Marko Perković

Marko Perković
Marko Perković, 2013
Background information
Born	(1966-10-27) 27 October 1966 (age 50) Čavoglave, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Republic of Croatia)
Origin	Croatia
Genres	Pop-rock, folk rock, hard rock, heavy metal progressive metal
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1991–present
Associated acts	Thompson

Marko Perković (born 27 October 1966) is a Croatian musician and has been the lead singer of the band Thompson since 1991.

Perković was born in Čavoglave, SFR Yugoslavia. He participated in the Croatian War of Independence (1991–95), during which he started his career with the patriotic song "Bojna Čavoglave". In 2002 he started his first major tour after the release of the E, moj narode album. Since 2005, he has been organizing an unofficial celebration of the Victory Day in his birthplace of Čavoglave. During his career, he has been accused of promoting extreme nationalism and of glorifying the Nazi-affiliated Independent State of Croatia, for which he has been banned from performing in Switzerland in 2009.

Marko Perković was born in 1966 in Čavoglave (at the time SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia) to Marija and Ante. He rarely saw his father, who worked as a Gastarbeiter in Germany and rarely came home. He finished high school in Split. In 1991, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, prompting the Croatian War of Independence. He joined the Croatian National Guard where he was given the American Thompson gun, which became the nickname given to him by his battlefield comrades.

It was while he was defending his home village that Perković became inspired to write one of the most popular songs during the war: Bojna Čavoglave (Čavoglave Battalion), which launched his music career. In 1992, Perković held numerous humanitarian concerts throughout Croatia, and released his first album the same year. He continued to write songs to raise morale during the war. In 1995 he returned to the Croatian Army and the 142nd Drniš Brigade, and became one of the first soldiers to enter the captured cities of Drniš and Knin during Operation Storm.