Danijela Martinović

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Danijela Martinovic
Birth name	Danijela Martinovic
Born	July 15, 1971 (1971-07-15) (age 36) in Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Origin	Croatia
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1990 - present
Website	www.danijelamartinovic.com

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Danijela Martinović, known artistically as Danijela (born July 15, 1971, Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia) is a popular Croatian singer with success across all of the Balkans.

[edit] Biography

Born to a well-off family, Danijela began to sing from her early age. Her big break came in early 1990s when she joined local pop band Magazin. Just as Magazin began to dominate the Croatian music scene, Danijela became one of the biggest national icons.

In the late 1990s she left Magazin to pursue a solo career, but she continued to cooperate the band's leader and prolific songwriter Tonči Huljić. That cooperation resulted with Danijela winning the 1998 Dora contest with the popular ballad "Neka mi ne svane" ("May the Sun Never Rise") and becoming the Croatian representative at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in 5th with 131 pts.

Around that time, she shocked the Croatian public when news of her divorce from singer Marko Perković (aka Thompson) was divulged. This was the first time that her marriage was revealed, and many speculated that it had been kept secret at the request of Tonči Huljić.

In 2006, Martinović and Perković managed to obtain an annulment, thus allowing them to marry in church. The official representatives of the Catholic church in Croatia remained silent on the reasons of the divorce.^{[citation needed]}

Danijela has a sister, Izabela, who also pursued a music career through Split-based pop act Stijene.

In 2007 she participated in show called "Dancing with the Stars", in which she danced with Nicolas Quesnoit (who was winner of the first season with Zrinka Cvitešić). She was eliminated in the 5th episode.