Toma Zdravković
| Tomislav "Toma" Zdravković | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tomislav Zdravković |
| Born |
20 November 1938 Pečenjevce, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Died | 30 September 1991 (aged 52) Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Genres | Folk, Pop-folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Years active | 1958–1991 |
Tomislav "Toma" Zdravković (Serbian Cyrillic: Томислав "Тома" Здравковић; 20 November 1938 – 30 September 1991) was a famous Serbian pop-folk singer.
Tomislav "Toma" Zdravković was an outstanding figure on Serbian folk scene; a true bohemian and a poet, he lived up to his sad songs. The songs, although having the form of Serbian folk music, had spirit of chansons. He had a characteristic vocal, not too powerful but warm, resembling the one of Charles Aznavour. The violin underlined the melancholic atmosphere in most songs. Most of the lyrics were written by Zdravković, devoted to unfortunate love, and love-suffering while drinking and singing in omnipresent kafanas. He married four times, and settled only with his fourth wife Gordana in the late years.
Some of Zdravković's most renowned songs are Prokleta nedelja ("Cursed Sunday"), Dotak'o sam dno života ("I Touched the Bottom of Life"), Ostala je samo uspomena ("Only a Memory Remained"), Pustite me da živim svoj život ("Let Me Live My Own Life") and Pesme moje ("My Songs").
Tomislav Zdravković, nicknamed "Toma", was born in Aleksinac, and lived in Pečenjevce near Leskovac in Serbia. His father was named Dusan and his mother Kosara, and he had four siblings, and grew up in poverty. There was a high rate of unemployment in his village, thus, when he turned 18, he decided to look for a job as a singer in the town of Leskovac. Unfortunately, he didn't have any friends to help him find a job as a singer or forward his singing career. In his biography book, it is mentioned that the popular Bosnian singer Silvana Armenulić met him in a park in Leskovac in 1958 where she grew fond of him, resulting in her aiding him, and Zdravković eventually broke through and became a singer in a kafana in Leskovac called "Dubočica". His unique voice talent was one of its kind and people wanted to hear him more, and thus he became popular in the town. He wanted to see if people in other towns would like him, too, so he moved to Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina where he sang in the Bristol hotel. His shows were sold out every single night, and he started thinking of composing his own songs.
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