Mišo Kovač

Mišo Kovač (born July 16, 1941 in Tribunj ) is a Croatian singer and was once one of the most popular singers in Yugoslavia .

biography

family

Happily married to his wife Lidija in third marriage. With his second wife Anita Baturina he has two children - son Edi (fell in 1992) and daughter Ivana. He has an older sister Branka and a brother Ratko (died in the late 1970s).

1959–1970: start of his career

At a young age he learned the trade of carpet maker. In 1959, he won first prize at a festival in Šibenik - three Elvis Presley records . Appearing at a talent show in Karlovac changed his life. There he made a terrific performance with his interpretation of Ray Charles - I Can't Stop Loving You , whereupon he decided to enter the music business professionally.

After completing his military service in 1963, he left his Dalmatian homeland Šibenik and went to Zagreb with 1000 dinars in his pocket. He gets by with small gigs, sleeps in clubs or in the park, and often takes his meals in the university cafeteria. His sister Branka supported him financially at the beginning until he got a foothold. He had his first hit in 1969 with the song Više se nećeš vratiti (You won't come back). The song was sold over half a million times. In the same year, after four years of marriage, he divorced his wife Ljubica.

Most of his songs are inspired by Dalmatia and folk music , and Kovač soon established himself as one of the most popular musicians in the former Yugoslavia.

Career 1970–1990

In the following two decades, Mišo Kovač won numerous prestigious festivals and sales of his records , cassettes and CDs reached record levels. His song Dalmacija u mom Oku is still considered the unofficial anthem of Dalmatia . He tops the charts countless times and sells his records a million times.

In 1970 he won the prestigious Split Music Festival with the song Proplakat će zora . In 1973 he married one Miss Jugoslavija Anita Baturina , with whom he has two children, son Edi (fallen in 1992) and daughter Ivana. He lived a lavish lifestyle with expensive clothes and cars. His trademarks are and were his mustache and shoulder-length black hair. He usually let his large audience sing along diligently.

1990-2000

The collapse of Yugoslavia was also the beginning of hard times and the tragedy surrounding Kovač. In 2007 he gave an interview and confirmed that he would try to prevent the break-up of Yugoslavia. During the first Croatian parliamentary elections in 1990, he was one of the few figures in the Croatian entertainment industry who supported the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and is even considering emigrating if the Croatian Democratic Union comes to power.

At the same time, the son of Mišo Kovač - 16-year-old Edi - had entered a special unit of the Croatian army called the Škorpioni . At the beginning of 1992 Edi Kovač was fatally injured by a shot under questionable circumstances in Zagreb. It is officially declared that it was an accident. Mišo Kovač was deeply affected by this tragedy and refused to believe it. He claimed that his son had been murdered and while searching for his son's murderer he came into contact with the extreme right-wing party: Croatian Pure Right Party (HČSP). He began to support the party and appeared at the rallies in the black uniform of the Croatian Defense Forces Hrvatske obrambene snage . He began to dub himself Mate Mišo Kovač . By the way, mate is his real name.

As a result, Mišo Kovač announced that he was leaving the music business and played a number of farewell concerts. It was most memorable in 1993 at the Poljud stadium in Split . Despite his announcement, his career continued. New albums and new songs followed. But the tragedy surrounding his son continued to affect the psyche and family life. His wife was divorced in the late 1990s while his daughter became addicted to heroin. On January 14, 1999, after ending a romantic relationship with Silvija Conte Calvi Markovic, a young Croatian woman, Mišo Kovač attempted suicide after numerous contacts with alcohol and pills. But he is only badly injured and manages to call his manager on his mobile phone, who acts immediately and sends an ambulance to him. This quick action saves Kovač's life. After a brief love affair with a young Slovenian, he is now happily married to his third wife Lidija.

2000 until today

In the new millennium he changed his political orientation, this time towards the Croatian Democratic Union , although in 1991 he considered emigrating if that party wins the elections.

Although it has not yet regained the popularity of the 70s and 80s, Mišo Kovač still enjoys the reputation of a musical legend and has many loyal fans all over the former Yugoslavia.

He still performs at festivals and on television. In the summer of 2008 he gave various concerts, including on June 28th, 2008 in a fantastic setting in front of several thousand spectators in the Pula amphitheater .

Albums

• Mišo Kovač (1972)
• Portret (1973)
• Mi smo se voljeli (1974)
• Oj ti dušo duše moje (1974)
• Najveći uspjesi 1 (1975)
• Ovo je naša noć (1977)
• Uvijek ima nešto dalje (1979)
• Čovjek bez adrese (1980)
• Jači od vjetra (1981)
• Dalmacija u mom oku (1982)
• Osjećam te (1983)
• Zajedno smo (1984)
• Potraži me u pjesmi (1983)
• Zajedno smo (1984)
• Ostala si uvijek ista (1985)
• Malo mi je jedan život s tobom (1987)
• Samo nas nebo rastavit može (1988)
• Suza nebeska (1989)
• Za kim zvono plače (1990)
• Grobovi mi nikad oprostiti neće (1991)
• Pjesma za Edija (1993)
• Mate Mišo Kovač (1994)
• Ti si pjesma moje duše (1994)
• Samo nas nebo rastavit može (1994)
• Mojoj vjernoj publici (1995)
• Osjećam se jači (1997)
• Budi čovjek dobre volje (1999)
• Pjevaj, legendo (1999)
• Rane Godine 1964-69 (1999)
• Dalmatino (2001)
• Najdraže pjesme Miše Kovača (2003)
• Mišo u Šibeniku (CD + DVD) (2005)
• Ja sam Kovač svoje sreće (2006)
• The Platinum Collection (2006)
• Ne tražim istinu (2010)
• Sve najbolje, originalne snimke (2010)
• 100 originalnih hitova - Mišo Kovač (2012)
• The Best of Collection (2015)
• Antologija (2020)

Web links

• Data on Mišo Kovač in the Croatian Lexicon