Kedžo was born on 24 May 1987 in Omišalj, where he finished musical school, and was singing in a church choir. When he was a child, besides singing, he wanted to be a gynecologist, but he gave up on that idea when signed up for the Story Super Nova Music Talent Show. Damir had a jaw surgery, because he could not speak or eat normally, and he had problems with pronunciation of words, which was important for the profession he chose. After the surgery, he could not speak for a month, and the complete recovery took him three months, when he could chew normally again. He admitted that, after the surgery, he became a stronger person, and more confident in himself and his decisions.[2]
2003–2005: Story Supernova Music Talents and Saša, Tin i Kedžo
In 2003, Kedžo auditioned for the first and only season of Nova TV's talent show Story Supernova Music Talents, where he excited the audience and the jury with his personality and attitude and his song interpretations which took him into the top 7.[3] He was 16 at the time when he decided to compete in one of the most famous Croatian TV shows.[2]
A year after, in January 2004, he became a part of the Croatian boy band "Saša, Tin i Kedžo" along with Saša Lozar (winner of the second season of Tvoje lice zvuči poznato) and Tin Samardžić.[4] The band's debut album, titled Instant, sold 10,000 copies in its chart run, while their debut single "365" topped the Croatian charts for six weeks.[5] In 2005 the band disbanded and Kedžo took a year off in his career.[2]
2006–2009: Melodije Istre i Kvarnera and debut album
After he won an award at Melodije Istre i Kvarnera (MIK) for the best debuting artist with the song "Ki bi sad reke" in 2006 and the award for the best interpretation for the song "Kanet na vetru" in 2007, he has seen his path in pop songs with elements of Italian canzone. That was visible in his song "Odlučio sam otići".[2]
2010–2014: Slavianski Bazaar, Dora 2011 and musicals
Damir has also appeared in Croatian performance of musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” in double role, Benjamin and Potiphar. He had a great start in his acting career, he got awarded for great successes of young artists in operetta and musicals for the role of Hudi in musical "Crna kuća".[2]
He debuted in 2006 on MIK with the song “Ki bi sad reke” and won the best debuting artist award. In 2007, on MIK, he won the award for the best interpretation with the song “Kanet na vetru” and the first place of the juries. In 2008 he published his debuting album with his most popular songs “Sjećam se”, “Idem” and “Kažnjen u duši”. A year later on MIK, he won the second place of the jury and third place of the audience with the song “Peza od zlata”. In 2010 on the international festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, Belarus, he won the Grand Prix.
In 2011, Kedžo applied for Dora 2011, Croatian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. In 2012, he won the best interpretation award on MIK with the song “Daj mi kapju vodi” and the first place of the juries. 2014 was a very successful year for Damir, he already sold two concerts in HKD Sušak.[2]
2015–2019: Tvoje lice zvuči poznato and continued success
In 2015 he won on a Russian festival "New Wave". Since then, he started working on his songs in English. In 2016 Kedžo had one of his biggest concerts on International Women's Day in front of 3,500 people in Zamet Hall, Rijeka.[2]
On 23 December 2019, Kedžo was announced as one of the 16 participants in Dora 2020, the national contest in Croatia to select the country's Eurovision Song Contest 2020 entry, with the song "Divlji vjetre".[7] He won the competition with a total of 31 points and was supposed to represent Croatia in Rotterdam.[8] However, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] He later was denied the opportunity to represent Croatia in the 2021 contest.
Kedžo was one of the 18 acts to perform in Dora 2023, which was held on 11 February 2023.[10] He performed the song "Angels and Demons", and placed fifth.[11]
Kedžo was again included in the 24 participants of Dora 2024, with the song "Voljena ženo";[12] he advanced from his semi-final on 23 February 2024.
For "Sve u meni se budi": "HRTop40 Week 10 2017" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Ljubavi moja": "HRTop40 Week 35 2017" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. September 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Vojnik ljubavi": "HRTop40 Week 06 2018" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Mi protiv nas": "HRTop40 Week 28 2018" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Šuti": "HRTop40 Week 46 2018" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Srce mi umire za njom": "HRTop40 Week 08 2019" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 24 February 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Vidi se izdaleka": "HRTop40 Week 32 2019" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 11 August 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Poljubi me sad": "HRTop40 Week 01 2020" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
For "Divlji vjetre": "HRTop40 Week 10 2020" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
For "Nedodirljiva": "HRTop40 Week 30 2020" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
For "Sjeti se": "HR TOP 40 Week 49 2020" (in Croatian). toplista. 13 December 2020. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
For "Hram": "HR TOP 40 Week 8 2021" (in Croatian). top-lista. 28 February 2021. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
For "Angels and Demons": "HR TOP 40 Week 7 2023" (in Croatian). top-lista. 19 February 2023. Archived from the original on 20 February 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
For "Zbog tvojih pogleda": "HR TOP 40 Week 15 2023" (in Croatian). top-lista. 23 April 2023. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
For "Moje srce je": "HR TOP 40 Week 28 2023" (in Croatian). top-lista. 17 July 2023. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
^"Cesarica - Nominirani" [Cesarica - Nominations] (in Croatian). cesarica.org. Archived from the original on November 29, 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^"Nominacije 27. Porin" [27th Porin Monimations] (in Croatian). porin.org. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
