Slavko Perović

Slavko Perović was a Serbian singer of zabavna (light entertainment) music and a violinist, born on 5 June 1934 in Belgrade. He grew up with classical music and opera arias and took his first musical steps in the cultural society Ivo Lola Ribar. In the 1960s he became one of the most popular entertainment singers in Yugoslavia, known above all as the "king of Mexican songs", the Mexican-style songs that were hugely popular in the country at the time. His repertoire also took in old town songs, romances, Greek and Neapolitan melodies and chansons, and he was active from 1962 to 1990.

He was among the pioneers of Belgrade Television, which began broadcasting in 1958. In 1962 he appeared with his trio on the show "Sredom u šest", hosted by Beba Lončar, and for the editor Boško Pantić he recorded many music programmes about the history of Belgrade and Serbia, singing old Serbian songs and works by Kornelije Stanković, Isidor Bajić and others. He also made about 100 recordings for Radio Belgrade.

His records for Jugoton sold in the millions. His biggest hit was "Jedan dan života", the theme of the Mexican film of that name, for which he wrote the lyrics, and it earned him Jugoton's Zlatna ptica award. He often sang duets with Nikola Karović and Silvana Armenulić.

He was a regular at the festivals. At Belgrade Spring, "Nikad nisam bio čovek što se predaje" won in 1969, along with the audience prize, and he returned with "Oprosti ako sam te voleo" (1970) and "Ja ljubim te" (1971). He sang "Trideset puta" at Opatija in 1969 and "Lipa bjondina" (1968) and "Razbit ću ferale" (1970) at the Split festival, and in 1970 he won the Military Songs Festival with "Hej vojnici vazduhoplovci". In 2024 he received the national award for an estrada artist of Serbia at the Sabor narodne muzike Srbije.

Slavko Perović is remembered for "Mama Huanita", "Jedan dan života", "Aj Ćavela", "Čaša gorkih suza", "U ranu zoru", "Pesma majci" and "Ja prodajem crne oči". He died on 28 September 2026 in Belgrade. His daughter is the journalist and film critic Sandra Perović.