Goran Karan

Goran Karan was born on April 2, 1964. In the beginning of the 80's, Goran started his career as a musician in various bands such as "Epicentar", "Deveti krug", "Zippo" and "Big Blue". In 1995, as a frontman of the band called "Big Blue", Goran received an award for the rock hit of the year for the song "Priznaj mi". Later in the same year, Goran was given the lead role in the musical "Sarajevski krug" (The Sarajevo circle). Album from the musical and the Big Blue's debut album were released both in Croatian and English. Many concerts held in Austria, Germany, Italy, France, along with three tours in the United States. In the beginning of 1997 Goran began his solo career. In 1998 Goran won "Zadar-fest" with the song "Kazna mi je što te ljubim". By the end of 1998, Goran was given the male leading role in the musical "Rock It" in the "Ronacher" theater in Vienna. It was a production composed of eight most popular musicals such as: "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Grease", "Hair", "Tommy", etc. In 1999 Goran's first solo album"Kao da te ne volim" was released. It was the result of collaboration with Zdenko Runjić, the famous composer from Split. The album was the bestselling album in Croatia for that year and it reached platinum recording sales certification. In the same year Goran wins the prestigious music festival in Croatia called "Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana". The song that won was called "Prozor kraj đardina" and it was composed by Zdenko Runjić. In the polls made by Croatian newspaper "Slobodna Dalmacija", Goran was pronounced best male performer of the year, as well as in many other polls and listings of numerous magazines, newspapers and radio stations throughout the state. The song "Lipa si lipa" had won the title the Summer Hit on the festival "Hit ljeta" in Pula. Goran has had a series of significant concerts. With the musical "Sarajevski Krug" (The Sarajevo Circle), Goran has performed eight times in the Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall in Zagreb, twice in the Posthof in Linz and also in "Theater an der Wien" in Vienna. As a solo artist, Goran is very successful. Due to a great interest of the public, four grand solo concerts were held in the Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall in February and March of 2000. TV recording of the concert held in summer of 1999, in the historic town core of Split called Peristil, was nominated for the international TV festival and "the Golden Rose of Montreux" (Rose d'Or) award. In June of 2000, Goran went on a very successful tour through the west coast of the United States. The end of the "Kao da te ne volim" tour was marked with a spectacular concert on the main square in Zagreb and recorded by the Croatian Radiotelevision. On "Dora”, the Croatian election for the Eurovision Song Contest in the year 2000, Goran won first place with the song "Kad zaspu anđeli", and represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Stockholm, where he was ninth. The prestigious Croatian discography award "Porin" for the year 2000 was given to Goran three times: for best album, for best male performance and for best vocal collaboration (a duet with Oliver Dragojević). For the new recording company called "Cantus", Goran released a single "Ja sam samo vagabundo" in July of 2000. The same song Goran performed in the festival "Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana 2000" and won "Zlatni galeb" (the Golden seagull) award. By the end of July of 2000, Goran's second solo album called "Vagabundo" was released. The team that worked on the album was lead by the composer Zdenko Runjić and it was the same wining team that had made Goran's first album. The second album also reached platinum recording sales certification. In the same year Goran performed on "Zagrebfest", went on tour in Croatia, (with a special series of concerts titled "Vagabundo" in theaters), Slovenia (also with concerts in theaters), Switzerland, Germany, France and Slovakia. In 2001, the album "Vagabundo" was very successful in Turkey, where it was released in its original form (in Croatian), and the song "Stay with me" (the English version of the song "Kada zaspu anđeli"), went to the top of the Turkish pop charts. By the end of that year, Goran went to Turkey, where he had several performances as a part of his promotional tour. Goran sang on the Ford Super model of the year beauty pageant and the Turkish version of Big Brother. The Turkish media were extremely interested, so Goran gave interviews to ten TV stations as well as for the Turkish issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. After the success in Turkey, the song "Stay with Me" has had many covers in many countries of the world (South Korea, Germany...). The new album was called "Dalmatinske Suze" and was released in June of 2001, it was a greatest hits album and contained two new songs. The album received golden recording sales certification. For the song "Dalmatinske suze" Goran had won "Zlatni galeb" (the golden seagull) award on the "Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana" festival in 2001. In June of 2002, Goran has won again the "Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana" festival; this time with the song called "Ahoj". The album with the same title was released in August of 2002. In fall of 2002, Goran performed at the International festival of Mediterranean song "Megahit" in Turkey with the English version of the song "Potonut ću u mrak" and won second place. 2003 had begun with the Canadian tour, and the tour across Australia and New Zealand followed. The preparations for the male leading role in the Croatian musical called "Grgur", which was composed by Zdenko Runjić, had also started. In 2004 on the Split festival, Goran won second place by the vote of the jury with the song "Pristajem na sve. On the international "Sunčane skale" festival Goran had a duet with Ivana Banfić. The song was called "Ljubav trebam svaki dan" and it won second place. On "Ohridfest", Goran won first place with the song "Svit je luda balota". 