Jelena Rozga

During an interview for the Croatian TV channel CMC, Rozga revealed that even as a ballet dancer in her childhood, she had a big passion for singing and her dream, if she were ever to venture in a music career, would be to join Croatian pop band Magazin, whose lead singer at that time, Ljiljana Nikolovska, served as a source of inspiration for her. Rozga was also an avid fan of the band, whose songs she knew by heart. In 1992, Rozga received an award at a singing competition where she performed the song "Uvenut će ružmarin" by Magazin. In 1994, she participated in another competition, Zvuci Jadrana, where she received the award Zlatna Gospa for best performance for her rendition of Magazin's "Ti si želja mog života".

Rozga started her music career in 1996, when she performed the song "Aha" written by Vjekoslava and Tonči Huljić on Dora, the Croatian song contest for Eurovision that year, where she finished second. That same year, at the age of 18, she signed a deal with Tonika Records. thus becoming the lead singer of Magazin. The first song she recorded with the group was "Suze biserne" which was performed at the 1996 Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana [hr]. The song became popular among fans of the group and at the 1997 Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana, it was recognized as the most performed song of the previous festival.

In 1996, Magazin released their twelfth studio album Nebo boje moje ljubavi, which was a commercial success and received a golden certification in Croatia. The album produced several singles, including "Minut srca tvog", "Nebo boje moje ljubavi" and "Samo navika". Rozga worked with Magazin for ten years and recorded five studio albums. In 2006, she left the group, but continued her collaboration with Tonči Huljić, the founder of the band.

In 2006, Rozga took part in Dora, the Croatian national song contest once more. She sang the song "Ne zovi me Marija" and finished in 6th place.

Rozga recorded and published her debut solo album Oprosti mala in 2006. "Gospe moja", one of the songs on the album received the Grand Prix award at the 2007 Split Festival where Rozga also performed. The album featured other singles as well, such as "Vršnjaci moji", "Roba s greškom" and others. During interviews, Rozga revealed that the transition from Magazin to a solo career was a challenging undertaking that caused a lot of stress in her life especially since during some of the initial concerts, she only had small audiences.

Her career rapidly moved upwards, especially in 2008 when she got Grand Prix at the Split Music Festival for having the most played song from last years festival's edition for "Gospe Moja". She then released single "Daj šta daš" which topped charts both in Croatia and other neighbouring countries. Another song of hers, "Daj šta daš" won the Grand Prix in 2009 for being the most played song from last years festival edition. In 2009, Rozga performed on Hrvatski Radijski Festival with "Svega ima, al' bi još" in the category of pop-folk music.

Rozga performed at the 2009 Split Festival with "Rodit ću ti 'ćer i sina", and the year after, 2010, for the third time in a row, she won the Grand Prix for the most played song ("Rodit ću ti 'ćer i sina"). In 2010, after its debut at the Split Festival, "Bižuterija" became the most played song of the summer and a number-one single both in Croatia and in the whole Balkans. As of 2020, the audio and the official music video for the song have combined more than 35,000,000 views on YouTube.

In early 2011, Rozga released her second studio album Bižuterija which sold over 15,000 copies within a month of its release, thus earning a golden certification from the Croatian Phonographic Association. The album produced several number-one singles, including the title song, "Karantena" and "Rodit ću ti 'ćer i sina". To promote the album, Rozga embarked on the Bižuterija Tour in all major cities in Croatia, starting with a concert held in Zadar on 27 October 2011. Rozga became the first female artist that sold out all the tickets at the Spaladium Arena (with capacity around 12,000) in her hometown of Split. Several months later, she also had another sold-out concert in Zagreb at the Cibona hall.

During her solo career, Rozga has received numerous awards. In 2011, she received a Porin award in the category Hit of the Year for her song "Bižuterija". She has received the Grand Prix award at the Split Festival five times. Additionally, all three of Rozga's albums have received a gold certification by the Croatian Phonographic Association [hr].

At the 2012 Split Festival, she performed the song "Solo igračica" which got her the Srebrni galeb award i.e. second place by audience selection. Rozga simultaneously released her summer single "Dobitna kombinacija". After a couple of months, she filmed music videos for both singles, combining them into one, thus creating a short movie with an overarching theme. This made her the first singer both in Croatia and neighboring countries to make such an attempt. On 26 March 2013, Rozga released the single "Nirvana" along with an accompanying music video that saw her perform a choreography backed by two male dancers. The song, which received a lot of media and press coverage, achieved huge success in all former Yugoslav countries. As of 2020, the music video for the song is the second most watched on Rozga's YouTube channel with 35 million views. That same summer, she released the song "Obožavam", and in November, 2013, she released the power ballad "Cirkus". The songs peaked at numbers 5 and 2 on the Croatian Singles Chart, respectively.

