Željko Samardžić

Želimir "Željko" Samardžić (born October 3, 1955) is a Serbian pop singer popular throughout the former Yugoslav republics. Born in Mostar, he reached fame only after the Bosnian War when he fled to Belgrade, Serbia, where he since lives and works.

Biography

Samardžić was born in Mostar, at the time part of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Yugoslavia. His father was an ethnic Serb from Montenegro, and his mother Nada was Herzegovinian Serb from the Ilići suburb of Mostar. Samardžić's father was a Yugoslav People's Army officer, which meant that the family had to move around a lot. After spending the first seven years of his life in Mostar, young Željko lived and attended school in Nikšić, Igalo and Zadar before eventually returning to Mostar during his teenage years.

He first started singing during high school, and soon became known around Mostar for being a good Kemal Monteno impersonator. Samardžić's musical activity during this period was essentially little more than a hobby as he didn't put out any official releases and mostly sang in kafanas and restaurants in addition to competing in the occasional obscure festival. The closest he came to wide main stream success was a schlager "Moja Marija je drugačija" that became a hit in Bosnia during the 1970s after he performed it at Prvi aplauz festival in Banja Luka, but he mostly earned his living running a cafe in Mostar, located in close proximity to the famous Old Bridge.