Aleksandar Mežek

Aleksander Mežek, whose first name is also written Aleksandar, is a Slovenian singer, guitarist, songwriter, composer and producer, born on 18 November 1948 in Ljubljana and at home in Žirovnica in Upper Carniola. He first learned the violin at music school, but after seeing the film The Young Ones, starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows, he swapped it for a guitar. While still a teenager he wrote "Krila", which is still one of his most listened-to songs.

His career began in 1965 with an appearance on the radio show Pokaži, kaj znaš. In 1968 in Zagreb he met his idol Cliff Richard and Cindy Kent, singer of The Settlers, who invited him to the United Kingdom. After secondary school in Jesenice, military service and a short job in Ljubljana, he moved to London in 1972 on an offer from the English label Word to record an album of his own songs for the British and American markets, Days Go By (1974). In 1973 he opened for Johnny Cash at Earl's Court in front of 30,000 people.

His first Slovenian single, "Siva pot" (1975), was a success, and from then on his career ran in parallel at home and abroad. At Slovenska popevka he won the prize for best debut composer in 1977 with "Zopet doma" and returned in 1979 with "Ko sem imel 16 let", and at Melodije morja in sonca in 1985 his "Budi spremna" won the prize for best arrangement. His albums of those years include Kje so tiste stezice (1977), Grenkosladke pesmi (1979), Menu (1980), Eye Witness (1981) and Ljubav preko žice (1983). "Ljubav preko žice" is probably the song he is best known for in the other former Yugoslav republics.

In more than forty years he released over 20 albums in Slovenia, the UK, the US and elsewhere in Europe, with guests such as Cliff Richard, Rick Wakeman, Luther Vandross, Pino Paladino, Paul Buckmaster and the London Symphony Orchestra. Cliff Richard recorded his songs "Now You See Me Now You Don't", "Front Page" and "First Date", and Jerry Lee Lewis his "55-Chevy". The title song of Podarjeno srcu (1989), often simply called "Slovenija", was played at the ceremony declaring Slovenia's independence on Republic Square in Ljubljana in June 1991. In 1995, for the 50th anniversary of the victory over fascism, he was the only Slovenian performer to give an hour-long solo show in London's Hyde Park.

Later albums include Svetle kaplje (1994), Krila (1998), Sopotja (2001), Tracks (2003), with the Fair Play anthem he wrote with Adi Smolar, which became the movement's European anthem on 15 July 2003, Žeronška koreta (2005), dedicated to Prešeren and other figures from under Mount Stol, and Tečem skozi čas (2007). For his 60th birthday in 2008 he made the documentary Izza zavese (From Behind the Curtain), built as a conversation with Cliff Richard. He was nominated three times for the Ježek award, in 2005, 2006 and 2008.