Vesna Zmijanac

Vesna Zmijanac is a Serbian folk singer. Dubbed the "Queen of Sadness" for her emotional vocal delivery and melancholic ballads, she is recognized as one of the most popular performers from the former Yugoslavia. She was discovered by singer Saban Saulic as a teenager living with her mother in Vienna, Austria. After signing with PGP-RTS in 1979, she released three full-length albums which saw moderate success, and rose to prominence by starring in movies such as Sok od sljiva (1981), Kamiondzije 2 (1983) and Kamiondzije opet voze (1984). In July 1985, she then gained popularity as a singer with the song "Nevera moja", written by her husband at the time, Miroljub Arandjelovic Kemis. Her fifth album, "Dodji sto pre" was released at the beginning of 1986, selling over 400,000 copies that year. It was also followed with her first national tour, making Zmijanac, next to Lepa Brena, arguably the most popular artists in the country. The following year she released "Jedini si ti", which was sold in half a million copies. In early 1987, Zmijanac released her best-selling album to date, "Istina", which yielded a duet with Bosnian singer-songwriter Dino Merlin, titled "Kad zamirisu jorgovani". According to her, the album has sold over million copies. In 1990, Zmijanac released her eighth studio album "Svatovi", under new label, Komuna. It was promoted with a tour and ten consecutive concerts in Belgrade's Sava Centar. In 1992, she released "Ako me umiris sad", followed by her tenth album, "Idem preko zemlje Srbije", in 1994 and another tour. The following year, "Malo po malo" was released under Diskos. In 1997, she then released "Posle svega, dobro sam", where she collaborated with rock musician Momcilo 'Bajaga' Bajagic on the track "Da budemo nocas zajedno". Zmijanac also published her autobiography in 2000, titled after her 1987 duet with Dino Merlin, and has appeared in reality TV shows, such as Survivor Srbija VIP: Philippines (2010) and Farma (2016). In December 2019, Vesna Zmijanac among other artists received the Life Achievement Award for her work from the Union of Serbia's Music Artists.[6] In October the following year, she was proclaimed the National Music Artist of Serbia by the Folk Music Assembly of Serbia.