After forming in 1986, the band appeared on Zagrebfest 1988, Performing with the song "Zadnja Suza" ("Last Tear" in Croatian).
Their song "Rock Me" won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 in Switzerland, with a score of 137 points. According to author John Kennedy O'Connor in The Eurovision Song Contest– The Official History, it was an unexpected win.[1] The band brought the first and only victory for Yugoslavia. The contest was then hosted in Zagreb, representing Yugoslav Radio Television.
After the success, they released two subsequent albums, one titled after their winning track "Rock Me" (1989) and "Srce Laneta" ("Deer Fawn's Heart" in Croatian) in 1990.
Shortly after the success of both albums, the band signed to a Swiss Agency where they started production on their planned 3rd album titled "Lude Glave, Lude Godine" ("Crazy Heads, Crazy Years" in Croatian) with Per Gessle of popular pop rock duo Roxette to be featured with whom they were supposed to be opening acts for on a world tour.
Disagreements arose when the Swiss Agency misrepresented the validity of Croatia as a then recently independent country, opting for the band to remain as being from Yugoslavia for press purposes as well as the bands performances focusing on humanitarian issues in Croatia to help victims of the Yugoslav Wars.
Feeling betrayed by the agency's portrayal of what was happening in their hometown at the time the members cut all ties with the agency, with frontwoman Emilija Kokić stating in a 2019 interview:
"We come from Zadar, our families are huddled in basements because grenades of the Serbian army are falling on Zadar, and we would act like Yugoslavians How? That would be the biggest betrayal! They would become people to whom a career means more than anything".
After the resignation, the planned album which was scheduled for release remained unreleased with only 3 songs from the album being available from their performance at the Croatian Eurovision preselection Dora in 1993.
During 1991 the band decided to have a hiatus originally planned to be short, which ended up being the end of Riva as members focused on their own personal lives with only very few small reunions taking place between 1993 and 2016.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the 34th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 6 May 1989 in the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Télévision suisse romande (TSR) on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, and presented by Jacques Deschenaux and Lolita Morena, the contest was held in Switzerland following the country's victory at the 1988 contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi" by Céline Dion.
Ivana Ranilović-Vrdoljak better known by her stage name Vanna, is a Croatian pop singer.
Novi Fosili is a Croatian pop band, one of the most popular music acts in the former Yugoslavia.
Magazin is a Croatian pop band from Split. Founded in 1979 under the name Dalmatinski magazin, the band quickly began to make a mark on local pop music festivals with its songs influenced by Dalmatian folk music. One of the most prominent bands in Yugoslavia and one of the longest lasting, with 45 years active in the music industry in Croatia and former Yugoslavia. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Lorena Bućan, guitarist Željko Baričić and bass guitarist Nenad Vesanović Keko. Baričić is the only active founding member even though Vesanović featured on every album to date.
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, SR Croatia.
Emilija Kokić is a Croatian singer. She was the lead singer of the Croatian pop band Riva, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 for Yugoslavia, with the song Rock Me, just four days before her 21st Birthday. Currently Emilija is a solo artist and singing teacher in Croatia. She tried her luck at the national Dora festival, whose winner was to represent Croatia at Eurovision. She came 2nd at Dora 2001 and joint 6th at Dora 2008.
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"Rock Me" is a song recorded by Croatian pop band Riva with music composed by Rajko Dujmić and lyrics written by Stevo Cvikić. It represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, held in Lausanne, resulting in the country's only ever win at the contest.
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Croatian popular music is the popular music of Croatia.
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Yugoslavia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 with the song "Rock Me", composed by Rajko Dujmić, with lyrics by Stevo Cvikić, and performed by the band Riva. The Yugoslavian participating broadcaster, Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), selected its entry through Jugovizija 1989. The entry eventually won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first and only time for Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 with the song "Hajde da ludujemo" (Хајде да лудујемо), composed by Zrinko Tutić, with lyrics by Alka Vuica, and performed by Tajči. The Yugoslavian participating broadcaster, Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), selected its entry through Jugovizija 1990. In addition, Radiotelevizija Zagreb, on behalf of JRT, was the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, after their win at the previous edition with the song "Rock Me" by Riva.
Croatia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 with the song "Don't Ever Cry", composed by Andrej Baša, with lyrics by Đorđe Novković, and performed by the band Put. The Croatian participating broadcaster, Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT), selected its entry for the contest through Dora 1993. This was the first-ever entry from independent Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Croatia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Strings of My Heart", written by Tonči Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić, and Ante Pecotić, and performed by Vanna. The Croatian participating broadcaster, Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT), organised the national final Dora 2001 to select its entry for the contest. Twenty entries competed in the national final on 4 March 2001 and "Strune ljubavi" performed by Vanna was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from five regional juries, a six-member expert jury, a regional televote and an online vote. The song was later translated from Croatian to English for Eurovision and was titled "Strings of My Heart".
Marko Tomasović is a Croatian composer and songwriter. He has composed and written more than 300 songs. His work has covered various genres. Marko is a member of Croatian Composers' Society, and he was listed as one of the 10 most performed authors in Croatia in 2004.
Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Nebo" written and performed by Nina Badrić, who was selected internally by the Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) on 10 January 2012 to represent Croatia at the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. Her song Nebo" was presented to the public on 18 February 2012 during the special programme Dora 2012 - Idemo na Eurosong s Ninom!.
Sanja Vučić is a Serbian singer and songwriter. Initially the lead vocalist of the Serbian crossover band ZAA, she represented Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Goodbye". From 2017 to 2022 she was a member of pop folk girl group Hurricane, during which time they represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Loco loco". In addition, Vučić and Hurricane were scheduled to represent Serbia in the 2020 contest, which ended up being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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