Regina

Regina is a pop-rock band from Sarajevo, formed in 1989 by guitarist Aleksandar Čović with Boris Milijaš, Bojan Milijaš and Goran Lučić. They had no real singer at first; after an advertisement and a string of failed auditions Davor Ebner, then with the Sarajevo group Konvoj, took the microphone, and drummer Bojan Milićević joined soon after. Čović has written the band's words and music from the start, and their first model was U2.

The debut album Regina came out in 1990 with the hits "Spavaj", "Ne pitaj me" and "Kao nekada ona", all with videos. Under the cheeky slogan "Mi nismo Merlin, mi smo Regina", a nod to Dino Merlin, they were quickly known all over Yugoslavia, and critics saw them as heirs to Indexi and Bijelo Dugme. The second album, Ljubav nije za nas (1991), added the title song, "Ponekad poželim" and "Izgledala je malo čudno", a cover of a Bijelo Dugme song. Their 1991/92 tour, with concerts after the 10 pm curfew, was one of the last big tours of the old Yugoslavia.

The war broke the line-up apart. Between 1992 and 1999 Čović and Milićević kept the band going from Belgrade with changing members, releasing albums such as Oteto od zaborava, Godine lete, Ja nisam kao drugi and Kad zatvorim oči. In 1995 "Ne mogu mi pomoći" took third prize at the MESAM festival. After Čović started a solo career in 2000 the band stopped.

In 2006 Čović, Ebner and Milićević came together again, joined by bassist Denis Čabrić, and returned with Sve mogu ja, which included a new version of "Ljubav nije za nas" sung with Elena Risteska. On 9 July 2007 they opened for The Rolling Stones on Jaz beach near Budva, and between 2007 and 2009 they played more than 200 concerts around the Balkans.

In 2009 Regina represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at Eurovision in Moscow with "Bistra voda". They came through the first semi-final and finished ninth in the final with 106 points, and Čović received the Marcel Bezençon composer award. They followed Laka as the country's entrant and were followed by Vukašin Brajić. The album Vrijeme je, with English and Russian versions of the song, came out that June.

Later albums include Kad poludimo, with a duet with Tifa of Bijelo Dugme, U srcu (2017) and Regina 2018. Denis Čabrić died of a heart attack on 17 August 2016, aged 49. By the end of 2022 Davor Ebner had left the band, and Čović has since sung lead himself, playing concerts with the Sarajevo Philharmonic in 2023 and releasing new songs such as "Opraštam ti".