in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian Serb singer, popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. He currently lives in Belgrade, Serbia.

Early life

Born to police administrator Vladimir and homemaker Stana Čolić, both of whom came to Sarajevo from Trebinje vicinity in Herzegovina, young Zdravko showed an early interest in sports. He was active as a footballer in FK Željezničar's youth system, before switching to track and field where he also excelled. At one point he was able to run a 100 meter dash in 11.3 seconds, and continually placed high at various track meets he entered (at one of them he finished just behind future star Nenad Stekić). Still, a pro sports career wasn't to be as Čolić lacked the Spartan discipline required to go on.

Zdravko attended Vladimir Perić Valter elementary school in the neighbourhood he grew up in - Grbavica. He also attended music school where he studied guitar playing. As a hobby he took part in various school recitals, and also acted in a couple of plays at Pionirsko pozoriste (Youth Theatre).

Music career

Early years: Ambasadori, and Korni grupa

Since the youngest age Čolić also showed an interest in music. With friend Braco Isović, he played guitar at informal and impromptu park gatherings through which they became somewhat locally known as "Čola i Isa sa Grbavice". At the time Čolić was trying to emulate pop schlager music that dominated Yugoslav and Italian festivals.

His first significant public signing experience occurred in 1968 when he spent a couple of days at the Montenegrin coast for the November 29 holiday (communist Yugoslavia's republic day). Staying in the house his father owned in the coastal community of Baošići, 17-year-old Zdravko got persuaded by a friend to enter the amateur signing competition in nearby Bijela. He won second prize singing "Lady Madonna" by The Beatles.

Encouraged by the unexpected success, soon after returning to Sarajevo, Čolić entered his first band - a group called Mladi i lijepi.

That engagement didn't last long because, around the time he graduated gymnasium in 1969, he moved to the more established Ambasadori, a band whose two incarnations he'd end up staying with for next two and a half years. At the time of Čolić's arrival, Ambasadori employed a strange setup: they were essentially a military cover band as all the musicians, except for bandleader Slobodan Vujović, were army recruits. Their repertoire centred around 1960s rhythm & blues (Chicago, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, etc.) along with obligatory Yugoslav hits of the day and years past, and finally even a few original numbers written by the bandmembers thrown into the mix. Over time, the group started getting more gig offers, which presented a problem since it's army part wasn't available for many of them and those offers had to be declined.

Seeing their opportunities limited by the strange situation, Vujović and Čolić decided to step out and form Novi ambasadori in 1970, bringing in drummer Perica Stojanović, organist Vlado Pravdić, saxophonist Lale Stefanović, and bassist Zlatko Hold. With the almost all new lineup, the band also expanded its reportoire so that in addition to R&B they now also played covers of Led Zeppelin, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc. For the summer of 1970, Novi ambasadori scored a month-long gig with Indexi in Dubrovnik, which was their first tour-like experience. Next step was competing in Vaš šlager sezone annual festival in Sarajevo where they finished in 7th place with a song "Plačem za tvojim usnama", which songwriter Zdenko Runjić claimed to have composed and officially signed his name under, however, the song was a blatant rip-off of The Tremeloes' "Suddenly Alone". No one from the festival noticed this plagiarism and the band avoided the controversy. The song was even released on a 7-inch single "Plačem za tvojim usnama" / "Zapjevaj" by Beograd Disk and sold surprisingly well.

As the result of band's activities Čolić's own profile on the scene was raised as well. He was offered a "bench role" with Indexi, to fill in for their singer Davorin Popović, and even performed with them a couple of times. In the meantime, Čolić met Kornelije Kovač, an already influential and established figure in Yugoslav music circles, who invited him to join his Korni grupa as replacement to their departed singer Dado Topić. Unlike Amabasadori, Korni grupa performed their own material and generally had a much more studious and serious approach to music, so Čolić immediately jumped at the opportunity.

On September 10, 1971, twenty-year-old Čolić left his hometown and moved to the capital Belgrade in order to join his new band. However, his stint with Korni grupa ultimately proved to be very short and largely unsuccessful as he never meshed well enough with the rest of the group musically, finding it hard to fit into their progressive rock style. He recorded three tracks with them, "Kukavica, "Gospa Mica gazdarica, and "Pogledaj u nebo", all of which got released on a 7-inch single by PGP RTB. Only six months upon his arrival to Belgrade, he returned to Sarajevo determined to give solo career a try.

olo

On April 15, 1972 his first solo move was taking part in the Vaš šlager sezone competitive festival in Sarajevo. He won the third audience prize as well as the interpretation award with Kemal Monteno-written song "Sinoć nisi bila tu" that was originally meant to be sung by Josipa Lisac who opted out at the last moment. The same year, he made further solo appearances at the Split, Priština, and Skopje festivals, before embarking on a tour of Soviet Union together with Indexi, Bisera Velentanlić, Sabahudin Kurt, and Sabina Varešanović.

