Željko Joksimović

Željko Joksimović (pronounced [ʒěːʎko jǒksimoʋitɕ] (listen); born 20 April 1972) is a Serbian vocalist, composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He plays 12 different musical instruments including accordion, piano, guitar and drums. Joksimović is multi-lingual, being fluent in Greek, English, Russian, Polish and French as well as his native Serbian.[1]

Željko Joksimović
Joksimović in 2012
Born (1972-04-20) 20 April 1972
Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Occupation
  • Singer-songwriter
  • composer
  • instrumentalist
Years active1999–present
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2012)​
Children4
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
Labels
Associated acts

A singer-songwriter, Joksimović has been successful composing for other artists throughout the Balkans. He has written five ballads that have represented their respective countries at the Eurovision Song Contest: "Lane moje", "Lejla", "Oro", "Nije ljubav stvar" and "Adio". He also composes music for films, television series and theater shows. He represented Serbia and Montenegro in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Lane moje", placing second.[2] He also represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan and finished third.

He was a judge on the first series of the Western Balkan edition of X-Factor, the X Factor Adria.[3]

Career

Early beginnings

Željko Joksimović was born on 20 April 1972 in Belgrade and grew up in the city of Valjevo. Joksimović's family originates from the Vasojevići clan[4] Željko'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.[5]

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.[6]

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".

In 2003, Joksimović wrote the song "Čija si" for Macedonian music singer Toše Proeski which led him to win Beovizija.

2004: Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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.

The song has become popular amongst many Eurovision fans and it is often rated as one of the best non-winning songs.[7][8][9]

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 works and composes in his own studio. In middle time he composed and released the single "Ledja o Ledja" which gained a large popularity over the countries where Željko usually performs. 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. 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 about him. The songs in the album are Pop ballads with some ethnic Serbian folk elements. The CD sold over 800,000 copies over former Yugoslavia. 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 organisers RTS that together with Jovana Janković he would host the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, giving him two roles in the contest.[10] Tomašević's song finished on the 6th place over 25 countries in the final. The song came six with 160 points, with OGAE Greece ranking it as their favourite 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 neighbouring countries. 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. The arrangements of both versions were done by Željko Joksimović and Alek Alekov. The postproduction and mastering was done by James Cruz, an award-winning audio-mastering engineer in his New York studio. The song was a great success, finished on third place.

He married Jovana Janković in January 2012.

2015: Eurovision Song Contest

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 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.[11]

Recent concerts

In November 2018, Željko Joksimović had a concert in Arena Zenica – after eight-year break.[12] He gave another concert entitled "Dva sveta" (Two worlds) in Sava Centar a month later.[13]

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.[14]

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums
  • 2008 Beogradska Arena Live [Minacord Records]
  • 2017 Dva Sveta - Koncert Sava Centar (Live) [Minacord Records]

Compilations

Singles
  • 2004 Željko Joksimović – Leđa o leđa [City Records]
  • 2004 Željko Joksimović – Lane moje CD+DVD [PGP RTS]
  • 2004 Željko Joksimović – Lane moje/Goodbye (maxi-single) [Warner Music Group]
  • 2005 Željko Joksimović & Tamee Harrison – I live my life for you [Warner Music]
  • 2007 Željko Joksimović – Devojka [Minacord]
  • 2007 Željko Joksimović – Nije do mene [Minacord]
  • 2008 Željko Joksimović – Ono naše što nekad bejaše [Minacord]
  • 2010 Željko Joksimović – Dođi sutra [Minacord]
  • 2012 Željko Joksimović – Nije ljubav stvar [Minacord]
  • 2013 Željko Joksimović – Ludak kao ja [Minacord]
  • 2015 Željko Joksimović - Ranjena zver [Minacord]
  • 2017 Željko Joksimović - Milimetar [Minacord]
  • 2018 Željko Joksimović - Ponelo me [Minacord]
  • 2018 Željko Joksimović - Menjaj pesmu [Minacord]
  • 2019 Željko Joksimović - Možda je to ljubav [Minacord]

Duets

Soundtracks

Other works

Eurovision Song Contest entries
Country Year Song Artist Place Points Marcel Bezençon Awards
 Serbia and Montenegro 2004 "Lane moje" (Лане моје) Željko Joksimović & Ad-Hoc Orchestra 2 263 Press Award
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2006 "Lejla" Hari Mata Hari 3 229 Composer Award
 Serbia 2008 "Oro" (Оро) Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić 6 160
 Serbia 2012 "Nije ljubav stvar" (Није љубав ствар) Željko Joksimović 3 214
 Montenegro 2015 "Adio" Knez 13 44

Entries in Beovizija

Entries in Evropesma / Europjesma

See also

References
  1. Željko Joksimović: Ne promatram se kao da sam zgodan!. Dnevnik.hr (11 December 2010). Retrieved on 2012-08-29.
  2. Zeljko Joksimovic Biography. Artists.letssingit.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-29.
  3. Yuma, Faris (8 September 2013). "Joksimović i Kristina Kovač sudije 'X factora'". Tracara.com. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  4. Profile from Zeljko Joksimovic. Bebo.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-29.
  5. Željko Joksimović – početna strana. Zeljkojoksimovic.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-29.
  6. "Belarus: Slavianski Bazaar 2020 Selection - Vitebsk Results". Eurovoix World. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  7. ""Lane moje" - the best song in the history of Eurovision". RTS.
  8. "The Eurovision Song Contest: 10 of the best". The Guardian.
  9. "Wiwi Jury of the 2010s: Serbia's Željko Joksimovic with "Nije Ljubav Stvar"". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  10. Konstantopoulos, Fotis (4 March 2008). EUROVISION 2008 Jovana Janković & Željko Joksimović the hosts. Oikotimes.com
  12. "Željko Joksimović održao spektakularan koncert u Zenici (VIDEO+FOTO)" (in Bosnian). www.zenit.ba.
  13. Koncert projekta "Dva Sveta"
  14. "FOTO: Spektakularnim koncertom Željka Joksimovića, završen Zenica Summer Fest 2019." (in Bosnian). zenicainfo.ba.
  15. "Nikola Tesla" – Zeljko Joksimovic. YouTube (25 June 2008). Retrieved on 2012-08-29.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Extra Nena
with Ljubim te pesmama		 Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
2004		 Succeeded by
No Name
with Zauvijek moja
Preceded by
Mikko Leppilampi and Jaana Pelkonen		 Eurovision Song Contest presenter
(with Jovana Janković)
2008		 Succeeded by
Semi-finals:
Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov
Final:
Alsou and Ivan Urgant
Preceded by
First title		 Performer of The Best Song in Balkans
2009		 Succeeded by
Aurela Gaçe
with Origjinale
Preceded by
First title		 Best Male Performer in the Balkans
2009		 Succeeded by
Serdar Ortaç
Preceded by
Nina
with Čaroban		 Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest
2012		 Succeeded by
Moje 3
with Ljubav je svuda

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