Jacques Houdek
| Jacques Houdek | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Željko Houdek |
| Also known as | Gospodin Glas/Mr. Voice |
| Born |
14 April 1981 Velika Gorica, SFR Yugoslavia (present day Croatia) |
| Genres | Pop, Soul, R'n'B, Gospel, Swing, Jazz, Blues |
| Years active | 2000–present |
Jacques Houdek (born 14 April 1981) is a Croatian singer and songwriter who will represent Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "My Friend". Houdek began his professional solo career in 2000 and has since published many recordings and albums out which 13 have been certified silver (5 times), gold, platinum and diamond (once). Houdek is one of the mentors in the Croatian version of the TV talent show "The Voice". During show's first season, he mentored winner Nina Kraljić. Aside from Croatian, he has sung and recorded in English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Slovene, Macedonian, and Maori language.
Jacques Houdek was born as Željko Houdek on April 14, 1981 in Velika Gorica. His last name is of Czech origin. After finishing elementary music school (piano department), Houndek enrolled in two high schools, music (solo singing department) and vocational hairdressing. He also attended singing lessons with professor Viktorija Badrov who wanted him to become opera singer. After finishing high schools in 2001 he enrolled in prestigious Berklee College of Music, honing his singing in seminars in France, Greece and Italy. Houdek continued to build up his knowledge on Berklee seminars in Europe, where he had the opportunity to be mentored by Donna McElroy, a Grammy Award nominee.
Houdek held his first solo concert on February 19, 2000 in Zagreb club SAX! where he performed covers of various songs. His first single, the song "Čarolija" (Magic), was released in 2002 and performed by Houdek at the Dora pop festival, Croatia's national competition for entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. There he was noticed by maestro Zdravko Šljivac who offered him a collaboration and publicly praised him by saying that a singer such as Houdek is born once every 300 years. The next month, Houdek signed an exclusive contract with Croatia Records, the leading music publisher in the region, with whom he has produced 13 albums.
During campaign for 2007 parliamentary election, Houdek sang party anthem "HDZ zna" (HDZ knows) for the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) which was at the time ran by Ivo Sanader. He later also sang for the mayoral campaign of the populist Milan Bandić. Houdek sayed in an interview for Jutarnji list that he is apolitical and that those were just professional engagements as any other.
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