Vinko Coce

Vinko Coce was a Croatian tenor and singer of Dalmatian pop and klapa music, born on 22 December 1954 in Trogir, to a family from the Čiovo side of the town. His talent showed early: at 13 he was taking solfeggio and clarinet lessons, and at 15 he sang tenor in the vocal quintet Mali kanti, which performed music of the 15th and 16th centuries. After trade school he worked at the Trogir shipyard.

In 1972 he began singing with klapa Trogir, first as first tenor and later as its solo tenor, working with figures such as Ljubo Stipišić. He studied solo singing at the Josip Hatze music school in Split, and from 1983 sang for about five years as a choral tenor in the professional choir of the Croatian National Theatre in Split. Klapa Trogir stopped working in 1995, partly because of his solo career, and came together again in 2002 for its anniversary.

Vinko Coce's solo career in entertainment music began in 1991, and during the war he sang at humanitarian and support concerts at home and abroad. In 1993 he won the Grand Prix of the Split festival with "Sićaš li se, Lungomare" and released his first album, "Mirno spavaj, ružo moja". He sang "Zlato moje" at Dora in 1994 and won the Grand Prix of the Marko Polo Fest in Korčula in 1998 with "Žmul vina". That year he and klapa Trogir shared the Porin for best folklore album, and "Kora kruha u vinu" was also nominated for a Porin.

His albums ran from "Mama, adio" (1995) and "Ljubav je ka i cvit" (1998) through "Dalmacija, more, ja i ti" (2000), "Ribarska noć" (2001) and "Na mostu ljubavi" (2008) to "Morska svitanja" (2013). After the war he worked with the songwriters Nenad Ninčević and Joško Banov. He also sang in the choir of the Benedictine convent of St Nicholas in Trogir, and in 2003 he organised an international competition for young tenors.

Vinko Coce died in Split on 26 October 2013, after months of illness. In 2014 he was given a posthumous Porin for lifetime achievement.