Mili Korpar

Mili Korpar, born Milica Halusek on 17 October 1967 in Podravina, Croatia, is a Croatian-Slovenian singer, songwriter and lyricist who has made her home in Dornava near Ptuj. She sings mostly in Slovenian, alongside songs in Croatian and the Kajkavian dialect of her native Podravina.

Her career began in Croatia in 1984 with the group Holywood, and as a lyricist she worked with Đorđe Novković. In 1989 she moved to Germany, where she trained as a hairdresser and lived for eleven years. She then settled in Slovenia, learned the language and carried on in music as a lyricist, composer and singer, recording songs for herself and others at Studio Jama with arranger Tomi Valenko and sound engineer Mitja Krapša.

Her first notable appearance in Slovenia was on the RTV Slovenija show Orion, where "Vzemi vse" made her a monthly winner and took her to the final. Her best-known song in Slovenia is "Mati moja", her Slovenian version of Kemal Monteno's "Zemljo moja". She has sung at many festivals on both sides of the border: Orion 2001, Hit festival 2002, Melodije morja in sonca 2004, the Festival narečnih popevk in 2005 and 2006, Pjesmom do srca, where she won the first prize of the expert jury in 2002, Pjesma i tambura, the Krapina festival, Zlatne žice Slavonije, Zagrebfest and Marko Polo in Korčula.

Her first Slovenian lyric, "Želim, si želim", was written for Ansambel Petovio, and many more followed for other singers, among them Natalija Verboten ("Pozabi me"), Duško Lokin, Dolores, Amir Kazić Leo, Zlatko Dobrič, Ansambel Klapovühi and Damjan Murko. In 2012 she worked with Neda Ukraden, singing backing vocals at her jubilee concerts in Zagreb. She has also recorded with the mariachi group El Combo, a duet "Noćni život" with Džo Maračić and "Serenada ljubavi" with Zlatko Dobrič.

Mili Korpar has released four albums: Dar neba (2000, Založba Mandarina), Vse je tako kot je (2004), Prihajam domov (2009) and Ko zapoje duša (2013). For the fourth she went back to her Podravina roots, inviting a tamburica orchestra, the violinist Ana Vurcer and the Slovenian writer Feri Lainšček, who wrote lyrics to her own melodies.