Bisera Veletanlić

Bisera Veletanlić is a Serbian jazz and schlager singer, born on 15 September 1942 in Sisak, Croatia. That is her link to the region on Muzika-Balkan: she was born in Croatia, finished secondary school in Zagreb, and made her career in Belgrade, where she has lived for good since she was a young woman. She first came to Belgrade with her parents, and later, after years of working abroad, she returned to stay near her sister Senka.

She began singing at eight, first folk songs and then pop music. Her first public appearance was on the show Mikrofon je vaš in 1960, and in 1963 she sang a duet on Zagreb television with her sister, Senka Veletanlić. Her style blends big-city chanson, schlager and jazz.

In the 1970s she was one of the stars of the Yugoslav festivals. She won Beogradsko proleće in 1971 with "Ne plači" and the Opatija festival in 1976 with "Baj, baj, baj", and she sang at Zagrebfest, Vaš šlager sezone, Split and the Yugoslav Eurovision selections. Her most fruitful partnership was with Kornelije Kovač and other Belgrade songwriters, and she also recorded songs by Arsen Dedić, such as "Prozor", and by Goran Bregović, "Šta ću, nano, dragi mi je ljut". In 1996 she won Pjesma Mediterana in Budva with "Jedno leto kasno".

Her albums include Bisera in 1975 and Sutra će biti bolje in 1980, and she also acted in films and television and paints. In recent years she has performed at the Belgrade Jazz Festival, with Darkwood Dub and with her nephew, pianist Vasil Hadžimanov, and in 2022 she received a lifetime achievement award from the association of jazz, entertainment and rock musicians and a special award from the Kolarac Endowment.

The playlist is her 1975 album Bisera, with "Ti si čovek moj", her 1975 Opatija song, "Ručak za dvoje" and "Tužno popodne".