Severina Vučković

Severina Kojić
Severina in 2015
Background information
Also known as	Severina, Seve
Born	(1972-04-21) 21 April 1972 (age 44) Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Genres	Pop, Turbo-folk, Rock, Dance
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, actress
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Dallas Records

Severina Kojić (ex Vučković, born on April 21, 1972), best known mononymously as Severina, is a Croatian pop singer and one of the most popular singers in Croatia and the Balkans (ex-YU countries). In 2006, Nacional weekly listed her among the 100 most influential Croats, calling her "the only bona fide Croatian celebrity". She represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, held in Athens, Greece, with the song Moja Štikla and finished at 12th place in the Grand Final with 56 points. In 2015, she was the most googled person in Croatia and Slovenia.

Severina's style can be described as pop with various folk and cabaret influences. As a child, she took smaller parts in theatre and opera productions in her native Split. During the 1980s, having won numerous awards at local festivals, she launched her professional career at an early age, which ultimately resulted in her moving to Zagreb in 1989 to expand her career further. In the same year, she recorded her first studio album titled Severina. During the 1990s, she established herself as a national pop icon with chart-topping hits such as "Dalmatinka" (1993), "Paloma nera" (1993), "Trava zelena" (1995), "Od rođendana do rođendana" (1996), "Djevojka sa sela" (1998), "Prijateljice" (1998), "Ja samo pjevam" (1999), "Ante" (1999) and others.

Following the huge success of her 2001 album Pogled ispod obrva, Severina's 2002 concert tour Virujen u te further confirmed her status of one of the most popular Croatian music artists. After a two-year break, she released her 8th studio album Severgreen in 2004. In 2006, she won the Dora 2006 festival with the song "Moja štikla" and represented Croatia at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, Greece, on May 20, 2006, finishing 13th with 56 points. The song caused some controversy in Croatia when a few journalists and musicologists claimed the song resembled the music of Serbia. However, prominent Croatian ethno-musicians such as Dunja Knebl and Lidija Bajuk disagreed, and both the song's composer Boris Novković and Severina herself have claimed that the song includes Croatian folk music influences from the Dalmatian Zagora (Inner Dalmatia) such as ganga and rere singing and lijerica instrumentation.