Željko Joksimović

Early beginnings

Željko Joksimović was born on 20 April 1972 in Belgrade and grew up in the city of Valjevo. 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.

1999–2004: Amajlija, Rintam and 111

In 1999, Joksimović signed with City Records, a music label owned by a private Serbian television station RTV Pink. The young singer was promoted then 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 2000, Joksimović released his second studio album Rintam named after a song on the album. Other tracks on the album included "Vreteno", "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 song included are "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

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 did received the "The Marcel Bezencon Press award" (Best Composer Award). "Lane Moje" was the best selling single in Serbia and Montenegro.

2004–2007: After 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

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. Tomašević's song finished on the 6th place over 25 countries in the final. The song came six with 160 points. Also OGAE Greece awarded the song and Jelena Tomasevic as the best song in Eurovision 2008.

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 from the pilot single from 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

Zeljko Joksimovic was invited by RTCG to compose song for Knez who represented Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. Joksimovic 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 Rodiruguez, Tami Rodirguez, and Serbian Milica Fajgelj and Dunja Vujadinović.

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

Singles

Duets

Soundtracks

Other works

Entries in Beovizija

Entries in Evropesma / Europjesma