Marko Tolja

Marko Tolja is a Croatian pop, swing and jazz singer, born on 3 July 1984 in Rijeka. His first musical steps were with his uncle Davor, who sang in Denis & Denis. In 1995 he won the children's festival Mikić with "Ča smo mi", sung in a duet, and from 2001 to 2006 he sang in the klapas Luka, Volosko and Fortunal.

In 2006 he started a solo career with the Rijeka producer Olja Dešić, appearing at Melodije Istre i Kvarnera with "Partila je mala" and recording a cover of Denis & Denis's "Program tvog kompjutera". In 2007 he reached the final of Dora with "Deja Vu", signed with Aquarius Records and released his first album, Stare dobre stvari. It won him the 2008 Porin for best new artist, and the same year he gave his first solo concert at a sold-out Trsat Gradina in Rijeka.

Vrijeme briše istinu (2009) was the first album with his own songs. In 2010 he won the Porin for best male vocal performance and was a guest of Oliver Dragojević at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He took the lead role in the musical Za dobra stara vremena, played the singer Ivo Robić in the film Lea i Darija, and in 2011 won Ples sa zvijezdama. His live Christmas album Božić u kazalištu won a Porin, and in 2011 he won Zagrebfest as a songwriter with "Ljubav u boji", the title song of his 2012 album.

Later came the English single "Back to Basics" (2014), the children's album Srca otvorena (2014), the radio hit "Za sreću drugo ime" (2015) and, in December 2015, a concert in Zagreb's Lisinski hall with Gabi Novak and Zrinka Cvitešić as guests. The title song of Tišina (2018) reached the HR Top 40, his duet with Mia Dimšić, "Sva blaga ovog svijeta", topped the Croatian airplay chart, and "Od Božića do Božića" with Tonči Huljić followed in 2020. In 2025 he was a mentor on The Voice Kids and sang "Through the Dark" at Dora. He has also recorded a duet with Tina Vukov, "Misao dana".