Miki Jevremović

Miki Jevremović, born Miodrag Jevremović on 27 March 1941 in Belgrade, was a singer of pop and entertainment music, the son of Vidoje and Angelina Jevremović. He was hugely popular across Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 1970s, recording for Jugoton and later PGP RTB, and in the 1970s he was also a star in the Soviet Union, alongside Đorđe Marjanović and Radmila Karaklajić.

His festival career began at Belgrade Spring, where he came second in 1962 with "Osvetljen prozor"; the festival's winning songs later included his "Pesnikova gitara" (1972), "Kad bih znao da je sama" (1973), "Dosta mi je njenog hladnog osmeha" (1976) and "Pobedila si ti" (1979). At Pesma leta he won with "Pijem" (1967), "Umreću bez tebe" (1970), "Šta da mu kažem" (1971) and "Lastavica gnezdo vila" (1972). He also sang at the Split festival, winning interpretation awards in 1974 and 1978, at Zagrebfest, the Opatija festival, Vaš šlager sezone in Sarajevo and the festival in Skopje, where "Samo ti" won in 1971.

Beyond "Mama", "Pijem" and "Osamnaest žutih ruža", his hits included "Ako jednom vidiš Mariju", "S kim si sada kad je tužno vreme", "Pesnikova gitara", "Grkinja", "Lihnida" and "Neka toče staro vino". His albums ran from Gubim te (1971) through Grkinja (1983) and Hvala Grkinjo (1989) to Pesme moje mladosti (1994), and he worked with Boris Bizetić and Mikis Theodorakis.

Chess was his great passion: he played tournaments at home and abroad, and his proudest result was a draw with world champion Anatoly Karpov. His rivalry with Đorđe Marjanović split fans into "đokisti" and "mikisti". In 2011 he joined the reality show Parovi 2, and in 2012 he presented the photo monograph Pedeset godina sa vama in Valjevo. His daughter Jelena Jevremović is also a singer.

Miki Jevremović had a stroke on 29 December 2016 and died in Belgrade on 13 January 2017, aged 75. He is buried in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens at Novo groblje.