Jelena Rozga

Rozga was born in Split to parents Marija and Ante Rozga. In childhood, Rozga became a ballet dancer, and competed in various Yugoslav competitions. She later joined the ballet ensemble of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, performing in various localized productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, etc. She left her ballet career when she was given an opportunity to become a member of Magazin, a popular Croatian pop band at the time.[1][2][3]

1996–2006: Magazin

Rozga started her music career in 1996, when she performed the song Aha on Dora, Croatian song contest for Eurovision Song Contest, and won second place. In the same year she became singer of Magazin. Even before turning 18, she joined the group that would eventually bring her great success in the future and make her one of the most popular singers in the region. In 2006 Jelena left Magazin, but continued to work with Tonči Huljić, the founder of Magazin.[4]

In 2006 Rozga took part in Dora, the Croatian national song contest once more. She sang the song "Ne zovi me Marija" and finished in 6th place.

2006–2016: Oprosti mala and Bižuterija

Soon, she recorded and published her first solistic album Oprosti Mala with many hit songs like Gospe moja, Vršnjaci moji, Roba s greškom and others.

In 2007 Rozga performed at the Split Festival with "Gospe moja" and won Grand Prix. Her career rapidly moved upwards, especially in 2008 when she got Grand Prix in Split Festival for having the most played song from last years festival's edition for "Gospe Moja". She then released single "Daj šta daš" which topped charts both in Croatia and other neighbouring countries. Another song of hers, "Daj šta daš" won the Grand Prix in 2009 for being the most played song from last years festival edition. In 2009 Rozga performed on Hrvatski Radijski Festival with "Svega ima, al' bi još" in category pop-folk music. In 2009 she also performed on Split Festival again with "Rodit ću ti 'ćer i sina", and the year after, 2010, for the third time in a row, she won Grand Prix for the most played song ("Rodit ću ti 'ćer i sina"). In 2010, after the premiere on Split festival, her song "Bižuterija" became huge hit both in Croatia and whole Balkans. Till this day, it has over 27,000,000 views on YouTube. After many hit singles, on 27 October 2011, with a concert held in Zadar, Rozga started her first big tour, Bižuterija, during which she visited all big cities in Croatia. She was the first female artiste that had sold out all the tickets at Spaladium Arena (with capacity around 12,000) in her hometown, Split.[5] Several months later, having sold-out concert in Zagreb Cibona, she sealed her status and success.[6] In early 2011 Rozga released her second solistic album Bižuterija which sold out in over 15,000 copies in just one month. For that success, she received Zlatna Ploča certificate form Croatian Phonographic Association.[7]

That same year, Rozga was nominated for Porin award (Croatia's version of the Grammys) in category Hit of the Year with "Bižuterija", and she won.[8] Later that spring, she recorded a song "Dalmatinka" with rap formation Connect and it became huge summer hit.[9] In summer of 2011 she performed on Split Festival again with "Razmažena" and won another Grand Prix for getting most votes by selection of audience. By the end of 2011 she released her double-CD Best of compilation which consists of CD 1, her greatest hits in solistic career and CD2, her greatest hits in the years with Magazin (1996–2006).[10] In 2012, on Split Festival, she performed the song "Solo igračica" which got her award Srebrni galeb, second place by selection of audience. In the same time she released her summer single "Dobitna kombinacija".[11] After a couple of months, Rozga filmed music videos for both songs, but it was specific because they were not two separated videos, but one, made like a short movie. She was the first singer both in Croatia and neighbouring countries to make such an attempt.[12] In 2013 she released single "Nirvana", which brought a lot of attention both from her colleagues and the press, and within a short time became a huge hit.[13] That same summer, she released the song "Obožavam", and power ballad "Cirkus".[14][15] Then in March 2014, she released "Okus mentola" which became hit single, the same year in which the summer song "Život je čudo" was released. She also recorded the soundtrack "Odo ja" for the popular television show Kud puklo da puklo.[16][17][18] In December 2014 she recorded and released "Tsunami", a single which became one of her biggest hits within the shortest amount of time. In the first 24 hours of release, it was viewed more than 400,000 times on YouTube. On this day it has over 37,000,000 views.[19] Her success proceeded to next singles like "Kraljica"[20] and Otrov,[21] and in early 2016, after a long time, she released ballade "Udajem se" as a single.[22]

2016–present: Moderna žena

After almost 6 years from previous album, in December 2016, Rozga released her third studio album Moderna žena. It consists of two parts: Disc 1 has 6 new song plus 5 previous singles, and Disc 2 contains her older singles from 2011 to 2014 period.[23] In its first week of release, Moderna žena reached No. 1 place on selling charts and after 10 weeks, on this day, it still holds position #1.[24] It is nominated for Porin award for best album in category Best album of pop music. Porin Awards took place on 17 March 2017, in Spaladium Arena. She released the song "Žileti" as the third single from the album. The song received around 210,000 views in one day and more than 600,000 views in one week. The album was commercially successful.[25]

Rozga was reported to have been in a relationship with Croatian cellist Stjepan Hauser of 2Cellos, since they met in 2015.[26] In 2017, the relationship reportedly ended.[27]

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