Oliver Mandic
Encyclopedia
Oliver Mandić is a Serbia
n pop
musician, composer, and producer - very prominent and popular throughout the 1980s
.
before taking up the piano
. In his early youth, Mandić's family moved to the capital Belgrade
where he pursued a career of a pianist after getting accepted at highly reputable Kornelije Stanković musical high school. However, despite a lot of promise, he left school in 1969 to try to branch out into pop music
.
along with Dušan Prelević on vocal and Miroslav Ristanovic-Rista on guitar. The group performed only once - 2 January 1972 at Hala sportova
. Mandić then played with Pop Mašina several times, and was in talks to join YU grupa
and Time
, but neither transfer took place. Around the same time, he took part in his first studio recording (made with Dušan Prelević): single "Tajna" / "Prošlo je sve".
Mandić's next notable outing came during the 1976 BOOM festival
at Tašmajdan Stadium
where he led the especially assembled group called Oliverova Beogradska Reprezentacija. The ad-hoc band included some notable musicians of the time: bassist Robert Nemeček, guitarist Zoran Božinović, drummer Lazar Tošić, trumpet player Stjepko Gut
, and saxophonists Jovan Maljoković and Ivan Švager. That gig brought Mandić his first eccentric episode in public, something he would become known for later on, as he smashed his synthesizer
on stage and walked out in the middle of performing unhappy with the level of commitment his fellow musicians were putting forth.
, for singer Maja Odžaklijevska, but since she failed to show up in Split
studio Tetrapak for a booked recording session, Mandić was persuaded by producer Enco Lesić to record it himself. The material was released the same year as a 2-side single "Ljuljaj me nežno" / "Šuma" by PGP-RTB
, garnering positive reactions both commercially and critically. A year later, Mandić put out another successful single release with "Sutra imam prazan stan" and effective ballad "Osloni se na mene", cementing his place on the scene.
Zdravko Čolić
came calling next, inviting Mandić as guest on his country-wide tour that included stadiums and sports arenas. Mandić's part in the show consisted of coming out in the middle of Čolić's performance and doing only "Ljuljaj me nežno", which had by that time become a sizable hit.
In 1979 he wrote and recorded a track "Cvećke i zloće", which was included in Goran Marković's movie Nacionalna klasa.
award at the 1981 Montreux
TV festival. Mandić's controversial image on the show, created by conceptual artist Kosta Bunuševac, raised quite a public furor due to the singer's cross-dressing
and aggressive makeup. It was noted at the time that a viewer from Zemun
smashed his TV set at the sight of Mandić in high heels and tight mini-skirt.
track "Sve su seke jebene" ("All The Girls Are Fucked"), using motives from Crven ban, book of erotic folk poetry collected by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
. Recorded in Switzerland
and produced by Mandić and Peter Taggart, the album featured Nenad Stefanović on bass, Điđi Jankelić on drums, Srđan Miodragović on guitar, Laza Ristovski
on organ
, Mića Marković on saxophone
, Stjepko Gut
on trumpet
, while Bebi Dol provided the backing vocal
s. In addition to singing, Mandić played the acoustic and electric piano
.
In the mid-1980s Mandić incorporated slight folk
and world music
elements into his sound. In late 1984 he won top prize at the inaugural MESAM festival with the Japanese sounding "Pitaju me pitaju, oko moje" written by Marina Tucaković.
, Yugoslav contribution to Bob Geldof
's Band Aid
.
For all intents and purposes, this is when Mandić's solo recording career ended, at least in the classic album-tour-album sense, as he began keeping a noticeably lower profile on the pop scene. He got an executive job at the PGP-RTB
record label, where he stayed for most of 1986 and 1987, before releasing a greatest hits compilation Sve najbolje (All the Best) that marked the 10th anniversary of his solo career. The same year, 1987, saw Mandić team up with Nikša Bratoš
to produce Boris Novković
's second album Jači od sudbine, which sold very well. Mandić also received an offer to produce Plavi Orkestar
's second album Smrt fašizmu, but turned it down.
