Ivana Radovniković

Family life

Radovniković is the daughter of Albert, a tennis trainer and physical education professor, and mother Ozana, a professor. She has younger sister called Antonia. Ivana attended Juraj Baraković High School in Zadar, after which she moved to Zagreb to study political science.

Professional background

Ivana received several awards including one for the best vocal interpretation. She has been noted to possess the ability called whistle register, but she does not use this often; she prefers to sing more powerful and mid-range notes.

As a child, Ivana did not really aspire to become a singer, but her life and talent gave her a chance to be one. Her first major role in entertainment came in 2003 when she joined the TV show for new singers. When the show ended, Ivana used her talent and opportunity to sign to a record label: Croatia Records in 2004, for her first album “You’re my angel” (Moj si anđeo) title of her first hit song and video. Although Ivana's debut album was very well received, she was not entirely satisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. She felt she needed more energy in her music than her former balladic sound. The change was noticed when she released a Christmas album on December 10, 2006 called “Traces of Christmas” (Tragovi Božića) with covers of popular hits in English, like "Santa Baby", "Man with the Bag", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," which was very well received by critics and the public.

She then recorded the song Samo probaj (literally Just try) which was translated in English as “Dare to love me”. It was influenced by swing music from the 1930s and 40s with jive style. Owing to Eurovision fans, the song had international success in a large number of countries throughout the world. She started recording her third album and publicly announced plans of her next album to have a more swing-jazz-blues sound and energy, both musically and lyrically.

She collaborates mostly with Croatian composers Neven Šverko and Marko Tomasović and with Croatian lyricists Đuro Zifra and Darijo Brzoja.

Festivals

Discography