Cholich, Zdravko

Zdravko Cholich was born on May 30, 1951 in Sarajevo , where his parents Vladimir and Stana Cholichi moved from the town of Trebinje . Father served in the police, the mother was a housewife. Zdravko showed an early interest in sports: at first he played for the youthful composition of the Sarajevo football club " Zheleznichar ", then went into athletics . However, his sports career did not take place - Zdravko lacked the strict discipline necessary for this.

Cholich studied at the secondary school. Vladimir Perich Walter in the Sarajevo district of Grbavitsa. Sometimes he participated in the productions of the local "Pioneer Theater" ( serbohorv. "Pionirsko pozorište" ). He also learned to play guitar at a local music school.

Early career

In addition to music school, Zdravko played the guitar and the streets of Sarajevo . Cholich and his friend Braco Isovich created a duet that became known to the locals as “Chola and Isa from Grbavica”. Beginner musicians tried to rewrite Yugoslav and Italian hits .

The stage debut of Cholich as a singer took place at the end of 1968 , when he went to rest on the Montenegrin coast, in Baoshychi, where his father had a home. Another friend of Zdravko, Nedim Idrizovic, persuaded him to go to nearby Bielu, where he held a local amateur art contest dedicated to the Day of the Republic. Cholich finished second, performing the song “Lady Madonna” by The Beatles .

Returning to Sarajevo , inspired by an unexpected success, Cholich came to his first musical group, “Mladi i lijepi” ( serbohorv. “Young and beautiful” ). Cooperation does not last long: at this time Zdravko is still studying in the gymnasium. But already in 1969, he finds a more professional, from his point of view, collective - Ambasadori ( Serbo Horv. “Ambassadors” ), in whose work the next two and a half years will participate.

Ambasadori

At the time of Cholich's arrival, Ambasadori was essentially a military ensemble: all musicians, with the exception of the head Slobodan Vujovic, were cadets. The basis of the repertoire were rhythm-and-blues compositions “ Chicago ”, Otis Redding , Wilson Pickett and others. Also mandatory in the program of the speech included new and old Yugoslav hits. All this alternated with compositions composed by the cadets themselves. For a long time, Ambasadori had difficulties with conducting concerts, many of which had to be abandoned - each organization had to be coordinated with the command of the unit.

Realizing that in such a situation, their possibilities are severely limited, in 1970 Vujovic and Cholich decided to create the group “Novi ambasadori”. They invite drummer Peritz Stojanovic, keyboard player Vlado Pravdich, saxophonist Lale Stefanovich and bass player Zlatko Hold. The repertoire of the new team includes not only the usual rhythm-and-blues compositions for the founders, but also the songs “ Led Zeppelin ”, “ Blood, Sweat & Tears ”, “ Creedence Clearwater Revival ”, etc.

In the summer of 1970, Novi Ambasadori, together with the Indexi group, set off on their first tour from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik . In 1971, they took the 7th place at the Sarajevo annual music festival “Vaš šlager sezone” with the song “Plačem za tvojim usnama”, which was immediately released by the company “Beograd disk” on the single “Plačem za tvojim usnama / Zapjevaj”. In addition to the first single, the musicians got the first opportunity to announce themselves on television. One of those who saw them then on TV was Cornelie Kovacs - a composer and producer, with whom Zdravko Čolić works to this day. Kovac, being at that time already an influential figure in the world of Yugoslav popular music, was surprised by Cholich's good voice and his ability to stand on the stage. ^[one]

The singer was soon offered the position of the backup vocalist of the Indexi band. Several times he acted in this capacity, replacing the main vocalist of the group Davorin Popovich.

Korni

At the end of the summer, Cornelia Kovacs invites Zdravko to the group “Korni” ( Serbo Horv. “Roots” ) to replace the newly departed soloist Dado Topić . Unlike Ambasadori, Korni had their own repertoire and a more serious approach to music.

