Jelena Rozga was born on 23 August 1977 and is a Croatian pop, folk, and electropop singer.
74 Facts About Jelena Rozga
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Jelena Rozga rose to fame in 1996, when she became the lead singer of Magazin, a pop band famous in Croatia.
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Jelena Rozga served as the band's lead singer until 2006, releasing a total of five studio albums.
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In 2006, Jelena Rozga launched a solo career with the release of her debut studio album Oprosti Mala.
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In support of the album, Jelena Rozga launched her first headlining tour, The Bizuterija Tour.
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Jelena Rozga became the first Croatian female artist ever to sell out a concert at the Spaladium Arena.
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On 14 November 2022, Jelena Rozga released her first acoustic compilation album Minut Srca Mog.
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Jelena Rozga will embark on the regional Minut Srca Mog Tour in its promotion.
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Jelena Rozga is considered to be one of the most famous singers in Croatia, having received gold certifications for three solo albums and having won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix award at the Split Festival.
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Jelena Rozga has enjoyed wider regional success and popularity in Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia.
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Jelena Rozga was born on 23 August 1977, to mother Marija Rozga, a taylor in the company Jugoplastika, and father Antonio Rozga in Split, a town in the region of Dalmatia, Croatia.
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Jelena Rozga was a hyperactive and energetic child who often danced and performed in her house.
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Jelena Rozga insisted on becoming a ballet dancer and her parents sent her to ballet classes during the first grade of primary school when she was seven years old.
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Jelena Rozga joined KUD Mozaik where she was under the guidance of Lepa Smoje, a famous Croatian choreographer.
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At the age of 13, Jelena Rozga was invited to participate in the opera house La Scala in Milan.
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Jelena Rozga was accepted by the commission which was amazed by her dancing talents.
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Jelena Rozga was an avid fan of the band, whose songs she knew by heart.
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In 1992, Jelena Rozga received an award at a singing competition where she performed the song "Uvenut ce ruzmarin" by Magazin.
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When Jelena Rozga was at the age of 18, her mother who saw that Magazin's lead singer at that time, Danijela Martinovic, was leaving the group, contacted group leader Tonci Huljic, informing him about her daughter's interest in auditioning for the group.
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Jelena Rozga's mother gave Huljic a picture of her daughter and home cassettes with audio recordings of her home performances.
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Shortly after hearing her sing, Tonci Huljic worked on "Aha" together with his wife, Vjekoslava Huljic, which was the first song Jelena Rozga had ever recorded.
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Subsequently, Jelena Rozga stopped her ballet career and embarked on her musical career in the group Magazin.
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In 1998, the group's second studio album with Jelena Rozga, Da si ti ja was released; it was a commercial success in the region of former Yugoslavia, receiving a platinum certification in Croatia and Slovenia.
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In 2006, Jelena Rozga left the group, after having been the lead singer for ten years.
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Jelena Rozga continued collaborating with Tonci Huljic, the founder of the band.
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Jelena Rozga recorded and released her debut solo album Oprosti Mala in 2006; the album was a commercial success reaching the top of the Croatian Albums Chart.
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In 2006, Jelena Rozga took part in the Dora national song festival with "Ne zovi me Marija" which finished 6th.
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Jelena Rozga performed "Gospe moja" at the 2007 Split Festival where the song received the Grand Prix award.
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Jelena Rozga revealed that she was unaware of all the responsibilities and independent decisions a solo career would bring along and experienced disappointment when some of her initial concerts were attended by small audiences.
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Jelena Rozga then released single "Daj sta das" which topped charts both in Croatia and other neighbouring countries.
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In 2009, Jelena Rozga performed on Hrvatski Radijski Festival with "Svega ima, al' bi jos" in the category of pop-folk music.
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Jelena Rozga performed at the 2009 Split Festival with "Rodit cu ti 'cer i sina", and the year after, 2010, for the third time in a row, she won the Grand Prix for the most played song.
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In early 2011 Jelena Rozga released her second studio album Bizuterija which sold over 15,000 copies within a month of its release, thus earning a gold certification from the Croatian Phonographic Association.
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Jelena Rozga became the first female artist that sold out all the tickets at the Spaladium Arena in her hometown of Split on 11 February 2011.
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That same year, Jelena Rozga won a Porin award in the category Hit of the Year with "Bizuterija" at the 18th ceremony.
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The music video for the song, directed by Gitak TV and released on 18 October, features Jelena Rozga dressed as a bride and eloping from her wedding after a short conversation with a priest; as of 2021, it has more than 16 million views on her official YouTube channel.
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In November, that same year Jelena Rozga had her first solo concert at the Sava Center in Belgrade and in December she embarked the Karlovacko live 2011.
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On 3 March 2012, Jelena Rozga released "Zanemari" along with a music video directed by Darko Drinovac on 23 April 2012.
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On 26 March 2013, Jelena Rozga released the single "Nirvana" along with an accompanying music video that saw her perform a choreography backed by two male dancers.
