Damjana Golavšek

Damjana Golavšek is a Slovenian pop singer, born on 8 October 1964 in Celje. She studied primary-school teaching at the Pedagogical Academy in Maribor, taught at the music school in Žalec and then founded Muzikalček, a music kindergarten. She is also well known for writing and performing musical shows for children.

Her first band was Kladivo, konj in voda, a folk and progressive rock group founded by Dani Bedrač in 1978, in which she was the singer. As a solo singer she made her name at Melodije morja in sonca, where "Rojstvo" won the expert jury's award for the best debutante in 1989. At Pop delavnica she came third with the group Hot Hot Hot and "Če bi mi srce dal" in 1991, and in 1992 "Igra" won the jury's first prize. Her first album, Pokloni si srečo, credited to Damjana and Hot Hot Hot, came out in 1991.

Most of her songs were written with Karel Novak. Rime (1995) brought "Solze", "Srčni tat" and "Samo še nocoj", her 1995 Melodije morja in sonca duet with Rok, and Nasmeh (1999) followed with "Modri horizont", "Krog", "Ljubimec", "Žalostna" and "Sreča čaka". "Krog" won the jury's award for the best arrangement at Melodije morja in sonca 1997.

She sang at EMA four times: "Ljubim, ljubiš" came ninth in 1998, and in 1999 she was fifth with "Igra je končana", sung with Irena Vrčkovnik and Sanja. With Irena she also won the golden klopotec at the Festival of Dialect Songs in 1998 for "Naj bo vesela jesen", written by Adi Smolar. At Slovenska popevka 2007 "Naravne sile" won the jury's awards for the best song and the best arrangement.

In 2015 she played Tanya in the Slovenian production of the musical Mamma Mia!. With Simona Vodopivec Franko and Alenka Godec, who played Donna and Rosie, she went on to perform as Dinamitke; their first song of their own, "V mojem filmu", came out in 2019, and at Slovenska popevka 2022 their "Frajer" won the jury's awards for the best interpretation and the best arrangement. Since 2008 she has also worked as a music teacher among the Slovenes across the border, using song to encourage the use of Slovene, and in 2022 she was a contestant in the sixth season of Znan obraz ima svoj glas.