Jacques Houdek

Jacques Houdek, born Željko Houdek on 14 April 1981 in Velika Gorica, is a Croatian pop singer known as "Gospodin Glas", Mister Voice. His surname is of Czech origin. He played piano at elementary music school, finished the solo singing department of secondary music school in the class of Viktorija Badrov, who wanted him to become an opera singer, and in 2001 enrolled at Berklee College of Music, polishing his voice at seminars in France, Greece and Italy.

He gave his first solo concert on 19 February 2000 in the Zagreb club SAX!. His first single, "Čarolija", came out in 2002 and he sang it at Dora, where maestro Zdravko Šljivac noticed him and offered to work with him. The next month he signed an exclusive contract with Croatia Records, the label behind thirteen of his releases, from Čarolija (2004) and Živim za to (2006) to Meni za ljubav (2012), Tko je, srce, u te dirn'o? (2016) and Glavom i bradom (2021). His first album of children's songs, Kad si sretan, earned him a diamond award.

Houdek is a four-time Porin winner: best new artist (2004), best male vocal performance (2006), best children's album (2009) and best Christmas album (2010). He collected festival awards from Melodije Kvarnera (Grand Prix 2004) to Ohrid and Budva, and has sung with Tereza Kesovija, Gabi Novak, Josipa Lisac, Doris Dragović, Tony Cetinski, Zorica Kondža and Maja Blagdan. Besides Croatian he has recorded in English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Slovene, Macedonian and even Māori.

Television made him a household name: he won HRT's Zvijezde pjevaju in 2007 and 2010, and as a mentor on The Voice he led Nina Kraljić to victory in the first season. In 2011 he came fourth in the Open Mic UK final at London's O2 Arena. In 2017 he represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv with "My Friend" and finished 13th in the final. He has sold out the Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall many times and marked ten years of his career with a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York in December 2010.

The playlist is his album Glavom i bradom, with videos such as "Sam", "Teret", "Srce" and "Čista umjetnost", sung with Nina Kraljić.