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On 14 March 2014, Jelena Rozga released "Okus mentola" which became a hit single and its music video has over 25 million views on the singer's YouTube channel as of 2020.
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On 9 December 2014, Jelena Rozga released "Tsunami", a single which became one of her biggest hits within the shortest amount of time.
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Six years after the release of her previous album, on 16 December 2016, Jelena Rozga released her third studio album Moderna zena through Croatia Records.
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On 11 April 2017, Jelena Rozga released the last single from the album, titled "Ne pijem, ne pusim" along with a music video directed by Dario Radusin and inspired by Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love".
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On 13 November 2017, Jelena Rozga performed "Prsten na sto" at the Lisinski theater together with Montenegrin singer Sergej Cetkovic.
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On 27 March 2018, following a tour in Australia, Jelena Rozga released a new single titled "Najbolji dan", written by Tonci and Vjekoslava Huljic along with a music video directed by Sandra Mihaljevic.
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On 29 January 2019, Jelena Rozga released a ballad titled "Moje Proljece" written by Jahovic and produced by Darko Dimitrov.
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Jelena Rozga performed the song on the same day at the 2019 Music Awards Ceremony show in Belgrade.
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On 28 January 2020, Jelena Rozga released "Sveto Pismo" which she performed at the 2020 MAC Awards Show.
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In late 2019, Jelena Rozga revealed that she was working on an acoustic album which will reportedly feature 17 acoustic reworks of her songs with Magazin.
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The album was set for release some time in 2020 although due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jelena Rozga revealed that its release will be postponed for 2021 since she scrapped the work initially done and started from scratch.
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On 12 November 2020, Jelena Rozga released a cover of the song "Kad nema ljubavi" by Croatian singer Ilan Kabiljo as part of the project New Sound of the 90s.
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Jelena Rozga had performed the song as part of a medley with "Sveto pismo" and a cover of Oliver Dragojevic's "Najlipse te jubi oni sto te gubi" live in March earlier that year at the 2020 Golden Studio Awards.
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On 7 December 2020, Jelena Rozga appeared on Narodni radio's Christmas Living Room where she performed an acoustic cover of Petar Graso's "Fritula".
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On 8 December 2020, Jelena Rozga appeared on the 9th gathering of the HEP Opskrba where she had an interview and performed acoustic versions of five songs.
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On 5 June 2021, Jelena Rozga performed a medley of Natasa Bekvalac's songs and rearranged versions of "Cirkus" and "Minut' srca tvog" at the 2021 MAC Awards show.
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The summer of 2021 saw Jelena Rozga touring in various cities in Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Slovenia.
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On 18 January 2022, Jelena Rozga appeared on the Ami G show in Belgrade where she gave an interview, performed several of her hit songs and sang a duet of "Ti i Ja" with Matic.
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Jelena Rozga gave a short interview where she announced a concert at the Fusion World Music Festival on 19 July 2022 and one at the Zagreb Arena on 17 December 2022 which will serve as the first one that is part of her regional tour, titled the Minut Srca Mog Tour.
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On 15 September 2022, Jelena Rozga confirmed that the title of the acoustic compilation album would be Minut Srca Mog in reference to her 1996 eponymous single.
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On 25 January 2023, Jelena Rozga appeared together with Matic at the 2023 MAC Music Awards where they performed "Ti i Ja" live together.
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Jelena Rozga has frequently reported during interviews that she prefers to keep her private life secret and focus more on her music during interviews.
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Since 2006, Jelena Rozga was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism which caused her skin problems, excessive fatigue and weight loss.
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Jelena Rozga receives hormone therapy on a daily basis for her condition.
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In 2018, Jelena Rozga was diagnosed with tachycardia for which she receives therapy with beta blockers.
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In 2020, Jelena Rozga reported a stalker to the police, suing him for following her from August 2019 until September 2020.
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Jelena Rozga has repeatedly revealed during interviews that she never drinks alcohol and protects her skin by not exposing it to sun.
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In 2013, Jelena Rozga took part in Goran Bregovic's concert in Sarajevo titled Saso Mange at which funds were raised for musical education of members of the Roma minority.
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Jelena Rozga has served as an advertiser for the Italian fashion brand Liu Jo the Croatian fashion brand ELFS and the car brand SEAT Hrvatska.
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In 2020, Jelena Rozga collaborated with Max Factor in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Jelena Rozga cited Magazin singer Ljiljana Nikolovska as her biggest musical inspiration and the main reason she decided to venture in the music industry.
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Jelena Rozga was credited for bringing back the popularity to the group Magazin to a level similar to the period when Nikolovska was the lead singer of the band.
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Since the launch of her solo career, Jelena Rozga is accompanied by an all-male band during live performances.
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Jelena Rozga is seen as a symbol of elegance and positive and lively energy.
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Additionally, all three of Jelena Rozga's albums have received a gold certification by the Croatian Phonographic Association.