Maja Nikolić

Maja Nikolić
Background information
Birth name Marija Nikolić
Born (1975-04-11) 11 April 1975
Niš, SFR Yugoslavia (now Serbia)
Genres Pop, Dance
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments Vocals, Piano
Years active 1988–present
Labels City Records
Website Official website

Marija "Maja" Nikolić (Serbian: Маја Николић, born 11 April 1975 in Niš, Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a Serbian pop and dance singer.[1] She built her music career on festivals where she won 26 first prices so far. She published 6 studio albums.

Some of the songs that made her famous in Serbia and Balkan region are "Odlazi", "Varali me svi", "Uzmi me", "Ako veruješ", "Napustio si sve" and many others.

With song Zemlja čuda (English: Wonderland) Maja compete on Serbian national selection Beovizija for Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

She is a mother of two sons, Novak (b. April 18, 1997) and Lazar (b. November 11, 2006).

Early life

Marija was born in Niš on April 11, 1975 into family of musicians and from an early age showed inclination toward music.[2] Her father Novak was pop singer and while he attending the Military Academy in Zagreb (modern day Croatia) had his own band, and mother Slavica was a member of the ensembles and sang traditional music.[2] Maja's brother Marko is an educated jazz musician and he graduated Jazz Academy in Graz, Austria. After she graduated from Gimnazija Svetozar Marković in her hometown Niš, Maja went to the United States where she completed a Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles. As a young girl Maja practiced chess, athletics and basketball.[2]

Nikolić had her first public appearance at the age of seven, at the festival Majska pesma in Niš, where she sang a duet with her brother and won first prize.[2] Maja and her brother Marko made songwriting duo MarMaja where Maja wrote the lyrics and Marko work on music. Together, they won many awards at children's festivals. As a 13-year-old girl, Maja sang jazz, soul and pop songs with Niš based band "Hazari".

Record label Jugoton from Zagreb offered her contract for her first album in 1989, but later war in Yugoslavia started and that opportunity failed.

Musical career

After many awards at children's festivals, Maja has continued to perform with his brother during 1991 and both participated, first on festival "Beogradsko proleće" where they performed song Kad vidim da si tu, and later on "Niška jesen" festival with song Senke. Next year she began cooperation with Mirko Ćajić with whom she performed at festivals "MESAM '92" (with song Rođeni da živimo), "Niška jesen '92" and "Beogradsko proleće '93" (with song Verujem u ljubav). After Beogradsko proleće 1993 she started cooperation with composer Vladimir Graić who later wrote some of her biggest hits, and even in 1995. Grajić become Maja's godfather.

Big impact on her future music career left the jazz singer Maja Odžaklijevska who met her with important people in record label PGP-RTS.

She made her first solo performance on 1993 "Budvanski festival" in Budva, Montenegro, where she sung Vladimir Graić's ballad Moja duša tebi pripada. Later that year she sang Ne dam te on "Beogradski šlager" and won second award, and that was her first prize in her professional career.

A turning point in her career was festival "MESAM '94" held in February where she won three first prizes (for composition, for interpretation and media prize) with song Odlazi ("Go Away"). That song has brought her great popularity. A few months later she won first prize on "Beogradsko proleće" with Napustio si sve and soon after that, she signed a contract with PGP-RTS label. On 1995 her first album Sad me pronađi was published by PGP-RTS and was produced by Saša Dragić.

On May 1998. she won first prize on "Beogradsko proleće" with song Ne traži me više and acquired the right to participate in the prestigious international festival "Slavianski Bazar". Bazar was held in Odessa, Ukraine and Saratov, Russia and Maja sung Više nisi moj and Đelem, Đelem arranged by Vladimir Grajić and Željko Joksimović and won first prize for interpretation of second song. As the winner she sang at the Red Square in Moscow. Later that year Maja firs participated on "Budvanski festival" with ethno-pop song Uzmi me and than on "Sunčane skale" festival in Herceg Novi with Varali me svi. Both song becomes big nationwide hits. In November 1998. she released her second album Uzmi me, again for PGP-RTS, Vladimir Grajić composed all songs and it was one of the top-selling albums in Yugoslavia.

