Mile Kekin

Mile Kekin, born Milan Kekin on 11 January 1971 in Bretten, Germany, is a Croatian rock singer and songwriter, best known as the singer and main songwriter of the Zagreb punk rock band Hladno pivo. He has been active since 1988 and is a qualified teacher of English and German.

He grew up in Germany, moved to Tuzla before seventh grade and, after his father died, came with his mother and brother to Gajnice in Zagreb. He finished secondary school there and studied English and German at the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1988 he founded Hladno pivo with Mladen "Sub" Subošić and Tadija "Tedi" Martinović, all of them from Gajnice. The band released eight studio albums, from Džinovski (1993) through G.A.D., Desetka, Pobjeda, Šamar and Knjiga žalbe to Svijet glamura (2011) and Dani zatvorenih vrata (2015), before it stopped making new music together.

His first record outside the band was U dva oka (2001), made as Mile i Putnici with Vladimir Mirčeta, Mario Rašić, Kristijan Zebić and Viktor Lipić, with the hits "Maslina" and "Dolje je bolje". His solo career proper began with Kuća bez krova (2018) on Menart, produced by Denis Mujadžić and conceived as a "played film" in ten scenes; "Reno 4", "Atlas" and "Atlantida", a duet with Bajaga, came from it.

"Mala" (2022), inspired by his daughter and the pressure social media puts on young people, opened his next album, Nježno đonom (2023), with "Zubić vila", "Pater familias" and "Trening za umiranje" with Darko Rundek. The live album Soundtrack za život – Live at Vintage followed in 2024, and the album PUN.K Mile Kekina in 2026.

Mile Kekin has also acted, in the series Bitange i princeze and Zakon! and in films such as Pjevajte nešto ljubavno, named after a Hladno pivo song, and Dražen, the film about Dražen Petrović.