Danijel (singer)
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Daniјel (Serbian Cyrillic: Данијел) is the stage name of Milan Popović (Милан Поповић) (born October 29, 1955), a Montenegrin-born pop singer who made his name in Croatia. His father is from Montenegro, while his mother is Belgian. Internationally, he is known as Daniel, under which name he has released at least one album (Daniel). He has also been cast as Danijel Popović.
[edit] Biography
Born and raised in Titograd (now Podgorica), Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia, Popović made it big in Zagreb where he moved to in 1977 pursuing a career in pop music.
In 1983, as regional representative of Croatia, he won the right to represent Yugoslavia at Eurovision Song Contest 1983 with the song "Džuli" (Julie). His national victory was somewhat unexpected, because most observers saw popular folk singer Lepa Brena, regional representative of Vojvodina, as a clear favourite. This led to discontent among Brena fans.
Daniel proved sceptics wrong by winning 4th place in Munich, at the time the best ever placing in the history of Yugoslav participation at Eurovision Song Contests. "Džuli" was also a huge hit in Yugoslavia: the album sold 717,166 copies while the single sold further 80,883 - a clear record in both cases.
The song was a big hit in many other European countries as well, including Norway, where Daniel played several venues. Early in 1984, he performed at a NRK broadcast TV show prior to the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, playing "Džuli" and a new song called "Miss You".
Like many other Eurovision Song contestants, Daniel failed to build on his triumph and his commercial appeal gradually declined. By the time 1990s came, his popularity was already on the vane though he managed to register one more hit in 1991 - track called "Daj obuci levisice". A few years earlier, he also featured on a Lepa Brena hit "Jugoslovenka" along with Alen Islamović and Vlado Kalember.
He stayed in Croatia during the war. In the nationalistic atmosphere of the newly independent country, being from Montenegro didn't bode well for his chances of commercial success, so Daniel made every effort to hide his ethnic origin and birth name. It didn't help much, since he soon disappeared in anonymity after few unsuccessful albums. Tapping into his savings, he then opened a studio and started producing records for performers like Nives Celzijus.
He'd foray back into singing only occasionally. During summer of 2001 he took part in Suncane skale festival in Herceg Novi, but managed to get only 7 points (winner Ivana Banfić received 107).
In early 2005, after an extended commercially-barren period in Croatia, Daniel moved back to Montenegro hoping to resurrect his stuttering singing career.
In August 2005 he was hit with public allegations of spousal abuse by his Croatian ex-wife Sandra who accuses him of "repeated, jealousy-induced physical and mental maltreatment".[1] She claims to have been forced to flee the couple's Podgorica home with their son Dominik, and also blames Daniel for her two miscarriages.
