Stjepan Jimmy Stanić

Stjepan Jimmy Stanić was a Croatian singer, guitarist and double bass player, born in Zagreb on 20 January 1929 into a musical family in the centre of the city. With his warm baritone he sang jazz, swing, evergreens and humorous songs, and his stage personality became as recognisable as his music. He was on stage for more than seven decades, and he died at the end of August 2026.

He started in the early 1950s with various line-ups, among them the orchestra of the Stanić brothers, and became a member of Nikica Kalogjera's vocal ensemble. His first record, "Cowboy Jimmy", came about almost by chance: Kalogjera brought him the song as a joke about his nickname, Jimmy, and it became a hit in 1954 and stayed with him for life. In 1956, the story goes, he stepped in on double bass for Dizzy Gillespie's band in Zagreb. Frank Sinatra was his great model; you cannot imitate Sinatra, he said, but you can study him.

In the 1960s he toured West Germany, Central Europe and Scandinavia with the band Yadran and recorded German-language singles, while at home he recorded mostly for Jugoton, with songs such as "U životu svatko nekog voli", "Prolazi sve", "Kad cvjeta maj" and "Siesta-fiesta". On stage he was backed by Crveni koralji, and in 1968 he sang at the Opatija festival with Indexi; in 1969 he was back at Opatija with "Jutro će promijeniti sve". His biggest hit of the 1970s was "Moja kobila Suzi" in 1971.

In 1982 and 1983 Jugoton released his series Vječne melodije, arranged with the Justin brothers, with "Ponoćni tango", "Sanjaj, Marelo", "Dimnjačar", "Bijeli jorgovan" and "Dalmatinko smeđa". He also sang in the film Pukotina raja (1959) and the opening theme of the children's series Ne daj se, Floki (1985). In 2007 he recorded "Autobus Calypso" and "El tiempo pasara" with the younger band Cubismo, and in 2013 he received the Porin for lifetime achievement.

He kept performing well into his nineties, saying he would retire only when he collapsed on stage. In 2014 he made an album with the sextet Scharf Club Swing, later came 91+, produced by Josip Cvitanović for Croatia Records, and in 2022 a live album recorded in Zagreb with the Philharmonic. When he died, many Croatian musicians and public figures paid tribute to him. His songs, from "Cowboy Jimmy" to his late swing recordings, are gathered here in one playlist.