Gibonni

Zlatan Stipišić, known as Gibonni, is a Croatian singer-songwriter and composer, born in Split on 13 August 1968. His music mixes melodic rock, pop and Dalmatian folk with a melancholic Mediterranean mood and intimate lyrics. With 43 Porin awards he is the most awarded performer in Croatia, ahead of Oliver Dragojević and Parni valjak. His father, Ljubo Stipišić, was a composer, poet and ethnomusicologist who collected Croatian traditional songs.

From 1985 he sang in the Split heavy metal band Osmi putnik, then under the nickname Gibo, and later moved for a year to the Bosnian heavy metal band Divlje jagode, whose guitarist Zele Lipovača gave him the name Gibonni. In 1989 and 1990 he lived in Berlin and played with the group V2.

His first solo album, Sa mnom ili bez mene, came out in 1991. Soon afterwards he wrote "Cesarica" for Oliver Dragojević, which became one of Oliver's signature songs, and Gibonni became a much sought-after composer. Noina arka (1993) brought "Zlatne godine", written with Zrinko Tutić for the film of the same name, "Nek' se dijete zove kao ja", "Dobri judi" and "Tebe nisam bio vrijedan". With his own band he then recorded Kruna od perja (1994) and Ruža vjetrova (1997), the years of "Dvije duše", "Ozdravi mi ti", "Život me umorio", "Lipa moja", "Ovo mi je škola" and "Nije vrime od nedije za u poje poći".

Judi, zviri i beštimje (Dallas Records, February 1999) became the best-selling album in Croatia and Slovenia and won seven Porins, with "Činim pravu stvar" and "Projdi vilo"; he sang "Ja ću budan sanjati" with Vanna. Mirakul (2001) became the best-selling Croatian album within days, sold more than 60,000 copies and won eight Porins, with guests such as Manu Katché, Pino Palladino, Tony Levin and Vlatko Stefanovski. Klapa Cambi recorded a whole album of his songs, Vrime od nedije (2001). Unca fibre (2006) went diamond in Croatia and includes "Anđeo u tebi" with Goran Bare of Majke and Maya Azucena.

Toleranca (2010) went platinum in eight days, became the best-selling album of the year and won five Porins. In 2013 Gibonni released 20th Century Man, sung entirely in English, and in 2016 Familija, made together with Oliver Dragojević. In 2000 he played to more than 32,000 people at Zagreb's Maksimir stadium, in 2003 he became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and in 2022 he won the Zlatni studio award for singer of the year.