Then came the first big break that launched him on the road to stardom. By winning at the Opatija festival with song "Gori vatra", Čolić got to represent SFR Yugoslavia at the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg. The song placed poorly, but became a massive hit at home.

Riding the wave of exposure Eurovision appearance afforded him, Čolić continued entering competitive festivals throughout SFR Yugoslavia over the next two years with plenty of success. At Hit parada festival in Belgrade on November 23, 1974, he won with the song "Ona spava", composed and written by Kornelije Kovač. Next year, 1975, Čolić bagged a few more festival wins with Kovač's songs - Beogradsko proljeće with "April u Beogradu", and Vaš šlager sezone with "Zvao sam je Emili". Other songs he performed at various festivals were "Bling blinge bling", "Ljubav je samo riječ" (composed by Vojkan Borisavljević), and "Zelena si rijeka bila" (composed by Kemal Monteno).

His first solo album was "Ti i ja" (You and Me) in 1975. His second album, "Ako priđeš bliže" (If You Come Closer), from 1977, sold 900,000 copies, and sprouted some of the most well known and liked songs. He was like Yugoslavia's equivalent to John Travolta since he also was a good dancer. He also played the guitar occasionally. During spring and summer 1978 he was touring Former Yugoslavia. “Traveling earthquake” produced by Maksa Ćatović moved all around the country as, since today, biggest tour ever. Final was in Belgrade at Red Star FC stadium September 5 and two days later in Sarajevo. Čolić reached his pinnacle at the beginning of the 1980s, when he was arguably the most popular pop performer in the former Yugoslavia.

In 1983, Čolić moved from his hometown Sarajevo to Ljubljana where he started a private business with Goran Bregović through their Kamarad label. Čolić then lived in Zagreb for a couple of years before moving to Belgrade in 1990 where he resides to this day. After the war and a long pause, he embarked on a comeback, and regained much of his popularity.

Čolić holds a degree in economics from the University of Sarajevo. [http://www.geocities.com/fensi88/int78.html]

He is married and is the father of two daughters.

Discography

ingles

*"Sinoć nisi bila tu" / "Tako tiho" (1972)
*"Pod lumbrelom" / "Stara pisma" (1972)
*"Gori vatra" / "Isti put" (1973)
*"Blinge blinge blinge bling" / "Julija" (1973)
*"Nedam ti svoju ljubav" / "Zelena si rijeka bila" (1973)
*"Dome moj" / "Ljubav je samo riječ" (1974)
*"Madre Mia / "Rock n roll himmel" (released in Germany) (1974)
*"Alles was ich hab / "Lampenfieber" (released in Germany) (1974)
*"Ona spava" / "Zaboravi sva proljeća" (1975)
*"April u Beogradu" / "Svitanje" (1975)
*"Zvao sam je Emili" / "Sonata" (1975)
*"Ti si bila, uvijek bila" / "A sad sam ja na u redu" (1976)
*"Ljubav ima lažni sjaj / "Balerina" (1977)
*"Živiš u oblačima / Zašto spavaš" (1977)
*"Loš glas / "Ne mogu biti tvoj" (1978)
*"Light me" / "I'm not a robot man" (released in Germany) (1978)
*"Druže Tito, mi ti se kunemo" / "Titovim putem" (1980)

tudio Albums

*"Ona spava" (She sleeps) (1975)
*"Ti i ja" (You And Me) (1975)
*"Ako priđeš bliže" (If You Come Closer) (1977)
*"Zbog tebe" (Because Of You) (1980)
*"Malo pojačaj radio" (Turn Up The Radio A Bit) (1982)
*"Šta mi radiš" (What Are You Doing To Me?) (1983)
*"Ti si mi u krvi" (You Are In My Blood) (1985)
*"Zdravko Čolić" (1988)
*"Da ti kažem šta mi je" (To Tell You What I'm Going Through) (1990)
*"Kad bi moja bila" (If You Were Mine) (1997)
*"Okano" (2001)
*"Čarolija" (Enchantment) (2003)
*"Zavičaj" (Homeland) (2006)

Live Albums

*"Belgrade Arena" (2005) (live double-CD)

Compilations

*Pjesme koje volimo (The Songs We Like) (1991)
*Prvi i posljednji (The First and the Last) (1995)
*Zauvek (Forever)(1998)
*Zauvek 2 (Forever 2) (1999)
*7X Čola Box Set (2000)
*Balade (The Ballads)(2002)
*The Best of Zdravko Čolić (double-CD set)(2004)

External links

* [http://www.zdravkocolic-cola.com/ official web site.]