Amel Ćurić

Amel Ćurić is a Bosnian pop singer, born on 7 August 1980 in Gračanica. He started making music at the age of eight, in 1988. His parents enrolled him in music school, but the war interrupted his schooling, and he taught himself guitar chords in a basement so that he could later play in bands.

He first reached a wide Bosnian audience through the talent show OBN Music Talents. In the final, held on 14 December 2003 at Zetra in Sarajevo, he came out ahead of Enver Lugavić Kićo, Jelena Milušić and Suana Muhibić and became the show's first winner. Nermin Puškar's song "Moja djevojka", which he sang, was nominated for song of the year at the Bosnian music award Davorin in 2005, and in 2006 he released his first studio album, Urnebes.

Wanting to be heard across the whole region, he entered the second season of X Factor Adria in 2015, in the over-27 category mentored by Massimo Savić. In the live shows he sang "Lud i ponosan", "Lejla", "Love Me Again", "Pjesmo moja" and "Teške boje", and was praised as the most consistent singer of the season. In the final on 21 June 2015 he performed "It's My Life", "Sve je to od lošeg vina" and Bijelo dugme's "Da te bogdo ne volim", the song he had started his X Factor run with, and won ahead of Boban Mojsovski from Macedonia. The prize was 150,000 kuna, a Rolling Stone cover and a contract with the Menart label.

Back in Gračanica thousands of people welcomed him at a ceremony in the town centre, under a banner that read "Amele, ti si ponos Gračanice". He dedicated the win to his girlfriend Jelena and his parents and said he would put the prize money into his career.

Since then he has released a string of singles with videos: "Neizdrživo", "Te zime", "Mijenjam ovaj grad", "Kost" with Emina Jahović Sandal, "Hipohondar", "Dobro veče, tugo" and "Upaljač". "Niko" came out in February 2019, with lyrics by Armin Šaković and music by Šaković and Amil Lojo; its video was shot in Zagreb and around Slunj and Zadar by the Zagreb director Dario Radusin, who had also made the video for "Kost". Newer songs include "Pusta avlija", "Gdje si bila", "Kazna za ludake" and "Prošlo je".