For the remainder of the decade Mandić recorded an album of children's music Deca bez adrese (Children without an Address) with popular children's entertainer and TV personality Branko Kockica, and in 1989 he again collaborated with his old friend Dušan Prelević who wrote a screenplay for the movie Poslednji krug u Monci. Mandić recorded the movie's title track "Odlazim, a volim te", which became a sizable commercial hit. The song, along with some other material that Mandić used in the movie, all came from the recordings he made with different musicians such as Chick Corea
, Herbie Hancock
, and Pat Metheny
while staying in the United States
during the late 1980s.
-released 12-track various artists collection of duets called 12 popularnih dueta - udvoje je najljepše. Their track, recorded some years earlier (1984.), was "Mandarina i banana".
Around a year later, towards the end of 1991, he took part in an interesting project - becoming in essence an extended member of hard rock
band Riblja Čorba
. The idea was to include Mandić in the creative process of the band's planned farewell album Labudova pesma
by having him write and compose half of the songs, and later, upon its release, tour as their keyboards player. The material was recorded in Vienna
, but as it was being prepared for wide release a huge row erupted between Mandić and band leader Bora Đorđević. As a result, Mandić demanded that all his tracks be removed, and even obtained a court-ordered junction prohibiting their release. In the end, the album's released version contained only eight tracks - half of the originally planned number, and it also ended up not being Riblja čorba's last as they soon changed their minds, deciding to continue playing and recording. On the other hand, raw studio versions of Mandić's unreleased tracks have since then become rare and valuable collecter's items.
Over the next period Mandić placed music on the back-burner completely, choosing to live off releasing greatest hits compilations. First Smejem se a plakao bih (I'm Laughing but I Feel like Crying) in 1993 which sold surprisingly well in the hyperinflation
-ridden FR Yugoslavia
, followed by The Best of in 1994, which included the previously never officially released, although already widely played hit track "Odlazim, a volim te".
He then composed a couple of songs for his friend Serbian paramilitary Željko Ražnatović Arkan
's new girlfriend and later bride Svetlana "Ceca" Veličković, including the Marina Tucaković-written "Lavlje srce", and even appeared as guest at her Pionir Hall
concert in 1994 along with Knez
, Željko Šašić
and Mira Škorić.
In 1997 Mandić finally ventured back into music, recording the album Kad ljubav ubije. In addition to the material he recorded in the United States
during his late-1980s stay, it featured fresh music with Freddie Hubbard
, Vlatko Stefanovski
, Bebi Dol, and Radomir Mihailović Točak among the guests. However, the material was never released due to never fully explained reasons. Initially, Mandić was not satisfied with the financial terms and promotional commitment record companies were offering, but after some time the whole thing fell into oblivion and the material is still unreleased. The material is currently owned by Maksa Catovic
's Komuna
record label, and in early 2008 he indicated that they might release it.
Coming years brought more musical inactivity for Mandić, only briefly interrupted in 2002 when City Records
decided to re-release the 1994's Best Of compilation with a bonus track - previously unheard and unreleased "Ako lažem tu me seci". After almost fifteen years, Mandić even shot a video to accompany the song, appearing in traditional Serbian attire with Ksenija Pajčin
as dancing eye candy
.
In early 2006 Banca Intesa
's Serbian subsidiary
used his song "Osloni se na mene" in a series of TV spots as part of their credit loan marketing campaign.
In early 2008, Mandić made another partial comeback with a song "Vreme za ljubav ističe" featuring Svetlana "Ceca" Ražnatović. The song was already recorded during the 1995–1996 period for Mandić's eventually unreleased album Kad ljubav ubije. For his latest comeback, Mandić originally wanted to come up with a brand new song, but in the end decided to use the updated version of the unreleased track - the only difference being that Ceca now appears in the re-recorded chorus line. Promoting the release of "Vreme za ljubav ističe" on 24 January 2008 in Belgrade's Ruski car restaurant, Mandić made it clear that this does not mean he is returning to a full singing career that ended in 1985. Among other things he also touched on the unreleased album: "I've got people like Chick Corea
, Herbie Hancock
, Pat Metheny
, Freddie Hubbard
, and Michael Baker
playing on that album - the absolute cream of the crop in the world of jazz - however I can't make any dough with them. The only person I can do that with is Ceca".
persisted early in his career, followed by reports of heavy drug
use.