September 10, 1971 twenty Cholich moved from Sarajevo to Belgrade . However, cooperation with “Korni” does not add up: it is difficult for a singer who is focused on the performance of smash hits to perform in the genre of progressive rock . Together with the band he manages to record only 3 songs: “Kukavica”, “Gospa Mica gazdarica” and “Pogledaj u nebo”. All of them are immediately published in a single by a Belgrade record company “ PGP RTB ”. The song "Gospa Mica gazdarica", which was broadcast on radio stations in Yugoslavia , caused many complaints from listeners and was soon removed from the air due to provocative content. In the song, the young man asks the elderly landlady to allow him to lie in her bed. "Gospa Mica gazdarica" ​​echoes in part with the life of Cholich in Belgrade , when he had to move from one rented apartment to another.

Soon Cholich and Kovacs came to the conclusion that Zdravko is better to perform solo. To prepare for this, just six months after departure, Cholich returns to Sarajevo .

Participation in festivals and contests

On April 15, 1972, Zdravko Cholich took part in a music competition for the first time, performing solo. On the “Vaš šlager sezone” he took the third place with the song of Kemal Monteno “Sinoć nisi bila tu”. Initially, Monteno wrote a song for jazz singer Josipa Lisac , but she refused to perform it at the last moment.

On May 20 of the same year, Cholich organized a performance organized by Cornelia Kovachem in the popular Belgrade television program “Obraz uz obraz”, which was conducted by Yugoslav actors Milena Dravic and Dragan Nikolic . Cholich performs at music festivals in Split , Pristina and Skopje , after which he goes on tour to the USSR with the group “Indexi”, Biseroy Veletanlich, Sabahudin Kurt and Sabina Varešanovich.

Having won at the festival in Opatija with another song by Kemal Monteno - “Gori vatra”, Zdravko Čolić received the right to represent Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest . On April 7, 1973 in Luxembourg, the song “Gori vatra” shared the 15th place out of 17 possible with the song “Sans toi” performed by the French singer Martin Clemenceau. Despite the apparent defeat in the competition, the song immediately became a hit in Yugoslavia .

Participation in Eurovision allowed Cholich to quickly become popular in his homeland. On November 23, 1974, he won the Belgrade festival “Hit parada” with the song “Ona spava”. The following year, with Kovac's songs “April u Beogradu” and “Zvao sam je Emili”, Zdravko wins on “Beogradsko proleće” and Sarajevo “Vaš šlager sezone”. Somewhat later, the songs “Bling blinge bling” (by Cornelie Kovacs), “Ljubav je samo riječ” (by Voikan Borislavlevich) and “Zelena si rijeka bila” (by Kemal Monteno) appear.

At the same time, Cholich signs a contract with the German label “ WEA ” and records two singles with songs in German - “Madre Mia / Rock n roll himmel” and “Alles was ich hab / Lampenfieber”. The producers thought that the name “Zdravko” would be too difficult for the German-speaking listeners to understand, so they came up with a nickname for Cholich - “Dravco”. Soon the contract was terminated, because Cholich did not want to move to Germany .

Debut Album

The album “Ti i ja” was released in 1975 by the Zugreb firm “ Jugoton ”. Most of the album consists of songs written by Cornelia Kovachem. The author of the songs “Igraš se vatrom” and “Loše vino” was the guitarist of the Sarajevo group “ Bijelo Dugme ” and the beginning composer Goran Bregovic . With Bregovic and photo artist Dragan Stefanovich, who created the cover for the album, Cholich, as well as with Kovacs, will cooperate for many years.

Despite sufficient public acceptance, Cholich continues to participate in music festivals along with novice performers. At one of them - in Zagreb , in 1976 - to the surprise of many, it occupies only the fourth place. At the end of 1976, Zdravko went on a tour throughout Yugoslavia with the group Indexi. The following year, in 1977 , Čolić performs at the festival in Zagreb with the song “Živiš u oblacima”, and then - for the last time now - in the same Zagreb at the festival of revolutionary and patriotic songs with the song “Druže Tito mi ti se kunemo”, a single which will later be sold in the amount of 300,000 copies. ^{[2] [3]}

Popularity

Zdravko Čolić’s second album “Ako priđeš bliže”, which was released in 1978, turned out to be more successful than “Ti i ja”. About 50,000 copies were sold in the first two weeks. ^{[2] [3]} The album includes such compositions as “Glavo luda”, “Zagrli me”, “Juče još”, “Pjevam danju, pjevam noću”, “Jedna zima s Kristinom” and “Produži dalje”.

