Željko Joksimović

Željko Joksimović (Serbian: Жељко Јоксимовић) (born April 20, 1972) is one of the most popular singers and composers of Serbia, but is also well-known in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and nearby countries. He represented Serbia & Montenegro in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Lane moje, which finished second behind Ukrainian singer Ruslana.

Željko’s first international success came at the age of 12, when he won the title of First Accordion of Europe in Paris.

Željko Joksimović finished as an excellent student at the University of music. He started his professional career in 1997 when he released an album produced by record label PGP-RTS. In 1999 he made a deal with City Records music label owned by a private Serbian television station RTV Pink. His first style of singing was folk and turbo-folk however later his style changed, performing and composing mostly ballads and ethno Serbian songs.

In 2004 Joksimović shocked many after changing his music label to City Records' biggest rival BK Sound. That same year he represented Serbia & Montenegro in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Lane moje. This was the country's debut at the contest. In the semi-finals Joksimović finished first however in the finals he came second behind Ukrainian singer Ruslana. Lane moje however was the best selling single in Serbia for months. From there on Joksimovic discontinued making any turbo-folk songs instead turning to ballads and ethno.

In 2005, he once again composed a song for Serbia's national pre-selection for Eurovision called Beovizija. Željko composed the ballad Jutro (Morning) which was performed by Jelena Tomašević. The song seemed well-placed to progress to the contest in Kyiv after it emerged as the highest-scoring qualifier from the Serbian pre-selection, but ultimately missed out in controversial fashion at the overall Serbia and Montenegro final (Evropesma), when all four Montenegrin jurors overlooked it in distributing their points. No Name, a qualifier from Montenegro's pre-selection, instead represented Serbia & Montenegro in Eurovision 2005, placing 7th. This was to be the countries last ever appearance in the contest as in 2006 both peacefully decided to go their separate ways and became independent coutries.

In October 2005 he composed and performed a duet with Austrian singer Tamee Harrison. The song was titled "I live my life for you" and was a big success.

In 2006, he composed the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest song Lejla for Bosnia and Herzegovina, performed by his friend Hari Mata Hari. The song came in third making it Bosnia's best performance in the contest. His album called Ima nešto u tom što me nećes or just IV released that year was a great successes all over ex-Yugoslavia. The CD was released in over 300 000 copies. The first song called Ima nešto u tom što me nećes was released as a video clip. In May, another song of the album called Crnokosa was made as a mini-film starring Željko Joksimović and his brother Saša.

In 2007 in front of an audience of 18 000 Željko Joksimović performed all of his hits in the Belgrade Arena. That year Minacord became his record label.

In 2008, Željko Joksimović composed a song that will once again be performed by Jelena Tomašević in the Serbian national final for Eurovision song selection, Beovizija 2008, which is called Oro. The song, a ballad, is widely tipped to win and represent Serbia in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Belgrade. On March 04, 2008 it was announced by the 2008 Eurovision organisers RTS that together with Jovana Janković he will host the Eurovision Song Contest.

Today, Željko is one of few musicians that can play eleven musical instruments.


Joksimović's personal life, particularly his love life, has been followed by Serbian tabloids and media since he became famous. At first he was labelled as being gay however later the rumours were rebuked when it was discovered he has had many affairs with many women. Soon after he became known as a play boy.

Very early in life he married his high school sweetheart from which he later divorced. He became a father at 23 and together they have a daughter named Mina. He is in good relations with his ex-wife.