Tomi Sovilj i Njegove Siluete

History

Vocalist Tomislav "Tomi" Sovilj, born in Belgrade in 1941, started his career in 1963 at the dance parties held by Zlatni Dečaci (The Golden Boys). On Autumn of the same year, he had become the member of Siluete (The Silhouettes), but on mid-1964 he left the band, forming a band also called Siluete. For a while, there were two groups working under the same name, but the case was settled after a court verdict after which Sovilj lost the right to use the name. However, he did manage to keep the name somewhat similar by renaming it to Tomi Sovilj i Njegove Siluete.

At the time, the band beside him featured the former Bele Zvezde members Slobodan Saničanin (guitar), Branislav Rakočević (bass), Milorad Tomić (guitar) and Ðino Maljoković (drums). Later on, the band members were also Borislav Ðurković (rhythm guitar), Boba Voratović (bass) and Hamadija Vladović (drums). Owing to their attractive performances, they had become one of the most popular live acts in Belgrade, which provided them with often live performances at the Belgrade Mažestik hotel tea parties and at the cafe bar Terazije.

In 1966, the band released their debut EP Vule bule through Diskos, featuring the songs "Vule bule", a cover version of the Sam The Sham and The Pharaos song "Wooly Bully", "Hej, o Slupi", a cover of The McCoys song "Hang On Sloopy", "Džini Džini", a cover Little Richard's "Jenny, Jenny", all three having lyrics rewritten in Serbian language, and a cover of the starogradska muzika standard "Za jedan časak radosti" ("For a Moment of Joy"), written by Darko Kraljić. The release had been sold in more than fifty thousand copies, thus becoming a silver record.

On Autumn of the same year, Sovilj went to serve the Yugoslav People's Army, and was temporarily replaced by the former Juniori (The Juniors) vocalist Dušan Prelević. On his return, the band released their second EP Stoj Džoni featuring the title track, a cover version of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", which had also reached high sales and went silver. After the EP release, the band popularity had slowly decreased and Sovilj disbanded the band in 1970.

Post-breakup

After the band disbandment, Sovilj recorded a solo single "Nojeva barka" ("Noah's Arc"), with "Plava pesma" ("A Blue Song") as the single B-side, released by Diskos in 1970. Afterward, he had moved to the United States where he performed at local clubs. His last recording was the song "Veseli vod" ("A Cheerful Squad"), released on the PGP-RTB military music compilation album Kad truba zove (When the Trumpet is Calling) in 1974, and his last live appearance was at the Rock naše mladosti (Rock of Our Youth) concert held at the Belgrade Dom Sindikata in December 1985. He had moved to Switzerland where he currently lives.

Legacy

The song "Stoj Džoni" was covered by Serbian garage rock/punk rock band Partibrejkers on their eponymous debut album in 1985. In February 1992, as guest on the Partibrejkers concert at the Belgrade Youth Center appeared Johnny Depp, an actor and former The Kids and Rock City Angels member, performing "Stoj Džoni" with the band. The song "Vule bule" was covered by the Serbian alternative rock band Bjesovi on their debut album U osvit zadnjeg dana (At Dawn of the Last Day) in 1991.

Both "Stoj Džoni" and "Vule bule" were included on the six CD box set Kad je rock bio mlad (When Rock Was Young), featuring the selected recordings of the pioneering Yugoslav rock bands, on the CD Priča sa istočne strane (1956-1970) (The Story from the East Side (1956-1970)), released by Croatia Records in 2005.

Extended plays

Other appearances