Željko Joksimović

Željko Joksimović is a Serbian singer, songwriter, composer and producer, born on 20 April 1972 in Belgrade and raised in Valjevo. He plays twelve instruments, among them the accordion, piano, guitar and drums, and at the age of twelve he won the title of First Accordion of Europe at a festival in Paris. He studied music at the University of Belgrade and began his professional career in 1997.

In 1998 he won the Pjesma Mediterana festival with "Pesma Sirena", and in 1999 he took the Grand Prix of the Slavianski Bazaar festival in Vitebsk, Belarus. His debut album Amajlija came out on City Records in 1999, and his first big hit, "7 godina", written with Leontina Vukomanović, topped the Serbian pop charts and spread across the former Yugoslav countries. The albums Vreteno (2001), 111 (2002) and IV (2005) followed.

He represented Serbia and Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with "Lane moje" and finished second; many Eurovision fans still rate it among the best songs that never won. In 2008 he co-hosted the contest in Belgrade, the same year his song "Oro" for Jelena Tomašević came sixth. In 2012 he was back on the stage for Serbia with "Nije ljubav stvar" and finished third.

As a writer he has given ballads to many artists: "Lejla" for Hari Mata Hari, "Čija si" for Toše Proeski and "Adio" for Knez, Montenegro's Eurovision entry in 2015. Five of his songs have represented their countries at Eurovision. He also writes for film, television and theatre, and from 2013 to 2015 he was a judge on X Factor Adria.

His later albums are Ljubavi (2009) and Zvezda (2015). He has sung duets with Haris Džinović, Dino Merlin ("Supermen"), Miligram, Tony Cetinski ("Zabluda"), Emina Jahović, Ceca and Saša Matić. Singles such as "Ludak kao ja", "Milimetar", "Ponelo me", "Možda je to ljubav" and "1000 žena" kept him on the charts, and in 2018 he returned to Arena Zenica after eight years and played Sava Centar with the concert Dva sveta.