He also holds a longstanding reputation of being difficult and fussy to work with. His various in-studio and on-stage temper tantrums are well documented, painting him as an arrogant perfectionist
.
He occasionally gave outspoken and opinionated interviews in which he viciously went after certain fellow performers whose abilities and music he considered substandard. Some of his favourite targets in the 1980s included Sarajevo
populist pop/rock bands such as Merlin
, Hari Mata Hari
, Crvena Jabuka
and Plavi Orkestar
, which he collectively referred to as abortus
rock. He also frequently called out Goran Bregović
for his complete lack of formal musical education and a practice of "borrowing/stealing and re-arranging riffs and bars from foreign hits". On the other hand Mandić often praised the work of Korni Grupa
, Josipa Lisac
, Indexi
, Time
, and even Zdravko Čolić
.
In the early 1990s, he became involved with Serbian paramilitary Željko Ražnatović Arkan
whom he knew since childhood. Mandić was often seen wearing the Serbian Volunteer Guard uniform around Belgrade and even made a couple of trips to the front-lines in Slavonia
where according to most accounts his role was distributing food and cigarettes in the Guard's Erdut
headquarters.
In the mid-1990s Mandić moved to his cottage in the village of Zaovine
in the Tara Mountain
. For a while he entertained the idea of building a theme park named Oliwood there, but soon abandoned it due to lack of funds.
Since the late 1990s Mandić has been active as a club owner and restaurateur. He still owns multiple nightspots in downtown Belgrade
including a cafe named Jazz on Obilićev Venac Street, as well as Kuća umetnosti club on Zmaja od Noćaja Street.
During mid 2000s, Mandić was mentioned in several reports in the Serbian tabloids. In one of them his neighbours at the Zaovine village accused him of arrogant, borderline psychopathic behavior, including shooting their sheep with a rifle. Another described him as being fond of masked orgies.
On 27 December 2010, Mandić's partner Maja Kozlica gave birth to their baby daughter.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
musician, composer, and producer - very prominent and popular throughout the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
.
Early biography
Musically involved from a young age, he first started playing the accordionAccordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
before taking up the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. In his early youth, Mandić's family moved to the capital Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
where he pursued a career of a pianist after getting accepted at highly reputable Kornelije Stanković musical high school. However, despite a lot of promise, he left school in 1969 to try to branch out into pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
.
Early career
Towards the end of 1971 he started playing in a jazz-rock band Oliver with members of Pop MašinaPop Mašina
Pop Mašina was a former Yugoslav progressive rock band from Belgrade. Pop Mašina was formed in 1972, and released two studio albums and one live album before disbanding in 1978...
along with Dušan Prelević on vocal and Miroslav Ristanovic-Rista on guitar. The group performed only once - 2 January 1972 at Hala sportova
Hala sportova
Hala sportova is a multi-purpose sports arena located in Belgrade municipality of New Belgrade.The venue's actual name is "Palata sportova" , but it is widely known by its informal title - Hala. It was built and opened during 1968...
. Mandić then played with Pop Mašina several times, and was in talks to join YU grupa
YU grupa
YU grupa is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. One of the pioneers in combining rock music with the elements of the traditional music of the Balkans, YU grupa is considered the longest-lasting rock band to come from Serbia....
and Time
Time (rock band)
Time was a rock band from Yugoslavia that was formed in 1971 by Dado Topić after leaving his previous band Korni Grupa. The original lineup consisted of, in addition to Topić, Tihomir Pop Asanović , Vedran Božić , Mario Mavrin , Ratko Divjak and Brane Lambert Živković...
, but neither transfer took place. Around the same time, he took part in his first studio recording (made with Dušan Prelević): single "Tajna" / "Prošlo je sve".
