Zoran Predin

Zoran Predin is a Slovenian singer, songwriter, lyricist and writer, born on 16 June 1958 in Maribor. He is best known as the singer and lyricist of the rock band Lačni Franz, and as a singer-songwriter who has worked with musicians from all over the former Yugoslavia.

His music career began in 1979 with Lačni Franz, which made its name at the Festival omladina in Subotica in 1981. The debut album Ikebana was recorded in about 36 hours, and its song "Praslovan" later gave its name to a documentary about him. Two of the band's albums, Adijo pamet (1982) and Nasvojistrani (1986), were ranked 81st and 72nd in YU 100, the 1998 book listing the greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums. In 1986 he also recorded a punk version of Prešeren's "Zdravljica", which drew official criticism in Yugoslavia.

Alongside the band he began a solo career. In 1989 he released Svjedoci - priče with Arsen Dedić, who reworked Predin's songs, and while Lačni Franz were still together he made Gate na glavo (1992) and Napad ljubezni (1994), the latter as Zoran Predin and Ambasadorji užitka with well-known Slovenian musicians. After the band split in 1995 he worked with a string of line-ups, from Šukar (1996) and the Mar Django Quartet to Matija Dedić (2011-2016) and the Zagreb Philharmonic (2023), and recorded his songs in English and French on All-purpose Lover (1999) and in Croatian on albums such as Za šaku ljubavi (2007), Inventura (2008) and Kosa boje srebra (2013).

In the late 1990s and early 2000s he toured with Peter Lovšin and Vlado Kreslin, and for Slovenia's place at Euro 2000 the three wrote the football anthem "Slovenija gre naprej". On his own he later wrote the anthem of EuroBasket 2013, held in Slovenia. He also writes music for film, television and theatre, from Kormoran (1986) to Biti Mario (2020), as well as columns, collections of lyrics and novels.

His awards include the Zlata ptica (1982), the Zlati petelin in 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1999, a Viktor in 2006 and the Ježek award in 2018. In 2024 the documentary Praslovan by Slobodan Maksimović premiered at the Sarajevo festival, with Đorđe Balašević, Gabi Novak, Lovšin and Kreslin among those interviewed. Among the songs he is known for are "Bog nima telefona", "Vaterpolisti", "Na svoji strani", "Naša Lidija je pri vojakih" and "Okupatorka".