29 Facts About Lepa Brena

Fahreta Zivojinovic, known by her stage name Lepa Brena, is a Yugoslav singer, actress, and businesswoman.

Lepa Brena grew up in Brcko, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but has lived in Belgrade, Serbia since 1980, where she started her career.

Lepa Brena is considered to be a symbol of the former Yugoslavia, due to the fact that she was one of the last popular acts to emerge before the breakup of the country.

At the start of the Bosnian War in 1992, her sister Faketa emigrated to Canada, where she lives today, while Lepa Brena stayed in Belgrade where she had been living since 1980.

Lepa Brena subsequently moved to Novi Sad and then to Belgrade.

On 24 July 1990, Lepa Brena landed with a helicopter at Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria, and held a concert with an audience of 90,000 people.

In December 1993, after two-year hiatus, Lepa Brena premiered her first solo album Ja nemam drugi dom, and held a famous "concert in the rain" on 13 June 1994 at Belgrade's Tasmajdan Sports Centre which was attended by 35,000 people.

The music video for "Ti si moj greh" had an ancient Egyptian theme, with Lepa Brena dressed as a pharaoh.

Lepa Brena became co-founder of the Serbian record label Grand Production, which was formerly known as Zabava miliona, in December 1998.

Lepa Brena dedicated the album to her ailing mother Ifeta, who sang folk songs to her when she was a child.

On 19 December 2013, Lepa Brena, along with Dragana Mirkovic, Severina, Jelena Rozga, Haris Dzinovic, Aca Lukas and Jelena Karleusa, was a guest at a humanitarian concert by Goran Bregovic at the Zetra Olympic Hall in the Bosnian capital city Sarajevo for the Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Lepa Brena arrived in Sarajevo two days before the concert so that she could enjoy the city with friends before the concert.

Lepa Brena said in an interview: "Sarajevo has suffered and survived so much, I'm really glad to see positive people and happiness in this city".

In December 2017, Lepa Brena published two new songs "Zar je vazno da l' se pjeva ili peva" and "Bolis i ne prolazis" as teasers for her new album expected to be published in the beginning of 2018.

Lepa Brena's wedding to Serbian tennis star Slobodan Zivojinovic on 7 December 1991 was a media event throughout Yugoslavia.

Lepa Brena and Zivojinovic's first child, a son named Stefan, was born in New York City on 21 May 1992.

Lepa Brena broke her leg in a skiing accident in November 1992, and it took six months for her to heal.

Lepa Brena has resided in Belgrade since 1980 and currently lives there with her husband, while their sons are studying in the United States.

Lepa Brena has an apartment in Monte Carlo, French Riviera, and another townhouse on Fisher Island, in Florida.

Lepa Brena was transported to a hospital in Tuzla, where he died on 22 October 2010 aged 82.

Lepa Brena was buried in a Muslim funeral three days after his death.

Lepa Brena later regarded the months after her father's death as the emotionally most difficult time of her life.

Lepa Brena was buried in a Muslim funeral in Brcko next to her husband.

Lepa Brena was hospitalized on 27 July 2012 when she complained of pain and was diagnosed as having venous thrombosis, a blood clot.

Lepa Brena remained in the hospital for three days, then was released.

Lepa Brena was again hospitalized on 25 July 2014 while at holiday in the Croatian resort of Novi Vinodolski where she fell down the stairs and broke both arms.

Lepa Brena was hospitalized for five days and spent her month-long recovery at a local hotel.

On 2 January 2015, Lepa Brena fell down the stairs again during a family vacation at Zlatibor, Serbia, and hurt her wrist.

Lepa Brena claimed she was only in Brcko in 1993 to rescue her parents.