Daniel (Montenegrin singer)

Daniel (Cyrillic: Даниел) is the stage name of Milan Popović (Милан Поповић) (born October 29, 1955 in Titograd, SR Montenegro, Yugoslavia,), a Montenegrin pop singer who was very popular in Yugoslavia, most notably in Croatia. He is sometimes credited as Danijel Popović (Данијел Поповић).

Biography

Born to a Montenegrin father and a Belgian mother, Popović was raised in Titograd, but made his name in Zagreb, whereto he moved in 1977, pursuing a career in pop music.

In 1983, as a regional representative of Croatia (TV Zagreb),^[1] he won the right to represent Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Džuli" ("Julie").^[1] His national victory was somewhat unexpected because most observers saw popular folk singer Lepa Brena, a regional representative of Vojvodina (TV Novi Sad), as a clear favourite.

Daniel proved skeptics wrong by achieving respectable 4th place in Munich, equaling at the time the best ever Yugoslav placing at the Eurovision Song Contest (Lola Novaković's 4th-place finish in 1962). "Džuli" was also a huge hit in Yugoslavia: the album sold 717,166 copies while the single sold further 80,883 – a huge number for Yugoslavia 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 ESC contestants, Daniel failed to build on his triumph, and his commercial appeal gradually declined. By the 1990s, his popularity was already on the wane, though he managed to register one more moderate hit in 1991 – a track called "Daj obuci levisice" that he competed with at 1991 Jugovizija representing HTV and placing second, only two points behind the winning song "Brazil" by Bebi Dol. A few years earlier, he had also featured in the Lepa Brena folk hit "Jugoslovenka" along with Alen Islamović and Vlado Kalember.

Daniel stayed in Croatia during the war. He soon disappeared into anonymity after a few unsuccessful albums. Tapping into his savings, he then opened a studio and started producing records for performers like Nives Celzijus (her first and so far only album Cura moderna).

He'd foray back into singing only occasionally. During the summer of 2001, he took part in the Sunčane 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 the autumn of 2005, Daniel's performance in Munich in 1983 was included in a collection of two double DVDs and two double CDs celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. The collection, which consisted of all the winners as well as a few of the most favourite non-winning contestants, was entitled Congratulations (1956-1980 and 1981-2005). A glimpse of Daniel's 1983 act could also be seen in the celebration show broadcast from Copenhagen in October 2005.

In January 2007, esctoday.com reported that Daniel would take part in the Croatian preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest, Dora, together with his son Sebastian (20) and daughter Isabella (16) as well as Snježana Ivana Pandl (17). Their song didn't make it to the final selection process.

During fall 2009, he was a contestant on Kmetija reality show, Slovenian version of The Farm.^[2]

Personal life

Daniel has been married three times. His first wife Marija and him wed in 1978 and divorced by mid-1980s.

In 1986, Daniel married Sanja Bjedov and had two kids with her: son Sebastian, and daughter Isabella Kim. The couple separated in 1994 before finalizing their divorce in 1996.

By that time Daniel was in a relationship with Sandra Bagarić whom he soon married and had a son Dominik with. Soon after moving from Zagreb to Podgorica in early 2005, the couple separated and divorced. In August 2005, he was hit with public allegations of spousal abuse by his ex-wife Sandra Bagarić who accused him of "repeated, jealousy-induced physical and mental maltreatment".^[3] She claimed to have been forced to flee the couple's Podgorica home with their son Dominik, and also blamed Daniel for her two miscarriages.

In March 2008, news appeared in certain Balkan media outlets about a possibility that Daniel might end up serving time in prison due to not paying child and spousal support to his ex-wife Sanja Bjedov and their two children.^[4] In spring 2008, Croatian court ordered him to pay HRK219,000 (~€31,000) in back spousal and child support payments.^[5] In October 2009, during a club appearance in Zagreb his ex-wife Sandra brought their son Dominik along and claimed Daniel owes them €2,000 in unpaid child support.^[6]

Discography

• Suze i smijeh (second album)
• Tina i Marina
• Kao da ne postojim
• Danceland (1994)
• Vatra ljubavi (1999)

Notes and references

1. 1 2 Vuletić, Dean (2007). "Chapter 8: The socialist star: Yugoslavia, Cold War Politics and the Eurovision Song Contest". In Raykoff, Ivan; Tobin, Robert Deam. A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 83–98 [92]. ISBN 978-0-7546-5879-5. Retrieved 2009-12-05. Among TV Zagreb's Eurovision entries was Daniel Popović, a Montenegrin living in Zagreb, who came fourth at the 1983 ESC with „Džuli.“ 
2. ↑ "Danijel Popović po slavu krenuo u slovensku "Farmu"". 
3. ↑ Nina Ožegović (1 August 2005). "'Daniel Popović je kriv za moja dva pobačaja'" [Daniel Popović is to blame for my two miscarriages]. Nacional (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012. 
4. ↑ "Vesti dana - Kurir Dnevne novine". 
5. ↑ http://www.javno.com/hr/trach/clanak.php?id=144362
6. ↑ http://www.svet.rs/clanak/danijel-popovi%C4%87-ne-pla%C4%87-alimentaciju-svojoj-deci

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel (singer).

• Daniel at the Internet Movie Database