On April 1, 1978, Cholich began its touring tour with the “Lokice” dance group in support of the album, which had sold more than 150,000 copies by that time. ^{[2] [3]} The same situation repeated throughout the tour: crowds of fans tried to break into the scene. Never before has Yugoslavia come across a similar degree of popularity of a pop performer. The final concert of the tour took place on the Belgrade Stadium “ Red Star ” on September 5, 1978 . All 70,000 tickets were sold, despite the fact that five months earlier, on April 4 and 8 , Cholich had already given concerts in Belgrade “Khala Pionir”. After the tour, it turned out that more than 700,000 copies of the album had already been sold. In 1999, the album was reprinted with a circulation of 1,000,000 copies. ^{[2] [3]}

Belgrade music journalist Dusan Savkovic and director Jovan Ristic made the film “Pjevam danju, pjevam noću”, devoted to the 1978 Cubic tour and the way Zdravko went to such success.

Also Cholich again interested label " WEA ", the leadership of which invited him to renew the contract. Now Cholich recorded a single in English : the songs “Jedina” and “Zagrli me” were converted into “I'm Not a Robot Man” and “Light Me”. However, the singer for the second time refused to move to Germany , and instead on November 14, 1978, he went to military service in the Yugoslav People's Army . After serving first in Valev , and then in Belgrade and Pozarevac , Zdravko Čolić demobilized from the ranks of the JNA on September 14, 1979 .

London albums

Recorded in 1980 in London, the album “Zbog tebe”, as well as all subsequent ones, could not repeat the success of “Ako priđeš bliže”, but was nevertheless sold 400,000 copies. ^{[2] [3]} In 1981, the album “Malo pojačaj radio” was released, also recorded in London . In addition to Cornelie Kovacs, Goran Bregovic and Marina Tutsakovich, who already collaborated with Cholich earlier on the album, he takes part in the work on the album Djordje Balashevich . Cholich’s debut as a composer is associated with the same album: he writes the music for the song “Što si prepotentna” with lyrics by Bregovic and Tutsakovich. The number of copies sold of the album this time is even less - about 300,000. ^{[2] [3]}

Šta mi radiš, released in 1983, becomes the latest London album of the singer. It includes the ballad “Stanica Podlugovi”, which is subsequently included in all collections of the best songs of Zdravko Čolić.

Music business with Bregovic

In 1983, Cholich moved from Sarajevo to the suburb of Ljubljana Domžale. Gradually, he reduces the number of concerts and devotes most of his time to the music business. Together with Goran Bregovic he creates the label “Kamarad”. The next big tour of Cholich throughout Yugoslavia takes place in 1985 , and is dedicated to the release of the album “Ti si mi u krvi”. In addition to the composition of the same name, composed by Cornelia and Spomenka Kovacs, it includes songs written in the folk style: “Ruška”, “Sto cigana” and “Ti možeš sve, al 'jedno ne”.

The next tour, again dedicated to the release of the new album - “Zdravko Čolić”, is conducted by the singer only three years later - in 1988 . The album did not receive the appreciation of music critics, despite the fact that it had such songs as “Oj djevojko, selen velen”, “Hej suzo” and “Samo ona zna”, later beloved by the listeners. The 1988 tour didn’t meet Zdravko’s financial expectations, which again had to start recording and publishing albums by other musicians on the Kamarad label .

In 1990, the Belgrade company Komuna published Zdravko Čolić’s album “Da ti kažem šta mi je”. Producer and arranger, as well as the author of most of the songs becomes Goran Bregovich . The title track is written by Edin Dervishhalidovich, the leader of the Saralin group “Merlin” (later gained fame as the author of the first hymn of Bosnia and Herzegovina “ Jedna si jedina ”, and as a popular singer Dino Merlin ).

