Ana Štefok

Ana Štefok was one of the most popular Croatian pop singers of the 1960s and 1970s. She was born in Zagreb on 22 April 1940, and Zagreb was her city from first to last: she began singing in the church choir of her neighbourhood, Trnje, and she died in her flat in the Zagreb district of Zapruđe on 3 November 2011.

After the choir she took part in Prvi pljesak, the talent show at Zagreb's Varijete, and with her clear, ringing soprano she was soon a regular guest, and often the winner, at the many pop festivals of the time. The press called her the Croatian Edith Piaf or the Croatian Connie Francis. The comparison with Connie Francis came from their similar voices, and Ana sang some of the American singer's early hits, such as "Gitara romana".

Her first festival win came at Zagreb '64 with "Balada", sung in alternation with Ivo Robić; the audience called her back for seventeen encores. In 1970 she won the Opatija festival with Alfi Kabiljo's "Želim malo nježnosti i ljubavi", and she is also remembered for "Međimurje zeleno" at the Krapina festival of kajkavian song in 1973.

For two decades she was a frequent guest on television and radio. She released about 25 singles and albums for Jugoton, with songs by the best-known Croatian composers of the day, among them Kabiljo, Britvić, Nardelli and Gotovac, and she followed world trends in pop. Her songs include "Majko, nemoj plakati", "Hvala ti za ljubav", "Tebi, mama", "Ne mogu ti vjerna biti", "Varaš se, znaj", "Exodus", "Da smo se ranije sreli", "Nemoj nikad reći zbogom", "Daj mi malo nade", "Golubek beli" and "Doviđenja, sretan put". Her albums were Ana Štefok (1970) and Ana (1985) on Jugoton, Gitara romana (1998) and the Zlatna kolekcija released by Croatia Records in 2009.

Her popularity faded in the 1980s, and in 1989 Ana Štefok withdrew from the stage completely, appearing afterwards only as a guest in HRT documentaries. She died of a heart attack at the age of 71 and was buried at Zagreb's Miroševec cemetery. The playlist is her Zlatna kolekcija, forty songs from "Balada" to "Doviđenja, sretan put".