1. Dino Merlin is celebrated for his distinctive voice, charismatic stage presence, and poetic songwriting.
19 Facts About Dino Merlin
1. 2.
Dino Merlin's father, Abid, was a carpenter who came to Sarajevo as a teenager.
3.
Dino Merlin's mother, Fatima, was born and raised in Sarajevo, and was a Muslim cleric.
4.
Dino Merlin's parents divorced when he was 7 years old and he was raised by his mother.
5.
Dino Merlin later became close friends with Goran Bregovic, the founder and primary songwriter of Bijelo Dugme.
6.
Each of the five put a paper with their idea for a band name in a hat; the name "Dino Merlin" was pulled and chosen as the name of the band.
7.
Dino Merlin was rejected by every major record label in Sarajevo.
8.
Dino Merlin eventually released their first album in 1985 titled Kokuzna vremena.
9.
Not long after the band dissolved, Dino Merlin was invited by the Bosnian state government to write the country's first-ever national anthem "Jedna si jedina".
10.
Dino Merlin again participated in the Eurovision Song Contests in Jerusalem in 1999 and in 2011 with "Love in Rewind".
11.
In 2000, aged 38, Dino Merlin released his most successful album to date - Sredinom.
12.
Dino Merlin resides in his hometown of Sarajevo, in the same house and street where he was born and raised, in the neighborhood of Alifakovac.
13.
Dino Merlin is an avid chess player, skier, art collector, and reader.
14.
Dino Merlin owns a record label and store, Magaza, in the center of Sarajevo, in Bascarsija.
15.
Dino Merlin is an active donor to scholarships for underprivileged children in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
16.
Dino Merlin is a long-time member of the Hastor Foundation, the biggest organization devoted to distributing scholarships to students in the country.
17.
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 and Herzegovina.
18.
Dino Merlin was one of the founding members of the organization in 2013.
19.
In 2013, Dino Merlin was awarded the International Humanitarian Award in Urfa, Turkey.