Oliver Dragojevic

December 7, 1947

Vela Luka, Croatia

His style blends traditional Klapa melodies of Dalmatia, a coastal region in his native Croatia, with jazz motifs wrapped up in a modern production. He is one of the few Croatian musicians who can boast with sold out performances at New York"s Carnegie Hall, London"s Royal Albert Hall, Olympia (Paris) and the beautiful Sydney Opera House. Dragojević had three sisters, who died young as refugees during the Second World War. Dragojević himself was born on 7 December 1947, not long after his family returned to their ancestral village of Vela Luka on the Dalmatian island of Korcula. At the age of five, his father Marko, bought Dragojević a harmonica. As he got better he started to entertain the kids from his street, and passengers on board the frequent ship route Vela Luka - Split. There he learnt to play the piano, clarinet and bass guitar. "I attended school in Split, but I always loved being home, spending all my free time in in Vela Luka. In winter we would harvest olives by hand, we warmed up with wood burning stoves, but the room always stayed cold. lieutenant was rustic but you had mom, dad, brother, cousins, aunts.. always a full house - he recalled.

Oliver Dragojevic

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Background

Dragojević"s first performance was at the "Split Children"s Festival" in 1961 with the song "Baloni". In a competition of amateur singers, his cult band from Split, "Batalla" won first place for their rendition of Yesterday a Beatles classic. In 1972 to further develop his craft, he went abroad.

He played in clubs across Germany, Sweden and Mexico.

His solo singing career began in 1974 at the Split Festival, where he won with the song "Ća će mi Copacabana".

A year later, composer Zdenko Runjić and Dragojević, released the song "Galeb i Ja". lieutenant proved to be a big hit across the former SFR Yugoslavia and made Dragojević a household name.

This was followed by hits "Romanca", "Oprosti Mi, Pape", "Stari Morski Vuk". Runjić would further collaborate with Dragojević on a further 200 songs until Runjić"s death.

Between 1975-1980, the Dragojevic/Runjić team dominated the music scene of the former SFR Yugoslavia.

Participant of the secret of their success was a third contributor. Jakša Fiamengo, who wrote the lyrics to some of Dragojević"s most iconic songs: "Nadalina", "Piva klapa ispod volta", "Karoca gre", "Ništa nova", "Infiša san u te", and "Ostavljam te samu".

Career

His style blends traditional Klapa melodies of Dalmatia, a coastal region in his native Croatia, with jazz motifs wrapped up in a modern production. He is one of the few Croatian musicians who can boast with sold out performances at New York"s Carnegie Hall, London"s Royal Albert Hall, Olympia (Paris) and the beautiful Sydney Opera House. Dragojević had three sisters, who died young as refugees during the Second World War.

Dragojević himself was born on 7 December 1947, not long after his family returned to their ancestral village of Vela Luka on the Dalmatian island of Korcula.

At the age of five, his father Marko, bought Dragojević a harmonica. As he got better he started to entertain the kids from his street, and passengers on board the frequent ship route Vela Luka - Split.

There he learnt to play the piano, clarinet and bass guitar. "I attended school in Split, but I always loved being home, spending all my free time in in Vela Luka.

In winter we would harvest olives by hand, we warmed up with wood burning stoves, but the room always stayed cold.

lieutenant was rustic but you had mom, dad, brother, cousins, aunts.. always a full house - he recalled.

Achievements

In a competition of amateur singers, his cult band from Split, "Batalla" won first place for their rendition of Yesterday a Beatles classic. His solo singing career began in 1974 at the Split Festival, where he won with the song "Ća će mi Copacabana".

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