Đorđe Marjanović

Đorđe Marjanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ђорђе Марјановић; 30 October 1931 – 15 May 2021) was a Serbian and Yugoslav singer. Marjanović began his career in the mid-1950s, rising to fame in the late 1950s with his theatrical on-stage performance. During the 1960s he recorded a large number of hit songs and became the first superstar of the Yugoslav popular music, but also achieved large popularity in the Soviet Union. Due to his on-stage performance and inclusion of foreign rock and roll hits into his repertoire, Marjanović was often described as one of the pioneers of the Yugoslav rock scene. During the 1970s and 1980s he managed to maintain a loyal fanbase. In 1990, he suffered a stroke on stage, from which he partially recovered, but decided to retire from the scene. He died in 2021, aged 89 from COVID-19. Đorđe Marjanović's father, Sveta Marjanović, was born in the village of Duboka, near the town Kučevo in Eastern Serbia. He attended high school in Požarevac, and when he was fifteen, he was among the civilians who followed the Serbian Army on its retreat through Albania. He was among the young men which the Serbian government in exile in Greece sent to the United Kingdom to receive education. He graduated from George Heriot's School and started his studies at the Manchester Metropolitan University, but returned home without graduating. He graduated from the Export Academy in Zagreb and returned to Kučevo, where he started working as a bank clerk. Đorđe Marjanović was born on 30 October 1931 in Kučevo. His mother died when he was only nine months old. After the death of his wife, Marjanović's father left the child with his wife's mother, who would raise him. Marjanović had a sister, Ljiljana, and a half-brother from his father's second marriage, Vojislav. Marjanović attended high school in Požarevac. During high school years, he showed interest in theatre, directing and acting in his own plays. After graduating from high school, he moved to Belgrade, where he, in 1950, after grandmother's wish, started his studies of pharmacy. However, his grandmother died, and Marjanović was left without any funds to continue his studies. To earn money he did various jobs: he unloaded freight cars on railroad stations, worked as a subscription collector for Radio Belgrade, worked as a milkman, and appeared as a background actor in Yugoslav Drama Theatre and in several Yugoslav films: Svi na more (Everybody to the Seaside), Anikina vremena (Anika's Time), Sumnjivo lice (Suspicious Person), Pesma sa Kumbare (The Song from Kumbara). Despite his efforts, he never finished his studies. Marjanović started his musical career in 1954, when he appeared on an audition for amateur singers, organized by the Association of Jazz Musicians of Serbia, singing the songs "Mulen ruž" ("Moulin Rouge") and "Usamljeni gaučo" ("The Lonely Gaucho"). Reputedly, wandering the streets of Belgrade, Marjanović met an acquaintance who was going to the audition and asked Marjanović to keep him company. When they arrived at the audition, it was almost at its end. Someone invited all the people waiting, including Marjanović, who did not get a chance to say he did not come for the audition. He decided to try to sing. After the audition, he was approached by Radio Belgrade host Dušan Vidak, who told him that he passed. This gave Marjanović an opportunity to perform on concerts organized by the Association of Jazz Musicians of Serbia. During the following years, Marjanović would appear on pop concerts featuring him and other singers, usually performing songs originally recorded by Yugoslav schlager singers Duško Jakšić, Bruno Petrali and Ivo Robić. At the end of 1957, he started performing the song "Zvižduk u 8" ("Whistle at 8 O'clock"), written by Darko Kraljić in the early 1950s, but not performed by any other singer before Marjanović. This song would later become one of his biggest hits and trademark songs. During these years, Marjanović became the first Yugoslav pop singer to include theatrical moves into his performance and to dance on stage, the first Yugoslav pop singer to take the microphone off the stand and walk with it down from the stage and into the audience, and the first to take off his jacket and throw it into the audience. The crucial moment of Marjanović's career was his performance on a 1958 concert in Niš. He appeared as an outsider, but thrilled the audience with his theatrical performance. This event brought him attention of the media and audience across Yugoslavia. He was gaining more fans across the country, but saw criticism by a part of the media, which criticized his lack of vocal skills and his "clownish behavior" with which he, as one of the papers wrote, "reminded of tasteless moves of some domestic singers in their pitiable imitation of the West". The editors of Radio Belgrade refused to invite Marjanović to perform in their live program. Despite all that, the primo uomo of Belgrade Opera Darko Pivnički, who worked with young talents, decided to give singing lessons to Marjanović for free. The large popularity Marjanović enjoyed enabled him to record his first release, the album Muzika za igru (Music for Dancing). Marjanović recorded the album with the band Plavi Ansambl (The Blue Ensemble), which at the time consisted of Eduard Sađil (tenor saxophone), Petar Sam (accordion), Tripo Simonuti (violin), Đorđe Debač (piano), Vladimir Vitas (vibraphone), Sveta Jakovljević (guitar), Milan Mihajlović (double bass), Aleksandar Kosanović (drums) and Rade Jovanović (bongo drums). The album was released on Marjanović's birthday, 30 October. At the time of its release, Marjanović was serving his mandatory army stint in Ljubljana. Released by PGP-RTB record label in 1959, Muzika za igru was the first popular music album released by the label and the first popular music solo album released in Serbia. The song "Zvižduk u 8" was the album's biggest hit. The first printing of the record was sold within a month. After his return from the army, Marjanović appeared at the Opatija Music Festival with the songs "Prodavac novina" ("Newspaper Seller") and "Pesma raznosača mleka" ("The Milkman Song"), winning three awards. In March 1961, his performance on a Zlatni mikrofon (Golden Microphone) festival in Belgrade's Trade Union Hall caused a media scandal and what is often described as the first post-WWII street protest in Belgrade. The festival featured leading pop singers of Yugoslavia; Marjanović decided to appear on the festival performing the songs "Zvižduk u 8" and "Milord" (a cover of Édith Piaf's "Milord"). However, he was soon instructed to pick another song instead of "Milord"; it was explained to him that "Milord" is "too dramatic" and that it would "hinder the jury in making an objective decision". Marjanović decided to perform the song "Carolina, dai!", which was two months earlier performed at the eleventh Sanremo Music Festival. The festival jury should have awarded five Golden Microphone Awards to five singers; however, they decided there are not enough singers worthy of the award. Their decision was to award only three Golden Microphones, to Lola Novaković, Nada Knežević and Anica Zubović. After the announcer Dušan Vidak read the jury's decision and the names of the awarded singers, the audience got enraged by the fact that Marjanović was not among them. The audience started booing, chanting Marjanović's name and leaving the Hall, while the confused announcer proclaimed that the radio and television transmission had to be interrupted due to technical problems. This caused a large number of people to go out of their homes and go towards the Hall to see what was really happening. About 7,000 people gathered in front of the Hall. Some time after midnight, Marjanović tried to slip away through the back door of the Hall. After spotting him, the crowd carried him on their hands to an automobile parked in front of Hotel Moskva. There they placed him on the roof of the car, where he