Dino Merlin

Edin Dervišhalidović (born 12 September 1962), known professionally as Dino Merlin, is a Bosnian singer-songwriter and record producer.

Born in Sarajevo, he was the founder and leader of Merlin, which was one of the best-selling rock bands of Southeast Europe.

Nicknamed "The Wizard", he is considered one of the most prominent and commercially successful artists ever to emerge from the former Yugoslavia.

Over the course of his career, he has produced over a dozen chart-topping albums, gone on several record-breaking tours, won awards including the Sixth of April Sarajevo Award, and authored the first national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is widely known for his distinctive voice, stage performances, and poetic lyrics.

Edin Dervišhalidović was born on 12 September 1962, in the neighborhood of Alifakovac in Sarajevo, People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

His father, Abid, was a carpenter who came to Sarajevo as a teenager.

His mother, Fatima (née Činjarević), was born and raised in Sarajevo, and was a Muslim clerk.

His parents divorced when he was 7 years old and he was subsequently raised by his mother.

Dervišhalidović attended Moris Moco Salom primary school, where he was the captain of the school's soccer, basketball, and table tennis teams.

The school and its historic surroundings – Emperor's Mosque, President Tito's konak, and Hotel Nacional – influenced his later art.

Dervišhalidović enrolled at Sarajevo Technical High School.

During after-school hours, he performed in a music duo with his childhood friend and keyboardist Mensur Lutvica, with whom he later established the band Merlin.

Although Dervišhalidović's mother was against the idea of her son being a musician, she helped him buy his first guitar when he was 12 years old.

He penned his first song at 14 years old.

Dervišhalidović was mostly self-taught, although he did take a few lessons from an older neighbor named Mirsad.

Mirsad's younger brother, Mensur Lutvica, played the keyboard and attended the same school as Dervišhalidović.

They soon became friends and eventually became the founding members of the later band 'Merlin'.

Lutvica began accompanying Dervišhalidović while performing on the streets of Sarajevo.

Dervišhalidović was heavily influenced by the Yugoslavian musicians Bijelo Dugme, Zdravko Čolić, Kemal Monteno, and Toma Zdravković, among others.

He entered several music competitions covering their songs.

He later became close friends with Goran Bregović, the founder and primary songwriter of Bijelo Dugme.

After enrolling in university, Dervišhalidović formed a band with Lutvica on keyboard, Amir "Tula" Bjelanović on guitar, Džafer Saračević on drums, and Enver Milišić on bass guitar.

Each of the five put a paper with their idea for a band name in a hat; the name "Merlin" was pulled and chosen as the name of the band.

After completing his first semester at university, Dervišhalidović dropped out to pursue a music career.

However, he did not have enough money to rent a recording studio.

During this time, he married his girlfriend Amela and worked two shifts a day at a metal factory in the suburbs of Sarajevo for a few years.

It was during this time that he started writing most of the songs which would later appear on his first album.

In 1984, Dervišhalidović rented a local studio in Sarajevo owned by producer Brano Likić.

All of the songs recorded were written by Dervišhalidović and the fees of the recording were paid from his funds.

He was rejected by every major record label in Sarajevo.

At the same time, Dervišhalidović's private funds were only enough for 6 songs.

During the recording session for the final song, a local A&R agent named Muradif Brkić entered the studio where Dervišhalidović and Likić were mixing a song.

After listening to the track, "Kokuzna Vremena", a couple of times, Brkić offered Dervišhalidović a contract with his record label Sarajevo Disk and agreed to finance the remainder of the song recordings.

Eventually, Merlin was able to release their first album, Kokuzna vremena, in 1985.

With the band, Dervišhalidović has recorded 5 studio albums: Kokuzna vremena in 1985, Teško meni sa tobom in 1986, Merlin in 1987, Nešto lijepo treba da se desi in 1989, and Peta strana svijeta in 1990.

The song acted as the state's national anthem until the late 1990s.

Dervišhalidović began his solo career under the name Dino Merlin in 1991 and has since recorded six studio albums: Moja bogda sna in 1993, Fotografija in 1995, Sredinom in 2000, Burek in 2004, Ispočetka in 2008, and Hotel Nacional in 2014.

During the Bosnian War, several members of Merlin were killed, including their long-time manager Kemal Bisić, with whom Dervišhalidović was close.

Not long after the band dissolved, Dervišhalidović was invited by the Bosnian state government to write the country's first-ever national anthem "Jedna si jedina".