26 Facts About Dino Merlin

Dino Merlin is recognized for his later solo work, which established him as one of the best-selling regional artists of all time.

Dino Merlin is widely known for his distinctive voice, stage performances and poetic lyrics.

Dino Merlin's father, Abid, was a carpenter who came to Sarajevo as a teenager.

Dino Merlin's mother, Fatima, was born and raised in Sarajevo, and was a Muslim clerk.

Dino Merlin's parents divorced when he was 7 years old and he was raised by his mother.

Dino Merlin attended the historic Moris Moco Salom elementary school, where he was the captain of the school's soccer, basketball and table tennis teams.

On his mother's insistence, and contrary to his own wishes of attending music school, Dino Merlin enrolled into the Sarajevo Technical High School.

Dino Merlin was mostly self-taught although he did take a couple lessons from an older neighbour called Mirsad.

Mensur began accompanying Dino Merlin while performing on the streets of Sarajevo.

Dino Merlin was heavily influenced by the Yugoslavian musicians Bijelo Dugme, Zdravko Colic, Kemal Monteno, Toma Zdravkovic, among others.

Dino Merlin entered several music competitions covering the songs of the aforementioned artists.

Each of the five put a paper with their idea for a band name in a hat; the name "Dino Merlin" was the first to be pulled out of the hat and therefore chosen as the name of the band.

Dino Merlin ended up working in a factory for a couple of years before earning enough money to consider making an album.

In 1984, Dino Merlin entered a local studio in Sarajevo owned by producer Brano Likic.

Dino Merlin suffered a period of depression during which he contemplated abandoning music altogether.

Not long after the band dissolved, Dino Merlin was invited by the Bosnian state government to write its first ever national anthem "Jedna si jedina".

Dino Merlin again participated in the Eurovision Song Contests in Jerusalem in 1999 and in 2011 with "Love in Rewind".

Dino Merlin has taken part in other big European festivals, such as Copenhagen in 1996 and Turkovision in 1997.

Dino Merlin subsequently performed three more times at this stadium and is the only artist ever to have filled this venue to capacity on four occasions.

Towards the end of 2019, Dino Merlin posted a teaser for a new song which was to be released, titled 'Mi'.

Dino Merlin resides in his hometown of Sarajevo, in the same house and street where he was born and raised, in the historic neighbourhood of Alifakovac.

Dino Merlin is an avid chess player, skier, art collector and book reader.

Dino Merlin owns a record label and concept store in the centre of Sarajevo, in the old city centre of Bascarsija.

Dino Merlin is a long-time member of the Hastor Foundation, the biggest organization of its kind devoted to distributing scholarships to primary and high-school students in the country.

Dino Merlin worked for five years pro bono as the honorary and de facto president of the assembly of AMUS - the main association of music artists of Bosnia.

Dino Merlin has been one of the founding members of this organization in 2013.