Mandić's next notable outing came during the 1976 BOOM festival
Boom Festival
The Boom Festival is a biennial festival which takes place in Portugal.The festival features music, paint, sculpture, video art, installations cinema, theater and a concept of crosspollination of different art forms....
at Tašmajdan Stadium
Tašmajdan Sports Centre
Tašmajdan Sports and Recreation Center is a sporting and recreational complex situated in the city of Belgrade, Serbia, which was founded by the Assembly of the City of Belgrade in 1958. In recent years, the stadium has shown very visible signs of aging. This led to many public personalities in...
where he led the especially assembled group called Oliverova Beogradska Reprezentacija. The ad-hoc band included some notable musicians of the time: bassist Robert Nemeček, guitarist Zoran Božinović, drummer Lazar Tošić, trumpet player Stjepko Gut
Stjepko Gut
Stjepko Gut is a Belgrade-based jazz musician. Studied jazz trumpet at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern,Switzerland and at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. As a conductor, he won first place in the first Austrian Big Band Competition...
, and saxophonists Jovan Maljoković and Ivan Švager. That gig brought Mandić his first eccentric episode in public, something he would become known for later on, as he smashed his synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
on stage and walked out in the middle of performing unhappy with the level of commitment his fellow musicians were putting forth.
1970s
Mandić's solo performing career began almost by chance in 1978 with "Ljuljaj me nežno" single. He composed that song, with text supplied by Marina TucakovićMarina Tucaković
Marina Tucaković is a Serbian songwriter who has composed several hit albums in former Yugoslavia. She is a known collaborator with Ceca, Lepa Brena, Jelena Karleusa among others...
, for singer Maja Odžaklijevska, but since she failed to show up in 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...
studio Tetrapak for a booked recording session, Mandić was persuaded by producer Enco Lesić to record it himself. The material was released the same year as a 2-side single "Ljuljaj me nežno" / "Šuma" by PGP-RTB
PGP-RTB
PGP-RTB was a major record label and chain record store in the former SFR Yugoslavia based in Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Serbia. PGP-RTB was established in 1958...
, garnering positive reactions both commercially and critically. A year later, Mandić put out another successful single release with "Sutra imam prazan stan" and effective ballad "Osloni se na mene", cementing his place on the scene.
Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
came calling next, inviting Mandić as guest on his country-wide tour that included stadiums and sports arenas. Mandić's part in the show consisted of coming out in the middle of Čolić's performance and doing only "Ljuljaj me nežno", which had by that time become a sizable hit.
In 1979 he wrote and recorded a track "Cvećke i zloće", which was included in Goran Marković's movie Nacionalna klasa.
Probaj me
Mandić then took some time off to concentrate on his debut album Probaj me (Try Me) which came out in 1980, featuring hit "Samo nebo zna (Poludeću)" and a re-recorded "Osloni se na mene". The record was promoted somewhat unconventionally - through TV show Beograd noću (Belgrade by Night) directed by Stanko Crnobrnja. The ambitiously avantgarde programme even won Rose d'OrRose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
award at the 1981 Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
TV festival. Mandić's controversial image on the show, created by conceptual artist Kosta Bunuševac, raised quite a public furor due to the singer's cross-dressing
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
and aggressive makeup. It was noted at the time that a viewer from Zemun
Zemun
Zemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
smashed his TV set at the sight of Mandić in high heels and tight mini-skirt.
Zbog tebe bih tucao kamen
In 1982, second album Zbog tebe bih tucao kamen (I Would Break Rocks for You) came out, delivering a new batch of hits: "Smejem se, a plakao bih", "Neverne bebe", and controversial discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
track "Sve su seke jebene" ("All The Girls Are Fucked"), using motives from Crven ban, book of erotic folk poetry collected by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
Vuk Stefanovic Karadžic
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philolog and linguist, the major reformer of the Serbian language, and deserves, perhaps, for his collections of songs, fairy tales, and riddles to be called the father of the study of Serbian folklore. He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary...
. Recorded in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and produced by Mandić and Peter Taggart, the album featured Nenad Stefanović on bass, Điđi Jankelić on drums, Srđan Miodragović on guitar, Laza Ristovski
Laza Ristovski
Laza Ristovski was a Serbian and former Yugoslav keyboardist, best known for his involvement with Smak and Bijelo Dugme rock bands, as well as for his eclectic solo work that spawned many different musical genres.-Biography:Laza Ristovski was born in Novi Pazar as his father, a JNA officer, was...
on organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, Mića Marković on saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, Stjepko Gut
Stjepko Gut
Stjepko Gut is a Belgrade-based jazz musician. Studied jazz trumpet at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern,Switzerland and at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. As a conductor, he won first place in the first Austrian Big Band Competition...
on trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, while Bebi Dol provided the backing vocal
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
s. In addition to singing, Mandić played the acoustic and electric piano
Electric piano
An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
.
