Alen Islamović
| Alen Islamović | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alija Islamović |
| Born |
17 August 1957 Sokolac, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Origin | Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia |
| Genres | Pop-rock · Rock · Pop-folk |
| Occupation(s) | musician |
| Instruments | Bass, vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | Nimfa Sound |
| Associated acts | Bijelo Dugme, Divlje jagode, Srčani udar, Lepa Brena, Indira Radić |
| Website | www.alen-islamovic.net |
Alija "Alen" Islamović (born 17 August 1957) is a Bosnian musician and singer. Islamović is best known as the vocalist for the bands Divlje jagode from 1979 to 1986 and Bijelo Dugme from 1986 to 1989.
Islamović was born to Bosniak parents in Sokolac, a hamlet approximately five kilometres from the city of Bihać, found in the northwestern part of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until Islamović was two and a half years of age his family lived in Sokolac. However, when his father found work in Bihać the whole family moved to the city. Islamović first accessed music through his brother who brought a gramophone home in the late 1960s.
He learned to play guitar guided by his elder brother, and in 1974 he began playing bass guitar in a band called Bag. He started singing because his brother had lots of LP records so he was able to learn the lyrics.
Soon, Islamović's local popularity grew as did his band's gig activity and he performed many concerts in the local region. In addition to Bihać, Bag performed in places like Prijedor, Drvar, Sanski Most, and Banja Luka, earning decent sums of money that way. He fancied music of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Bijelo Dugme.
When his band dissolved, Alen started playing football in Jedinstvo from Bihać, then a second league club. After he served the army, Sead Lipovača invited him to Divlje jagode. Start with Divlje jagode was very difficult, but it eventually paid off as the band became very successful hard rock act throughout many parts of Yugoslavia. They were so promising that in April 1984 (when Željko Bebek left Bijelo Dugme) Alen turned down Goran Bregović's offer to sing in Bijelo Dugme (this was partly result of his fear that Bebek might return to Dugme), and Divlje jagode (now called Wild Strawberries) where one step away from becoming world famous. But, everything failed, Divlje jagode fell apart and Alen returned to Bihać and decided get a traditional job and forget about the music. But then came another offer from Goran Bregović (when Tifa left Dugme) and this time Alen accepted.
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