2005 was a very successful year: with the song "Ružo moja bila" Goran had won on two prestigious festivals; the festival in Split and the "Sunčane Skale" festival in Herceg Novi. On "Kninfest" in Knin, Goran was given five awards for the song "Lipo misto", which was written by Goran himself. In the meantime, the fifth album entitled "Od srca do usana" was released and many concerts in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Austria and Switzerland were held. By the end of that year, Goran went on another tour across Australia and New Zealand. He was also given an award for the song "Ne šalji lađe", which was pronounced as the best song of Croatian Radio Festival by the choice of radio listeners from Serbia. In 2006, many concerts were held and many awards were received. On the festival in Split, Goran won second place by the vote of the public with his own song "Da me pojubiš”. On the "Sunčane skale" festival, Goran sang a duet with a popular Macedonian singer Martin Vučić, the song was called “Tiše kucaj srce moje” and it had also won second place. On the prestigious "Dalmatinska šansona" festival in Šibenik Goran won first place by the vote of the public for the song "Dite jubavi". In 2007, even more concerts were held and many concert halls filled. On the Croatian radio festival ", Goran was given two awards- It was the best song by the choice of radio listeners from Montenegro and from Bosnia and Herzegovina for the song "Vitre moj. On the "Dalmatinska šansona" festival in Šibenik, Goran won second place by the vote of the jury for the song "Dica", for which Goran also wrote the music. Goran was the initiator and one of the people in the organization of a big charity event for the families of the deceased and injured firefighters in the Kornati fire. The event consisting of a football match and a concert was held on Poljud football stadium in Split in September of 2007. The event was watched by more than 30.000 people. In May of 2008, Goran's sixth solo album "Dite jubavi" was released and the singles "Di si rasla" (CMC festival) and "Anđele" (Croatian radio festival) went to the top of the charts. In June of 2009 in Split on the Poljud football stadium, Goran organized a big charity event called “Naš mali svijet” (Our little world). The event consisted of a football match and a concert in which Croatian and Italian musicians and former football players took part. In February of 2010, Goran sang in Anaheim, USA on the International Leadership Conference for Tahitian Noni International, which is one of the leading companies in the United States. In June of 2009 in Split on the Poljud football stadium, Goran organized a big charity event called “Naš mali svijet” (Our little world). The event consisted of a football match and a concert in which Croatian and Italian musicians (such as Eros Ramazzotti and Zucchero) and former football players (such as Zvonimir Boban, Slaven Bilić and Robert Prosinečki) took part. Goran also wrote a song called “Naš mali svijet” for the event. The song was sung by the most popular recording artists in Croatia. During April of 2010, Goran and his Vagabundo band went on a tour across the United States and Canada with concerts held in Toronto, Hamilton, New York, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Chicago, Saint Louis and Harrisburg. In February of 2010, Goran sang in Anaheim, USA on the International Leadership Conference for Tahitian Noni International, which is one of the leading companies in the United States. For the company Goran wrote a song called “Place in my heart” and performed in companies’s events in London, Belfast, Zagreb, Belgrade, Cavtat and in the Bahamas in Port Nassau. Goran is the author of music and lyrics for the anthem of the European Championship in waterpolo which was held from August 28th till September 11th in Zagreb. The song is called “Do zadnjeg daha” and Goran performed it together with Klapa Tragos. On the Split festival in 2010, Goran won third place by the vote of the jury with the song “Nevera” for which he wrote music and lyrics and the arrangement was done together with Remo Cartagine. In March of 2011 live CD & DVD called “Romanca pod zvizdama” was published, the concert which was taped was part of a cultural event “55, Splitsko ljeto” it was held in Split on the beautiful Sustipan. This beautiful location and its surrounding made the atmosphere of the gala concert even more special and unique. In June of 2011 in Vienna, Goran was given an award "Zlatni mikrofon dijaspore" (the golden microphone of the diaspora) in the category of pop music. The award is given by the vote of all media from the diaspora and Internet voting. Goran was part of the World Culture Festival which was held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on July 2nd and 3rd 2011. His song All the Colours of the Rainbow was chosen to be the theme song of the central event as well as the whole festival. The song All the Colours of the Rainbow had been recorded in 16 different recording studios and on three continents, in the recording process have participated more than 500 musicians from all over the world. Goran is the author of the song “Uvijek vjerni” which is the anthem of the official club of supporters of the Croatian national football team and the Croatian national football team at the same time. The project is a mix between sports and music and it has been realized with the help of some of the Croatia's best musicians and recording artists. The premiere of the anthem happened on September 5th, 2011 before the qualifications football match for the European football Championship in 2012 between Croatia and Israel on the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb. It's interesting to mention that five of Goran's albums reached diamond, platinum and golden recording sales certification... Read more on Last.fm. 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