Zeljko Samardžić Born to
Montenegrin father and
Bosnian Serb mother, Samardžić's father was a
Yugoslav People's Army officer, which meant that the family had to move around a lot. After spending the first seven years of his life in Mostar, young Željko lived and attended school in
Nikšić,
Igalo and
Zadar before eventually returning to Mostar during his teenage years.
He first started singing during high school, and soon became known around Mostar for being a good
Kemal Monteno impersonator. Samardžić's musical activity during this period was essentially little more than a hobby as he didn't put out any official releases and mostly sang in
kafanas and restaurants in addition to competing in the occasional obscure festival. The closest he came to wide main stream success was a schlager "Moja Marija je drugačija" that became a hit in Bosnia during 1970s after he performed it at
Prvi aplauz festival in
Banja Luka, but he mostly earned his living running a cafe in Mostar, located in close proximity to the famous
Old Bridge.
When the
war broke out in 1992, Željko was wounded in Mostar while sitting in his apartment while the chaotic fighting between the Bosnian and Serbian army was raging outside. A stray bullet entered his leg and exited his hip. After much trouble, along with his wife and their daughter, he managed to flee the city through the Croat controlled western part of
Herzegovina and eventually reach
Serbia after going through
Istria,
Slovenia and
Hungary. Once in Serbia, they lived in the
Belgrade suburb of
Borča and Samardžić soon started getting low-paying gigs in various
discothèques and
cafés, building up a fairly devoted
niche audience. Almost 40 years old at this point, his big break came unexpectedly when some businessmen who enjoyed his nightclub performances brought him to the elite club Ambassador and also financed him with
DM30,000 to record an album with
Marina Tucaković and Aleksandar "Futa" Radulović. In 1995 he also appeared at the
Pjesma Mediterana festival in
Budva, where he left a great impression singing "Sipajte mi još jedan viski", which further opened the doors to
show business.
