Damir Urban is a popular Croatian musician best known for his work as a singer/songwriter for Laufer and for his solo work with his band 4.

Early years

Damir Urban was born on 19 September 1968 in Rijeka

Rijeka

Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, a town that is today well known for its rock scene, where he founded his first band La Bellona as the bassist and main songwriter. It is with this band that he performed live for the first time, although little is left today of La Bellona's music.

In 1986 Urban was part of another band as a vocalist, Laufer, one that defined the Croatian rock scene of the early 1990s. Laufer released their first album, The best of, in 1993 which spawned hits such as "Lopov Jack", "Svijet za nas" and undoubtedly their most popular song, "Moja voda". Urban wrote all of the lyrics and co-wrote most of the music.

Their second album, Pustinje

Pustinje

Pustinje is the second studio album by the Rijeka-based rock band Laufer and was released in 1994 by Croatia Records. The album's material was prepared and recorded at the Krk island, Croatia, and remixed at the "RSL Luca" studios in Novo mesto, Slovenia, while the final editing and processing was...

, was released in 1994, shortly after which the band disbanded due to differences over the musical vision Laufer was to follow. Laufer's greatest hits album, Epitaph

Epitaph

An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...

, was released via Croatia Records

Croatia Records

Croatia Records is the largest major record label in Croatia, based in Dubrava in Zagreb.-Summary:Croatia Records d.d. is a joint stock company currently led by the Chairman of the Board of directors Želimir Babogredac, a notable sound engineer...

 in 2004.

Solo career

Damir Urban released his first solo album in 1996, entitled Otrovna kiša (Poison Rain), to critical and commercial acclaim. The album produced hits such as "Astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

", but the highlight of his career was yet to follow.

In 1998, he released Žena dijete (Woman-Child) to even greater critical and commercial acclaim, and the album spawned a string of number ones: "Mala truba", "Odlučio sam da te volim" and "Black Tattoo" (which features the Split

Split (city)

Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...

 hip-hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 group The Beat Fleet

The Beat Fleet

The Beat Fleet, also known by initialism TBF, is a rap-rock band from Split, Croatia, founded in 1990. Members of the band are: Mladen Badovinac , Luka Barbić , Aleksandar Antić , Ognjen Pavlović , Nikša Mandalinić, , Janko Novoselić .The Beat Fleet are widely considered to be one of the...

) all received extensive airplay. He refused to receive the Porin

Porin (music award)

Porin is Croatian music award founded by Croatian Phonographic Association, Croatian Musicians Union, Croatian Radiotelevision and Croatian Composers' Society.-Lifetime Achievement Award:...

 (Croatia's equivalent to a Grammy) for the album, as it was nominated for best alternative

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 album and Urban believed his album to be a rock album, therefore, he considered he would be stealing a prize from real alternative artists.

Many Croatian rock critics including Zlatko Gall

Zlatko Gall

Zlatko Gall is a Croatian journalist, commentator and rock critic.Gall was born in Split, and he graduated in art history and archeology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb....

 and Aleksandar Dragaš consider Žena dijete to be one of the best if not the best Croatian album of the 1990s.

After the tremendous success of Žena dijete, Urban was working on a new album entitled Merkur, and two singles were released: "Aroma Satanica" and "Moja", whose video was banned from many Croatian television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 stations due to graphic depictions of homosexual sex. More than six years passed, and yet Merkur did not see daylight while Damir Urban wrote music for several plays. Finally, in 2004, it was announced that Merkur would be scrapped in favor of another album entitled Retro which was released that same year to mixed reviews but to commercial success.

Retro is highly controversial in that it was a concept album describing the demise of a relationship because of infidelity. In fact, many argue it describes the demise of Urban's relationship with his wife at the time. Most songs describe Damir Urban's new found love, Milica Czerny who actually wrote the lyrics to two songs on the album.

Urban & 4 released their new album, Hello, on 29 May 2009.