Tatjana Gros

Tatjana Gros was a Slovenian pop singer, one of the so-called golden generation of Slovenian popular music. She was born on 21 March 1948 in Novo mesto and died on 26 January 2016.

She grew up in Novo mesto, where she went to primary school, grammar school and the lower music school, in which she played the piano. Already in primary school she recited, sang in the choir and performed as a soloist. In her home town she sang with the group Dizzy Combo, mostly foreign songs, above all French chansons and Russian romances, and at nineteen she became a professional singer. The composer Jure Robežnik noticed her on the television show Pokaži, kaj znaš.

She first appeared at Slovenska popevka in 1967 with a song by Janez Jemc, and in 1970 she returned with Kersnik's "Ljubim te", which won the expert jury's third prize. In 1973 she won the festival with Jože Privšek's "Zato sem noro te ljubila", with words by Miroslav Košuta, chosen by the international jury; it also brought her the golden ring of the magazine Stop, came out a year later on her own cassette, and remains the song she is remembered for. In 1974 she sang Privšek's "Zelena leta", with words by Elza Budau, which also won an award of the expert jury.

She sang at many other festivals of popular music across Yugoslavia, with songs by Sepe, Robežnik, Kersnik and Kovačič, and she named Privšek as a great influence on her singing. She also recorded cover versions of foreign songs, and later Slovenian folk songs.

Her appearance at Slovenska popevka in 1974 closed her professional career. She turned to spirituality and esotericism, finished the Duhovna univerza in Novo mesto in the 1990s and co-wrote the book Svetlobni križi in drugi čudeži, published in 1999. In 2008 ZKP RTV Slovenija released a CD of her greatest hits.