In the mid-1980s Mandić incorporated slight folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
elements into his sound. In late 1984 he won top prize at the inaugural MESAM festival with the Japanese sounding "Pitaju me pitaju, oko moje" written by Marina Tucaković.
Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime
Next year, in 1985, he triumphed at the same festival again with another folkish track "Pomagajte drugovi". He used the widely publicized festival appearance to promote his third album Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime (I Feel like Screaming Your Name), produced again by Peter Taggart. In addition to the title track, the album brought further hits that flirt with folk. The same year also saw him take part in YU Rock MisijaYU Rock Misija
YU Rock Misija was the contribution of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the famous Bob Geldof's Band Aid famine relief campaign which culminated with the historical Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985.Beside the British "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and the corresponding USA...
, Yugoslav contribution to Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
's Band Aid
Band Aid (band)
Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
.
For all intents and purposes, this is when Mandić's solo recording career ended, at least in the classic album-tour-album sense, as he began keeping a noticeably lower profile on the pop scene. He got an executive job at the PGP-RTB
PGP-RTB
PGP-RTB was a major record label and chain record store in the former SFR Yugoslavia based in Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Serbia. PGP-RTB was established in 1958...
record label, where he stayed for most of 1986 and 1987, before releasing a greatest hits compilation Sve najbolje (All the Best) that marked the 10th anniversary of his solo career. The same year, 1987, saw Mandić team up with Nikša Bratoš
Nikša Bratoš
Nikša Bratoš is a Bosnian musician who gained fame in former Yugoslavia. He is known for having played in bands Valentino and Crvena jabuka. He has worked on songs for a variety of Croatian pop artists.-Biography:...
to produce Boris Novković
Boris Novkovic
Boris Novković is a Croatian pop singer. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the former Yugoslavia, his interest in a musical career was cultivated by his family background, with a mother who taught music, and a father, Đorđe Novković, who was a leading Croatian songwriter and music manager...
's second album Jači od sudbine, which sold very well. Mandić also received an offer to produce Plavi Orkestar
Plavi orkestar
Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...
's second album Smrt fašizmu, but turned it down.
For the remainder of the decade Mandić recorded an album of children's music Deca bez adrese (Children without an Address) with popular children's entertainer and TV personality Branko Kockica, and in 1989 he again collaborated with his old friend Dušan Prelević who wrote a screenplay for the movie Poslednji krug u Monci. Mandić recorded the movie's title track "Odlazim, a volim te", which became a sizable commercial hit. The song, along with some other material that Mandić used in the movie, all came from the recordings he made with different musicians such as Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, and Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
while staying in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the late 1980s.
1990s and 2000s
The beginning of the new decade saw Mandić appear with Marina Perazić on the JugotonJugoton
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, Socialist Republic of Croatia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the company continued to work in independent Republic of Croatia under the name Croatia...
-released 12-track various artists collection of duets called 12 popularnih dueta - udvoje je najljepše. Their track, recorded some years earlier (1984.), was "Mandarina i banana".
Around a year later, towards the end of 1991, he took part in an interesting project - becoming in essence an extended member of hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
. The idea was to include Mandić in the creative process of the band's planned farewell album Labudova pesma
Labudova pesma
Labudova pesma is the eleventh studio album from Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Riblja Čorba, released in 1992.-Recording and reception:...
by having him write and compose half of the songs, and later, upon its release, tour as their keyboards player. The material was recorded in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, but as it was being prepared for wide release a huge row erupted between Mandić and band leader Bora Đorđević. As a result, Mandić demanded that all his tracks be removed, and even obtained a court-ordered junction prohibiting their release. In the end, the album's released version contained only eight tracks - half of the originally planned number, and it also ended up not being Riblja čorba's last as they soon changed their minds, deciding to continue playing and recording. On the other hand, raw studio versions of Mandić's unreleased tracks have since then become rare and valuable collecter's items.
