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 annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, following Céline Dion's victory at the 1988 contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, the contest was held at Palais de Beaulieu on 6 May 1989 and was hosted by Swiss model Lolita Morena and journalist Jacques Deschenaux.
Ivana Ranilović-Vrdoljak, better known by her stage name Vanna, is a Croatian pop singer.
Yugoslavia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 27 times, debuting in 1961 and competing every year until its last appearance in 1992, with the exceptions of 1977–1980 and 1985. Yugoslavia won the 1989 contest and hosted the 1990 contest.
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, SR Croatia.
Nina Badrić is a Croatian pop singer and songwriter. She began performing in the early 1990s, and competed in "Dora" – the Croatian selection for Eurovision Song Contest 4 times. She won 7th place in 1993 with "Ostavljam te", 10th place in 1994 with "Godine nestvarne", 18th place in 1995 with "Odlaziš zauvijek", and second place in 2003 with "Čarobno jutro". Badrić eventually represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan with the song "Nebo". She finished 12th in the second semi-final and failed to qualify for the grand final.
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 joint 6th at Dora 2008.
Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Moja štikla" written by Boris Novković, Franjo Valentić and Severina Vučković. The song was performed by Severina. Songwriter Boris Novković represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Vukovi umiru sami" together with Lado members where they placed eleventh in the grand final of the competition. The Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) organised the national final Dora 2006 to select the Croatian entry for the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece. Thirty-two entries competed in the national final which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Eight entries qualified from each semi-final on 2 and 3 March 2006 to compete in the final on 4 March 2006. In the final, "Moja štikla" performed by Severina was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote.
"Rock Me" was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, performed by Riva, representing Yugoslavia, the only time that the country won the contest. It was originally performed in Croatian, but the lead vocalist Emilija Kokić sang it in English during the winners' encore.
Kaliopi Bukle, known professionally as Kaliopi, is a Macedonian singer-songwriter. In her career, Kaliopi has progressed from singing lead vocal with her eponymous band in 1980s Yugoslavia to being an established vocalist and composer working in North Macedonia and across former Yugoslavia. She represented Macedonia twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, first in 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan with "Crno i belo" and a second time in 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden with the song "Dona".
Tijana Dapčević is a Macedonian and Serbian pop singer.
Music of Yugoslavia is music created during the existence of Yugoslavia, spanning the period between 1918 and 1992. The most significant music scene developed in the later period of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and includes internationally acclaimed artists such as: the alternative music acts Laibach and Disciplina Kičme which appeared on MTV; classical music artists such as Ivo Pogorelić and Stefan Milenković; folk artists such as the Roma music performer Esma Redžepova; the musicians of the YU Rock Misija contribution to Bob Geldof's Band Aid; the Eurovision Song Contest performers such as the 1989 winners Riva and Tereza Kesovija, who represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 and her own country in 1972, and plenty of others. Accordingly, the most widespread current formal and informal use of the term Music of Yugoslavia both locally and internationally always refers to the music of the Second Yugoslavia. Examples of the usage: ex-Yugoslav bands, the rock scene in the former Yugoslavia etc.
"Moja domovina" is a Croatian patriotic song originally recorded in 1991 as a charity single by a supergroup called Hrvatski Band Aid featuring a number of prominent local musicians from all musical genres. The authors of the music and lyrics are Zrinko Tutić and Rajko Dujmić. The song was arranged by Nikša Bratoš, while the instrumental solos were composed by Damir Lipošek, Vedran Božić, and Husein Hasanefendić.
Croatian popular music is the popular music of Croatia.
Badmingtons were a prominent Macedonian punk rock band.
Yugoslavia was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, held in Lausanne, Switzerland, and won the competition for the first time.
Croatia entered the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time as an independent country in 1993. The country's first entry was by Put with the song "Don't Ever Cry".
Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Strings of My Heart" written by Tonči Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić and Ante Pecotić. The song was performed by Vanna. The Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) organised the national final Dora 2001 to select the Croatian entry for the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. 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 the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Strings of My Heart".
Marko Tomasović is a Croatian composer and songwriter. He was born in Zagreb, Croatia, where he has been living all of his life. So far he composed more than 300 songs for some of the best Croatian singers, such as Zdenka Kovačiček, Tereza Kesovija, Oliver Dragojević, Emilija Kokić, Jasna Zlokić, Tomislav Bralić, Danijela Martinović, Alen Vitasović, Emina Arapović, Ibrica Jusić, Lidija Bačić, Maja Šuput, Alen Nižetić, Marina Tomašević... He discovered many young talents and wrote three Band-aid songs. His work has covered various genres.
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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