Avia Band

Avia Band was a Slovenian pop band from Ljubljana. Its story goes back to 1982, when three pupils of the Trnovo primary school in Ljubljana, singer Aleš Turnšek, known as Turi, Dragan Topič and Igor Kulašič, started a band under the guidance of their music teacher, who believed the boys had real potential. Over the years they wrote many songs of their own and built up a large discography in the field of commercial pop.

Their debut album, Vse luči, came out in 1993. The turning point was "Pandorina skrinjica", the band's biggest hit, which in 1994 went to the top of almost every Slovenian radio station; there is also an English remix, "Pandora's Box". The same year they released the album A hočeš me al' ne, with further hits "Greva v Katrco", "Glej" and "Podarimo poljub".

In 1995 Avia Band entered EMA, the Slovenian Eurovision selection, and finished third with "Vsaj še trenutek", which followed "Pandorina skrinjica" to the top of the Slovenian charts. It was also one of the most-sung songs on Television Slovenia's Karaoke show, hosted by the singer Deja Mušič. The album Dve sonci (1996) was their most polished work, with the rock ballad "Rdeči šal", the saxophone ballad "Teleskop", whose lyrics borrow from Prešeren's poem "Pod oknom", and "Tebe si želim", all three with music videos.

Between 1996 and 1999 the band played widely at home and abroad and went through some line-up changes. In spring 1998 they recorded new songs, among them "Ljubezen na prvi pogled" and "Mala moja", a cover of the Slovenian dixieland hit "Zemlja pleše" by Mojmir Sepe and Gregor Strniša, and two songs by the writing team of Matjaž and Urša Vlašič: "Čez vse viharje", second in the TV contest Orion, and "Ne izdajte me", fourth at EMA 1999. The album Najino leto followed in 2000 and the collection Največje uspešnice in 2006. In 2007 the members went their separate ways and went on to play in two new bands, Atlantix and Odiseja.