Jelena Rozga

Jelena Rozga (born 23 August 1977) is a Croatian pop, folk, and electropop singer.

Born and raised in Split, Croatia, Rozga was a ballet dancer as a child.

Jelena Rozga was born on 23 August 1977, to mother Marija Rozga, a tailor in the company Jugoplastika, and father Antonio Rozga in Split, a town in the region of Dalmatia, Croatia.

Rozga has one older sister named Julija.

Rozga was a hyperactive and energetic child who often danced and performed in her house.

She insisted on becoming a ballet dancer and her parents sent her to ballet classes during the first grade of primary school when she was seven years old.

She joined KUD Mozaik where she was under the guidance of Lepa Smoje, a famous Croatian choreographer.

As a ballet dancer, she participated in various Yugoslav competitions.

At the age of 13, Rozga was invited to participate in the opera house La Scala in Milan.

Her parents, who could not afford moving abroad, could not let her participate.

During her teenage years, Rozga first joined the high school in Split and after deciding to pursue her passion for dancing, she auditioned to join the ballet ensemble of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

She was accepted by the commission which was amazed by her dancing talents.

Together with the group, she started performing in various localized productions of the plays Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker among others.

Rozga later revealed that the ballet classes she did as a child "shaped me as a woman [...] it gave me order, dedication and discipline in life".

During an interview for the Croatian TV channel Croatian Music Channel, Rozga revealed that even as a ballet dancer in her childhood, she had a big passion for singing and her dream, if she were ever to venture in a music career, would be to join Croatian pop band Magazin, whose lead singer at that time, Ljiljana Nikolovska, served as a source of inspiration for her.

Rozga was also an avid fan of the band, whose songs she knew by heart.

In 1992, Rozga received an award at a singing competition where she performed the song "Uvenut će ružmarin" (The Rosemary Will Wither) by Magazin.

In 1994, she participated in another competition, Zvuci Jadrana (Sounds of the Adriatic), where she received the award Zlatna Gospa for best performance for her rendition of Magazin's "Ti si želja mog života" (You Are the Desire of My Life).

When Rozga was at the age of 18, her mother who saw that Magazin's lead singer at that time, Danijela Martinović, was leaving the group, contacted group leader Tonči Huljić, informing him about her daughter's interest in auditioning for the group.

Rozga's mother also gave Huljić a picture of her daughter and home cassettes with audio recordings of her home performances.

Even before hearing her sing, Huljić decided to contract Rozga based on how "powerful" and unusual her surname sounded.

He traveled to Split where Rozga auditioned for five minutes, performing "only a song and a half", including "Opusti se" (Relax) and "Zlato ljubavi" (My Dear Love).

Shortly after hearing her sing, Tonči Huljić worked on "Aha" together with his wife, Vjekoslava Huljić, which was the first song Rozga had ever recorded.

She rose to fame in 1996, when she became the lead singer of Magazin, a pop band famous in Croatia.

She served as the band's lead singer until 2006, releasing a total of five studio albums.

During the ten years, the band released numerous commercially and critically successful singles including "Ginem", "Minut' srca tvog" and "Minus i plus" among others.

In 2006, Rozga launched a solo career with the release of her debut studio album Oprosti Mala (Sorry Baby).

The album was a major commercial and critical success that established her status as a solo artist.

It peaked on top of the Croatian Albums Chart and produced several commercially successful singles, including "Gospe moja" (My Lady), "Oprosti mala" (Sorry Baby), and "Ne zovi me Marija" (Don't Call Me Marija).

In support of the album, Rozga launched her first headlining tour, The Bižuterija Tour (2010–2012).

She became the first Croatian female artist ever to sell out a concert at the Spaladium Arena.

Rozga's second studio album Bižuterija (2011; Bijouterie) produced the eponymous number-one lead single as well as singles "Rodit ću ti 'ćer i sina" (I Will Give Birth to Your Daughter and Son) and "Ona ili ja" (Her or me).

Moderna žena (Modern Woman), the singer's third studio album, was released in 2016, and featured some of her most famous singles as a solo artist to date, including "Nirvana", "Kraljica" (Queen), and "Tsunami".

Moderna žena was Rozga's third studio album to top the Croatian Albums Chart and to receive a gold certification by the Croatian Phonographic Association.

It further became the best-selling album of the year in Croatia.

On 14 November 2022, Rozga released her first acoustic compilation album Minut Srca Mog.

She will embark on the regional Minut Srca Mog Tour (2022-23) in its promotion.

In addition to her singing career, Rozga also shortly ventured in acting and voiceovers.

She is considered to be one of the most famous singers in Croatia, having received gold certifications for three solo albums and having won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix award at the Split Festival.

She has also enjoyed wider regional success and popularity in Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia.