Ivo Robić | |
---|---|
Born |
Garešnica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
28 January 1923
Died | 9 March 2000 Rijeka, Croatia |
(aged 77)
Occupation | Singer |
Years active | 1943–2000 |
Ivo Robić (28 January 1923 in Garešnica, Croatia – 9 March 2000 in Rijeka, Croatia) was a Croatian singer and songwriter.
Robić began his career as a soloist with the Radio Zagreb Orchestra, while studying at the same time in Zagreb. He performed during World War II on "Krugovalna postaja Zagreb" in an Esplanade hotel in Zagreb.
During his career in what was then Socialist Republic of Croatia within Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he made more than one hundred records, mostly singles and schlagers. In his own country, the most memorable of his many schlagers might be "Vraćam se Zagrebe tebi" (Coming Back to You, My Zagreb), "Ta tvoja ruka mala" (That Little Hand of Yours), and "Tiho plove moje čežnje" (Silent Sail of My Yearnings).
A pioneer of popular Yugoslav music from the early 1950s on, Robić was an artist who successfully pursued both domestic and international careers for almost half a century. When he began, he was the only artist from Yugoslavia whose records were available in the record shops of Europe and the rest of the world.
Robić was nicknamed "Mister Morgen" following the success of his first international hit, "Morgen" (which means "tomorrow"), in 1959. The optimistic song was the first collaboration between Robić and Bert Kaempfert. Following its success in Germany, the German-language version became a #13 hit on the pop chart (Billboard Hot 100) in the United States, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. An English set of lyrics, "One More Sunrise", bearing no resemblance to the German lyrics, sung by Leslie Uggams, reached #98 on the same charts. It has also been performed by many other artists.