P.S. CRO MUSIC V. VUKOV 2018

During the time of the greatest popularity of pop music festivals (from the end of the 1950s to the beginning to the 1970s), Vice Vukov (Šibenik, August 3rd, 1936) was undoubtedly its greatest star. It would be difficult to list all of his successes in this limited space since his debut in Opatija '59 to Zagreb '71. He won the second place at the Intervision festival (eastern European equivalent of Eurovision). He also represented the former country twice at the Eurosong: in London in 1963 and in Napoli in 1965.
            This Šibenik native with Apollo-like face and a beautiful baritone with a powerful high repertory showed up in Opatija out of nowhere and won straight away with the “song that surprised and fundamentally changed my life“, as Vukov himself experienced his debut in the Crystal Hall at the Hotel Kvarner with his song Mirno teku rijeke by a prominent veteran composer, Miroslav Biro, and a young poet, Dragutin Britvić. Since that time, Vice, who sang since he became aware of his existence (together with his sister Meri and brother Joško) in the legendary Kolo of Šibenik (for a short time), in company, with klapas, then during his university studies with the Academic Choir Ivan Goran Kovačić and its octet; he sang opera arias, Dalmatian songs, folk songs, songs from Zagorje and oldies, became the voice that captivated and won. His voice was adored by many regardless of genre preferences or musical changes that sealed the fate of many show business stars. This is why some other changes would start to influence Vice's artistic and life path in general soon.
At the beginning of 1972, during the time of the Croatian Spring and tragic events that marked it, in order to avoid getting arrested, Vice was forced to remain abroad. He was prohibited from public performances and recordings in his home country turning him into a type of a martyr. When he returned in 1989 following an exile from the show business that lasted nearly twenty years with a new record entitled Bella Italia, in the ears of many fans that title sounded like beautiful Croatia.  
During the 1990s, in independent Croatia, he refused to play the part of a victim and a Croatian Spring icon. He returned to the scene with a string of triumphant concerts at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb. A trained erudite and philosopher, during the last decade of his turbulent life, he decided to dedicate himself to publicity work and he became actively engaged in politics. Interestingly, as an independent member of the parliament (principled and never resentful, especially when Croatian interests were in question), he was on the list of the same party that discredited and persecuted him at the beginning of the 1970s. He authored three books: Pogled iza ogledala, Tvoja zemlja and Moji pariški zapisi.
He fell down the stairs at the Croatian Parliament on November 17th, 2005 and spent three years in a coma. He died in his sleep on September 24th, 2008 at the Special Hospital for Pulmonary Diseases in Zagreb. Siniša Škarica, musical editor