Over the next period Mandić placed music on the back-burner completely, choosing to live off releasing greatest hits compilations. First Smejem se a plakao bih (I'm Laughing but I Feel like Crying) in 1993 which sold surprisingly well in the hyperinflation
Hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
-ridden FR Yugoslavia
Fry
-Food and cooking:* Frying, the act of cooking food in oil or fat** Pan frying, frying food in a flat pan** Stir frying, frying food in a wok and stirring it while it cooks* Full breakfast, a traditional cooked meal, also called a fry-up or Ulster fry...
, followed by The Best of in 1994, which included the previously never officially released, although already widely played hit track "Odlazim, a volim te".
He then composed a couple of songs for his friend Serbian paramilitary Željko Ražnatović Arkan
Željko Ražnatovic
Željko Ražnatović , widely known as Arkan was a Serbian career criminal and later a paramilitary leader who was notable for organizing and leading a paramilitary force in the Yugoslav Wars...
's new girlfriend and later bride Svetlana "Ceca" Veličković, including the Marina Tucaković-written "Lavlje srce", and even appeared as guest at her Pionir Hall
Pionir Hall
Pionir Hall, or Pionir Arena is a sports arena in Belgrade, Serbia, located in the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula...
concert in 1994 along with Knez
Nenad Kneževic Knez
Nenad Knežević , widely known by his nickname/stagename Knez is a popular Montenegrin singer. Knez lives in Belgrade.-Early years:...
, Željko Šašić
Željko Šašic
Željko Šašić is a Serbian pop-folk singer.-1994 - Gori more:# Gori more# Soliter# Vežite mi ruke# Crna ženo# Suze bola# K'o na grani jabuka # Reci, Srbijo# A tebe nema...
and Mira Škorić.
In 1997 Mandić finally ventured back into music, recording the album Kad ljubav ubije. In addition to the material he recorded in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during his late-1980s stay, it featured fresh music with Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Vlatko Stefanovski
Vlatko Stefanovski
Vlatko Stefanovski is Macedonian ethno-rock jazz fusion guitar player.-Biography:Born in Prilep in 1957, he started playing guitar at the age of 13. Stefanovski was one of the founding members of Leb i sol with whom he recorded 13 albums between 1978 and 1991...
, Bebi Dol, and Radomir Mihailović Točak among the guests. However, the material was never released due to never fully explained reasons. Initially, Mandić was not satisfied with the financial terms and promotional commitment record companies were offering, but after some time the whole thing fell into oblivion and the material is still unreleased. The material is currently owned by Maksa Catovic
Maksa Catovic
Maksa Catovic is a film producer who used to be the President of Komuna Belgrade, Serbia.Maksa Catovic was born October 9, 1950 in Despotovac, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia....
's Komuna
Komuna Belgrade
Komuna is a Serbian record label and media production house. Established in 1985, its headquarters are in Belgrade, Serbia with a branch office Budva, Montenegro...
record label, and in early 2008 he indicated that they might release it.
Coming years brought more musical inactivity for Mandić, only briefly interrupted in 2002 when City Records
City Records
City Records is a Serbian record label....
decided to re-release the 1994's Best Of compilation with a bonus track - previously unheard and unreleased "Ako lažem tu me seci". After almost fifteen years, Mandić even shot a video to accompany the song, appearing in traditional Serbian attire with Ksenija Pajčin
Ksenija Pajcin
Ksenija Pajčin was a Serbian singer, dancer and model popular in Serbia and the other former Yugoslav republics...
as dancing eye candy
Attractiveness
Attractiveness or attraction refers to a quality that causes an interest or desire in something or someone. The term attraction may also refer to the object of the attraction itself, as in tourist attraction.-Visual attractiveness:...
.
In early 2006 Banca Intesa
Banca Intesa
Banca Intesa S.p.A. was formed in 1998 from the merger of Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde and Banco Ambroveneto...
's Serbian subsidiary
Banca Intesa Beograd
Banca Intesa Beograd is a bank operating in Serbia, majority owned by Italian Intesa Sanpaolo and other 7% by International Financial Corporation, World Bank....
used his song "Osloni se na mene" in a series of TV spots as part of their credit loan marketing campaign.
