Crni Biseri

Crni Biseri
Crni Biseri in 1968
Background information
Also known as	VIS Crni Biseri, Denis
Origin	Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Genres	Rock and roll, Beat music, rhythm and blues, rock
Years active	1963 – 1980 (reunions: 1997)
Labels	Jugoton, PGP-RTB, Studio B, Diskos, PGP-RTS
Associated acts	Džentlmeni, YU grupa, Opus, Dah, Zlatni Prsti, Boris Bizetić, Rokeri s Moravu, Tunel, Vlada Džet Band
Past members	see the members section

Crni Biseri (Serbian Cyrillic: Црни Бисери, trans. The Black Pearls) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band, notable as one of the pioneers of the former Yugoslav rock scene.

The band was formed in 1963 in Belgrade, and was named after Toma Janić's film Crni biseri (Black Pearls) which dealt with juvenile delinquency. The band consisted of Goran Vukićević (acoustic guitar, keyboards, accordion and harmonica), Dragan "Krcko" Jovanović (drums) and Božović brothers, Ivan (guitar) and Slavko (saxophone). In the beginning, the band performed without a bass guitarist, but were soon joined by the bassist and singer Vladimir Janković, also known as "Vlada Džet", who got his nickname ("Džet" being a transliteration for Jet) after The Shadows bass guitarist Jet Harris. The band was soon joined by the singer Radan Valčić. This lineup of the band performed until the Autumn of 1965, when they moved to rhythm and blues and started performing in the following lineup: Goran Vukićević (guitar), Vlada Džet (bass guitar, vocals), Zoran Petković (rhythm guitar), Radan Valčić (vocals) and Dragan "Krcko" Jovanović (drums).

Crni Biseri released their debut EP in April 1966, featuring Vlada Džet's song "Ne odlazi", which was the result of the band's desire to be one of the first former Yugoslav bands to record their own songs instead of cover versions. The B-side featured a cover of Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo", with lyrics in Serbian language entitled "Lepi flamingo". The band won the first place on second Gitarijada festival held at the Belgrade Sajmište (not to be confused with Gitarijada festival held in Zaječar). At the time Jovanović left the band and was replaced by Jovan "Kića" Ljubisavljević (later a Vlada Džet Band member). In 1968, Valčić left the band and was replaced by a former Duka & Čavke frontman Nenad Dukić. Dukić was a band member for only three months, and provided vocals for three cover songs released on the band's second EP (the fourth song, "Nisam više taj" was previously recorded with Valčić). After Dukić's departure, Valčić returned to the band and remained the band's frontman until 1970, when he was replaced by the former Juniori vocalist Dragan Baletić. During 1973, the band made a break in their work due to Džet's and Baletić's army obligations.