Dražen Zečić

Dražen Zečić is a Croatian singer and songwriter of popular music, born in Split on 24 July 1967. His songs most often tell of unrequited love, loves that were never meant to be, and partings, and he is especially popular in his native Dalmatia.

He began his career in the early 1990s as a lyricist, writing songs for other well-known singers such as Mate Bulić, Zlatko Pejaković and Mišo Kovač. His own first album, Zagrli me noćas jače, came out in 1990, and his first real success as a singer was winning the Split Festival of popular music in 1993 with "Govore mi mnogi ljudi", which also gave its name to his album that year.

In 1998 he recorded the duet "Ima li nade za nas" with Anđela Kolar, a young singer from Darmstadt who was then unknown. It was first sung at the Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana festival and became the biggest hit of the year in Croatia; a year later it won the festival's award for the most performed song. His album Nitko nema dva života (1998, Croatia Records) won the 1999 Porin for best album of popular music and was nominated for hit and album of the year, and Croatia Records gave him its "Zlatna ptica" award for more than 100,000 records sold.

At the Croatian Radio Festival Dražen Zečić won the audience award for "Pokidat ću lance sve" in 2004, "Zora" in 2006 and "Vladarica" in 2009, and the Grand Prix for "Stani srce" in 2007. In 2016 "Koga da volim kad tebe nema" was the most played song of the CMC Festival. His albums went on with Ti si život moj (2001), U ime ljubavi (2002), Oprosti svijete (2007), U čast svim dobrim ljudima (2009), Crni kralj i bijela dama (2011), Tvoj ću ostati (2013) and Ja te volio nisam (2017). In 2016 he also played a police inspector in the film Naknadno.

He is still busy in the studio and on stage. His more recent videos include duets with Lidija Bačić on "Nemam više ni snage ni volje", with Luka Basi on "Tri kreveta" and with Marko Škugor on "Jedna dođe, druga ode", and in 2024 he sang his old and new songs at the CMC Festival in Vodice.