She held her first solo concert on February 25, 1999 in Sava Centar, Belgrade. After her third album Iz inata released on June 2000 for PGP-RTS, Maja left Serbia and went to the United States where she sang in Harry's Velvet Room club in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Later she sang in "China Club" in New York City as an opening act for Diana Ross charity concert for disabled children. Then she went to Los Angeles, California where she graduated jazz singing on "Stella Adler Academy". On the 7th Golden Satellite Awards Maja sang a song Something To Talk About from 2002 British-American-French-German comedy-drama film About A Boy and received the award for best song.

She returned to Serbia in 2008 and in the same year released a new, fifth album titled Ljubavni parti for Belgrade-based record label City Records. Three years later she released her sixth, and last, album Crveno, again for City Records.

Beovizija

Maja participated several times in festival Beovizija, the Serbian national selection for Eurovision Song Contest. On her first Beovizija 2003 she sung Granica and one year later, on Beovizija 2004 together with Ceca Slavković they sang as a duet the song Otrov u malim bočicama.

Her third performance in Beovizijas she got in Beovizija 2007 with ballad Ja znam da ti me ne voliš. She tried to reach Eurovision Song Contest again on national festival Beosong 2013, with the song Blagoslov.

Her fifth participation in national selections was in Beovizija 2018 where she sang Zemlja čuda ("Wonderland") composed by Vladimir Grajić.[3]

Reality shows

Maja has taken part in many reality show programs in Serbia and for a short time got the title "reality star". Her first appearance in that format was in the first season of Farma 2009 where she won 4th place, and than again in the 6th season 2015.

In 2011, she was removed from the RTV Pink reality show Dvor for making an allegedly anti-semitic remark on air.[4] In response to the public backlash, Nikolić apologised and said that her statement had been misinterpreted.[5] In June 2014, the Appellate Court in Belgrade by a final verdict acquitted Nikolić by of charges of hate speech and antisemitism and she was paid damages of 450,000 RSD. She donated that money for charity purposes.[6][7]

In 2013, Nikolić took part in Veliki Brat VIP 5,[1][8] the Serbian production of Celebrity Big Brother, where she was evicted on Day 39.

Discography

Albums

  • Sad me pronadji (1995)[9]
  • Uzmi me (1998)
  • Iz inata (2000)
  • Za moju dusu (2006)
  • The best off " Ljubavni party" (2008)
  • Crveno (2010/2011)

Singles

  • Uzmi me (1998)-Uzmi me
  • Led Ledeni (1998)-Uzmi me
  • Losa Mala (1998)-Uzmi me
  • Otrove (2000)-Iz inata
  • Robinja (2000)-Iz inata
  • Varali me svi (2000)-Iz inata
  • Apoteka (2008)-Iz inata
  • Hej mali, mali (2010)-Maja Nikolic

Compilation albums

  • The best of "Ljubavni party" (2008)
  • The best of "Otrov u malim bocicama" (2009)

Music videos

  • Srce od plastike (2002) - Uzmi me
  • Led Ledeni (1998) - Uzmi me
  • Apoteka (2008) - Iz inata
  • Hej mali, mali (2010) - Maja Nikolic

TV Shows

  • Celebrity Big Brother (2013)
  • Dvor (2011) - 27 days
  • Farma (2009) - 101 days
  • Farma 6 (2015) - Current season

References

  1. 1 2 "Maja Nikolić ušla u glavni deo kuće i bacila oko na Uroša". B92. 29 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Biografija Maje Nikolić". biografija.org. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  3. ↑ Juhász, Ervin (24 January 2018). "Beovizija 2018 to be held in Sava Center on the 20th of February!". escbubble.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Barlovac, Bojana (2 March 2011). "Anti-Semitic TV Rant Causes Furore in Serbia". Balkan Insight.
  5. ↑ "Maja Nikolić: Ne mogu da me tuže što ne volim Jevreje!". Nezavisne novine. 28 February 2011.
  6. ↑ O., A. (1 July 2014). "Maja Nikolić i Miloš Bojanić oslobođeni optužbi!". alo.rs. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Maja Nikolić i Miloš Bojanić oslobođeni optužbi za govor mržnje". pulsonline.rs. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Žarko pobednik petog serijala "VIP Veliki brat" 2013". B92. 7 May 2013.
  9. ↑ Maja Nikolić Discography at Discogs
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
None		 Sunčane Skale winner
1994		 Succeeded by
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Filip Žmaher
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