Željko Joksimović was born on 20 April 1972 in Belgrade and grew up in the city of Valjevo. Joksimović's first international success came at the age of 12 when he won the title of First Accordion of Europe at the prestigious music festival in Paris. He graduated music at the University of Belgrade and launched his professional music career in 1997. In 1998 he won a contest at the Pjesma Mediterana festival with the song "Pesma Sirena", which led to opportunities to perform at more prestigious festivals in Belarus. The Serbian musician won the "Grand Prix" award at two festivals in that country.[4]
1999–2003: Amajlija, Rintam and 111
The young singer was promoted as a folk and pop artist. His first studio album, titled Amajlija, included "Pesma Sirena" along with seven other tracks. His first big success was with the single "7 godina", written by himself and Leontina Vukomanović. The song went to No. 1 on the Serbian pop music charts and became very popular in other former Yugoslav countries.
In 1999 he won his first big prize when becoming the Grand Prix winner of the International Festival of Arts Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, Belarus.[5]
In 2001, Joksimović released his second studio album Vreteno named after a song on the album. Other tracks on the album included "Rintam", "Balada", "Gadura" and the duet with Haris Džinović "Šta će meni više od toga". Three music videos were produced for songs on this album.
111 was released in 2002, soaring to No.1 on the pop charts of Serbia and other countries of the region. Some of the songs included were "Varnice", "Zaboravljaš" and "Karavan".
Joksimović performing "Lane Moje" for Serbia and Montenegro in ESC 2004. Istanbul, Turkey.
Serbia and Montenegro, sending an entrant for the first time to 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, decided on their representative through Evropesma 2004, a music festival and contest in Serbia and Montenegro. Joksimović won the contest with "Lane Moje", composed by Željko himself, along with lyricist Leontina Vukomanović.
In the semi-final, Joksimović placed first. However, in the final, he placed second behind Ukrainian singer Ruslana, but received the "Marcel Bezencon Press Award" (Best Composer Award). "Lane Moje" was the best-selling single in Serbia and Montenegro.[citation needed]
The song has become popular amongst many Eurovision fans and it is often rated as one of the best non-winning songs.[6][7][8]
2004–2007: After first Eurovision, IV and Platinum Collection
After the success in the Contest, the same year, Joksimović founded MINACORD PRODUCTION. Since then, he has worked and composed in his studio. In 2007 he composed and released the single "Ledja o Ledja" which gained a large popularity in the countries where Željko usually performs.[which?][citation needed] In 2005, he once again composed a song for Serbia and Montenegro's national pre-selection for Eurovision called Beovizija. Željko composed the ballad "Jutro" (Morning) which was performed by Jelena Tomašević. In October 2005, he composed and performed a duet with Austrian singer Tamee Harrison. The song was titled I Live My Life For You" which was a success throughout Europe.[dubious – discuss] Around this time, Željko wrote his first film score. In cooperation with Cobra Production, he composed music for the movie Ivkova slava (Ivko's fame). The same year he released his fourth studio album "IV" or "Ima nešto u tom što me nećeš". In this album, he changed the music style that was typical of him. The songs in the album are Pop ballads with some ethnic Serbian folk elements. In 2006, he composed the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 song Lejla for Bosnia and Herzegovina, performed by Hari Mata Hari. The song finished in third place, making it Bosnia's best performance in the contest. He also won the prestigious Best Composer Award (COMPOSERAWARD 2006), assigned to Željko by all composers who participated in that festival.
In 2007, he released his second greatest hits compilation called Platinum Collection which included two new singles "Devojka" and "Nije do mene". He also composed the music for the TV series "Ranjeni orao" and "Ono nase sto nekad bejase". The same year, in front of 18,000 people Joksimović made a concert where he sang all of his hits in the Belgrade Arena released in the DVD titled "Koncert Beogradska Arena".
2008–2011: Eurovision hosting and Ljubavi
Željko Joksimović together with Jovana Janković during the first semi-final ESC Belgrade 2008.
In early 2008, Željko Joksimović composed a song that was performed by Jelena Tomašević in the Serbian national final for the Eurovision song selection, Beovizija 2008, called "Oro". The song is a folk ballad with traditional folk Serbian elements. Because the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 has been won by Serbia, the contest that year came in the country. On 24 March 2008 it was announced by the 2008 Eurovision organizers RTS that together with Jovana Janković he would host the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, giving him two roles in the contest.[9] Tomašević's song finished in the 6th place in over 25 countries in the final.
The song came six with 160 points, with OGAE Greece ranking it their favorite of the year.
After a year of a music pause, he released his fifth studio album named Ljubavi (2009) by the production of Minacord and City Records. "Ljubavi" is the name of the pilot single of the album too. The single has a large success in Serbia and the neighboring countries.[citation needed] In early 2010 he released the second single from the album called "Žena Za Sva Vremena".
On 12 June 2010, he performed his biggest concert yet. It was held on the Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which can seat 37,500, though attendance for concerts can be expanded to reach about 80,000, in front of over 40,000 persons.
2012: Eurovision return
Joksimović represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The song was called "Nije ljubav stvar" composed and performed by Joksimović. The lyrics are by Marina Tucaković and Miloš Roganović. The English version of the song called "Synonym" by Ljilja Jorgovanović. Željko Joksimović and Alek Alekov did the arrangements of both versions. James Cruz, an award-winning audio-mastering engineer in his New York studio, did the postproduction and mastering. The song was a great success, finishing in third place.
Željko Joksimović was invited by RTCG to compose song for Knez who represented Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. Joksimović composed the song Adio and the song has three versions, in Serbian, French, and English language. Serbian lyrics are written by Marina Tucaković and Dejan Ivanović, while English version is signed by Swedish songwriters Nicole Rodriguez, Tami Rodriguez, and Serbian Milica Fajgelj and Dunja Vujadinović.[10]
Recent concerts
In November 2018, Željko Joksimović had a concert in Arena Zenica – after eight-year break.[11] He gave another concert entitled "Dva sveta" (Two worlds) in Sava Centar a month later.[12]
Joksimović on ZSF 2019 singing Milimetar (mosaic artwork in the background because of the lyrics)
On 9 August, Joksimović closed Zenica summer fest 2019 by free public two-hour performance on Zenica city square.[13]
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