On 14 March 2014, Rozga released "Okus mentola" which became a hit single and its music video has over 25.000.000 views on the singer's YouTube channel as of 2020. The same summer, she released the song "Život je čudo". She also recorded the song "Odo' ja", which was included on the soundtrack of the popular television show Kud puklo da puklo. On 9 December 2014, Rozga released "Tsunami", a single which became one of her biggest hits within the shortest amount of time. Within 24 hours of its release, the song was viewed more than 400,000 times on YouTube, becoming the most viewed video by the singer in a day. As of 2020, the song has over 46,000,000 views on YouTube, making it Rozga's most watched video on the platform. 2015 saw the release of the singles "Kraljica" on 21 June and "Otrov" on 27 November. Following a short hiatus from new music, Rozga released the ballad "Udajem se" as a single on 16 February 2016.

Little is known about Rozga's private life and her love relationships. She has frequently reported during interviews that she prefers to keep her private life secret and focus more on her music during interviews. Rozga was reported to have been in a relationship with Stjepan Hauser, the cellist of the Croatian band 2Cellos, since they met in 2015 and in 2016, the pair also got engaged. In 2017, the relationship reportedly ended. Since 2006, Rozga was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism which caused her skin problems, excessive fatigue and weight loss. Rozga receives hormone therapy on a daily basis for her condition.

Six years after the release of her previous album, in December 2016, Rozga released her third studio album Moderna žena. The album was released in a dual-disc format: the first disc contained 6 new songs and 5 previously released singles, and the second disk contained her older singles released in the period between 2011 and 2014. In its first week of release, Moderna žena reached the first place on the Croatian Albums Chart and it remained atop the charts even 10 weeks after its release. It was nominated for the Best Pop Album at the 2017 Porin Awards held on 17 March 2017. She released the song "Žileti" as the third single from the album. The song received around 210,000 views in one day and more than 600,000 views in one week. On 11 April 2017, Rozga released another single titled "Ne pijem, ne pušim" along with a music video inspired by Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love".

During an interview for T-portal in January 2017, amidst anti-abortion discussions in Croatia, Rozga supported women's rights to abort, declaring it a personal choice. During the same interview, she also voiced her support for gender equality and the LGBTQ community. In 2013, Rozga took part in Goran Bregović's concert in Sarajevo titled Saso Mange at which funds were raised for musical education of members of the Roma minority. In April 2017, she participated in a roundtable event in Zagreb titled Gelem, Gelem - World4Them during which the results of the project aimed at integrating the Roma minority in the educational system and protecting their human rights. On 21 March 2016, as part of a concert dedicated to World Down Syndrome Day, she participated at the concert held in Zagreb.

On 27 March 2018, following a tour in Australia, Rozga released a new single titled "Najbolji dan", written by Tonči and Vjekoslava Huljić along with a music video directed by Sandra Mihaljević. On 20 July, the same year, Rozga released another single titled "Uzmem koliko mi daš" written by the pair Huljić, along with a music video directed by Dario Radusin filmed in Istria. In September, Rozga released another song, titled "Ostani" written by Serbian singer-songwriter Emina Jahović and produced by Macedonian producer Darko Dimitrov. The song and its accompanying music video received a lot of attention from media due to a change in the singer's image and sound as a result of her collaboration with new songwriters. Within the first 24 hours of its release, the song received 350,000 views, which is the second most watched music video by the singer within the first day after "Tsunami" which received 400,000 views in a day.

On 29 January 2019, Rozga released a ballad titled "Moje proljeće" written again by Jahović and produced by Darko Dimitrov. She performed the song on the same day during the MAC Awards Show. On 28 January 2020, Rozga released "Sveto pismo" which she also performed at the MAC Awards Show. The song was written by Tonči and Vjekoslava Huljić and the production was arranged by Darko Dimitrov and Serbian singer Željko Joksimović. The following month, Rozga appeared on the Macedonian Golden Ladybug of Popularity awards show, where she received the award for Most Popular Regional Singer. She also performed "Sveto pismo" and a medley of "Cirkus", "Ne pijem, ne pušim" and "Dani su bez broja" during the show. Starting on 12 April 2020 and concluding on 17 May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rozga streamed six weekly mini live concerts through Instagram Live and YouTube during which she performed acoustic covers of her songs from home. In late 2019, Rozga revealed that she was working on an acoustic album which will reportedly feature 17 acoustic reworks of her songs with Magazin. The album is set for release some time in 2020.

During her career, Rozga collaborated with several Croatian and international fashion and cosmetic brands. From 2015, she became an ambassador for the French cosmetic brand Garnier in 9 countries in Eastern Europe. That same year, together with Bosnian football player Emir Spahić, she collaborated with credit deal of Sberbanke BH. She has also served as an advertiser for the Italian fashion brand Liu Jo the Croatian fashion brand ELFS and the car brand SEAT Hrvatska. In 2020, Rozga also collaborated with Max Factor in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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34th Birthday on August 23 JELENA ROZGA Croatian singer

Jelena Rozga was born on 23 Aug 1977, in Croatia, Split. She is a Croatian singer, musician best known for being the lead singer of the popu...

34th Birthday on August 23 JELENA ROZGA Croatian singer

Jelena Rozga was born on 23 Aug 1977, in Croatia, Split. She is a Croatian singer, musician best known for being the lead singer of the popu...