Vlado Janevski

Vladimir "Vlado" Janevski was a Macedonian pop singer and songwriter, born in Skopje on 27 November 1960, and the first singer ever to represent Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest. He studied English language and literature at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, spoke English, German, Italian and Russian, and played guitar, piano and drums.

He came up through Skopje's band scene. He played drums in Tost Sendvič and Bon-Ton, and later sang with Fotomodel (1989) and Lastovica (1992). In 1992 he took part in Jugovizija in Belgrade with the group Magic Box, finishing 11th with "Hiljadu snova". His first solo album, Parče duša, came out in 1993.

The mid-1990s brought festival success at home and abroad. He won the grand prize at Interfest in 1994 and won Makfest in 1995, and he gave guest performances at the Slavjanski Bazar in Belarus in 1994, 1995 and 1996, as well as at festivals in Ireland, Turkey and Egypt. In 1996 he released two albums, Se najdobro and Daleku e neboto.

In 1998 Janevski won the first Skopje Fest with "Ne zori, zoro", which sent him to Birmingham for Macedonia's Eurovision debut. The song, the first Macedonian-language entry in the contest, finished 19th. Three more albums followed: Ima nešto posilno od se (2002), Vakov ili takov (2004) and Povtorno se zaljubuvam vo tebe (2006).

From the start of his solo career he wrote most of his own music and all of his lyrics. He was often called the most romantic songwriter in Macedonian pop, while he described himself as "a mere scribbler of love songs". His best-known songs include "Ako ne te sakam", "Evergrin", "Doma si e doma", "I togaš nekoja budala", "Nekogaš i negde", "Crno tikveško" and "Ova e naše Skopje".

He kept releasing new songs almost every year, among them "Bulki" (2011), "Pjer" (2012), "Nenormalen" (2022), "Zlatni godini" (2023) and "Prekrasen den" (2024), and in 2023 he signed with the Croatian label Menart. Vlado Janevski died in Skopje after a short illness on 28 June 2026, aged 65, and was buried at the Butel cemetery.