1990s

Due to interethnic tensions, and then the outbreak of the war in Croatia , Zdravko Čolić is returning from Zagreb , where he lived by that time, in Sarajevo . However, in 1992 he had to leave and from there because of the start of the Bosnian war . The singer gives concerts in small halls outside the former Yugoslavia and works as an assistant to Goran Bregovic , recording the music for the films of Emir Kusturica at this time. In 1994, the companies Komuna and PGP RTS published the collection of Cholich's best songs, Posljednji i prvi, which became one of the best-selling in Yugoslavia .

After a seven-year break, in 1997, Čolić recorded the album “Kad bi moja bila”. He composes music for songs together with Goran Bregovic . Also Bregovic again becomes the producer and arranger of the next album of the singer. The texts are written by Marina Tutsakovich and a member of the rock bands “ Riblja čorba ” and “ Bajaga i Instruktori ” Momchilo Bayagich .

In June 1998, Cholich held a concert in Montenegrin Budva , after which the singer decided to hold 9 concerts in Belgrade , all of which were sold out. After that, Zdravko Čolić speaks in Pristina , despite the armed confrontation in Kosovo between the Serbs and Albanians .

Return to the scenes of the former Yugoslavia

At the end of 2000, the Belgrade label BK Sound released the tenth studio album by Zdravko Čolić. He got the name “Okano” after the song of the same name, the music for which was written by Cholich himself. The album was released with a circulation of 500,000 copies, and the singer himself went on the first tour after 1988 in all major cities of the former Yugoslavia . The tour ended in Belgrade on June 30, 2001 with a concert at the Red Star Stadium. At the stadium itself was attended by 80,000 people, another 4,000,000 - watched a live broadcast on television. ^{[2] [3]}

On December 24, 2003, Čolić presented his eleventh album Čarolija. In May 2004, the regular tour of the singer in the countries of the former Yugoslavia began , which ended at the end of the year.

In October 2005, 2 Cholich concerts were held at the Belgrade Arena . Later the recordings of these concerts were published on CD and DVD.

In December 2006, the album "Zavičaj" was released. Work on his record was carried out not only at Serbian studios, but also at Real World Records owned by Peter Gabriel and Abbey Road Studios in London . The initial circulation of the album was 300,000 copies. The first 100,000 copies sold out in 2 days. ^[four]

Zdravko Čolić lives in Belgrade with his wife, Alexandra, who was married in May 2001 .

They have two daughters: Una Zvezdana (born October 1, 2001 ) and Lara (born August 10, 2006 ). ^[five]

Zdravko Cholich’s repertoire includes Oleg Gazmanov ’s song “At the Dawn” (“Zločin i kazna”; author of the Serbian text is Djordje Balashevich ) ^[6] and Konstantin Meladze ’s song “Beautiful” (“Krasiva”; author of the Serbian text - Marina Tutsakovich). ^[7]

Singles

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

Studio Albums

• 1975 - “Ti i ja”
• 1977 - “Ako priđeš bliže”
• 1980 - “Zbog tebe”
• 1981 - "Malo pojačaj radio"
• 1983 - Šta mi radiš
• 1984 - "Ti si mi u krvi"
• 1988 - “Rodi me majko sretnog”
• 1990 - "Da ti kažem šta mi je"
• 1997 - “Kad bi moja bila”
• 2000 - Okano
• 2003 - Čarolija
• 2006 - "Zavičaj"
• 2010 - "Kad pogledaš me preko ramena"
• 2013 - "Vatra i barut"
• 2017 - << Ono malo sreće >>

Concert album

• 2005 - "Arena 2005"

Collections

• 1975 - "Ona spava"
• 1991 - "Pjesme koje volimo"
• 1995 - "Prvi i posljednji"
• 1998 - “Zauvek”
• 1999 - Zauvek 2
• 2002 - "Balade"
• 2007 - "The Platinum Collection"
• 2008 - "39 hitova"

DVD

• 2005 - "Beogradska Arena 2005"

• Official site (Serb.)
• Fan Club (Serb.)
• Zdravko Cholic on the Internet Movie Database
• Okano. Concert in Zenica on April 18, 2009 on YouTube (serb.)