Đorđe Balašević Biography

Balašević started his career in the 1977 as a member of the pop rock band Žetva, before leaving to form the pop rock band Rani Mraz. After releasing two albums, Rani Mraz disbanded, and Balašević started a successful solo career, spanning up to the present. While his initial works were mostly pop rock-oriented, in his later career he often used elements of rock, chanson and folk music, while his lyrics often dealt with romantic, humorous or political- and social-related themes. Balašević was born to a Serbian father, Jovan Balašević, and to Veronika Dolenec, half Hungarian, half Croatian from Rasinja near Koprivnica, Croatia. He has a sister, Jasna. His grandfather's surname was Balašev, but in 1941 the grandfather changed it to Balašević. The younger Balašević grew up on Jovan Cvijić street in Novi Sad, in the same house where he currently lives. He started writing poetry in primary school. He left high school in the third year (because, in his words, he hated subjects like mathematics, physics and chemistry) but managed to get a high school diploma as part-time student and passed the preliminary exam for the university study of geography. He never graduated from the university. Instead, he joined the band Žetva (Harvest) in 1977. Discography With Rani Mraz - Mojoj mami umesto maturske slike u izlogu (1979) - Odlazi cirkus (1980) Solo - Pub (1982) - Celovečernji The Kid (1983) - 003 (1985) - Bezdan (1986) - Panta Rei (1988) - Tri posleratna druga (1989) - Marim ja... (1991) - Jedan od onih života... (1993) - Na posletku... (1996) - Devedesete (2000) - Dnevnik starog momka (2001) - Rani mraz (2004) Books - Računajte na nas - book of poems - I život ide dalje - collection of columns - Jedan od onih života - novel - Dodir svile (1998) - book of poems - Tri posleratna druga - novel - ..i od dva-tri akorda (jer ni ne umem bolje ja...) - book of poems - Kao rani mraz - screenplay for movie Balašević's concerts are known to last for more than four hours at a time. Apart from performing his songs, he has a custom of making long pauses between songs and commenting on current events. Therefore, his concerts are more of a cabaret than rock concerts in the common sense of the word. His traditional New Year's concerts in Sava Center hall in Belgrade are traditionally sold out. He sold out Sava Center for the first time in the 1982/1983 season, started his regular New Year's concerts in 1986, and in the 1990s and 2000s he was performing up to 11 evenings in a row. The 1998 book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best albums of Yugoslav pop and rock music) features two Đorđe Balašević solo albums, Bezdan (ranked No. 25) and Pub (ranked No. 66), and one Rani Mraz album, Mojoj mami umesto maturske slike u izlogu (ranked No. 44). In 2000, the song "Slovenska" was polled No.69 on the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list. In 2006, the song "Priča o Vasi Ladačkom was polled No.13 B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs list. In 2011, the song "Menuet" was polled, by the listeners of Radio 202, one of 60 greatest songs released by PGP-RTB/PGP-RTS during the sixty years of the label's existence. In 2007, twenty-one bands from Balašević's native Novi Sad, including Zbogom Brus Li, Pero Defformero, Super S Karamelom and others, recorded a tribute album to Balašević entitled Neki noviji klinci i....