Neda Ukraden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neda Ukraden

Neda Ukraden (Serbian Cyrillic: Неда Украден), was born on August 16, 1950 in Imotski, Yugoslavia, now Croatia, and is a famous Serbian singer across all of the former Yugoslavia, whose professional career stretches back over 30 years.

Her surname Ukraden, roughly translated in Serbian means Stolen (masculine adjective), but her ancestors were originally from Montenegro and the original surname was Pavlović. According to an interview she gave to Glas javnosti in 2005, her surname was changed as a result of her male ancestors who had spent time in the army serving in Herzegovina, defending ancient homelands. The majority of Serbian surnames ending in ić were converted in Bosnia or Serbian lands which were part of Austro-Hungarian Empire if those Serbs did not want to be converted from Orthodox to Catholic or Islam. Usually, the new surnames may have had some funny or insulting meaning, but the Serbs kept them as a sign of being strong in resisting conversion to other faiths.

[edit] Early life

She grew up in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but she also lived in a few other Bosnian cities, mainly because of her father's professional commitments. Respecting the wishes of her father, she attended university where successfully acquired degrees in Law and Philosophy. It was only at the age of 18 that she started studying music.

[edit] Moving to Belgrade

At the beginning of war in Bosnia in 1992, Neda moved to Belgrade, Serbia , where she remains today. Other activities include the daily running of her restaurant, Star.

[edit] Current status

Spanning her entire career, she has recorded over 25 albums to date, yet still considers that raising daughter Jelena is her biggest success. She was married to Milan Bilbija, father to Jelena.

Her latest album Oduži mi se poljupcima (rough translation: Pay me back with your kisses) was released in 2006.