In early 2008, Mandić made another partial comeback with a song "Vreme za ljubav ističe" featuring Svetlana "Ceca" Ražnatović. The song was already recorded during the 1995–1996 period for Mandić's eventually unreleased album Kad ljubav ubije. For his latest comeback, Mandić originally wanted to come up with a brand new song, but in the end decided to use the updated version of the unreleased track - the only difference being that Ceca now appears in the re-recorded chorus line. Promoting the release of "Vreme za ljubav ističe" on 24 January 2008 in Belgrade's Ruski car restaurant, Mandić made it clear that this does not mean he is returning to a full singing career that ended in 1985. Among other things he also touched on the unreleased album: "I've got people like Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, and Michael Baker
Michael Baker
Michael Baker may refer to:*Michael Baker , Canadian politician*Michael A. Baker , NASA astronaut*Michael Baker , Canadian cancer researcher*Michael Conway Baker , Canadian composer...
playing on that album - the absolute cream of the crop in the world of jazz - however I can't make any dough with them. The only person I can do that with is Ceca".
Personal life, public image and controversy
Mandić's outrageous transvestite image, which the Yugoslav audience found especially shocking in the early 1980s, attracted considerable media scrutiny. Rumours of homosexualityHomosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
persisted early in his career, followed by reports of heavy drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
use.
He also holds a longstanding reputation of being difficult and fussy to work with. His various in-studio and on-stage temper tantrums are well documented, painting him as an arrogant perfectionist
Perfectionism (psychology)
Perfectionism, in psychology, is a belief that a state of completeness and flawlessness can and should be attained. In its pathological form, perfectionism is a belief that work or output that is anything less than perfect is unacceptable...
.
He occasionally gave outspoken and opinionated interviews in which he viciously went after certain fellow performers whose abilities and music he considered substandard. Some of his favourite targets in the 1980s included Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
populist pop/rock bands such as Merlin
Dino Merlin
Edin Dervišhalidović , stage name Dino Merlin, , is a prominent Bosnian singer-songwriter and musician. He is a popular singer/songwriter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also popular in the other countries of the former Yugoslavia such as Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and...
, Hari Mata Hari
Hari Mata Hari
Hari Mata Hari is a popular music band from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hari Mata Hari is the stage name for the singer Hajrudin "Hari" Varešanović. The group originated from the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The group has performed over 1,000 concerts and sold 5,000,000...
, Crvena Jabuka
Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....
and Plavi Orkestar
Plavi orkestar
Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...
, which he collectively referred to as abortus
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
rock. He also frequently called out Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
for his complete lack of formal musical education and a practice of "borrowing/stealing and re-arranging riffs and bars from foreign hits". On the other hand Mandić often praised the work of Korni Grupa
Korni Grupa
Korni Grupa was a former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. Korni Grupa was one of the first former Yugoslav rock bands to achieve major mainstream popularity. The band's first releases were commercial pop-oriented songs. Korni Grupa later turned towards progressive rock, continuing, however, to...
, Josipa Lisac
Josipa Lisac
Josipa Lisac is an eminent female singer.-Biography:During the 1960s she was a vocalist of the group named Zlatni Akordi...
, Indexi
Indexi
Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...
, Time
Time (rock band)
Time was a rock band from Yugoslavia that was formed in 1971 by Dado Topić after leaving his previous band Korni Grupa. The original lineup consisted of, in addition to Topić, Tihomir Pop Asanović , Vedran Božić , Mario Mavrin , Ratko Divjak and Brane Lambert Živković...
, and even Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
.
In the early 1990s, he became involved with Serbian paramilitary Željko Ražnatović Arkan
Željko Ražnatovic
Željko Ražnatović , widely known as Arkan was a Serbian career criminal and later a paramilitary leader who was notable for organizing and leading a paramilitary force in the Yugoslav Wars...
whom he knew since childhood. Mandić was often seen wearing the Serbian Volunteer Guard uniform around Belgrade and even made a couple of trips to the front-lines in Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
where according to most accounts his role was distributing food and cigarettes in the Guard's Erdut
Erdut
Erdut is a village and a municipality in eastern Croatia. It is located in the Osijek-Baranja County, eastern Slavonia, 37 km east of Osijek. The elevation of the village of Erdut is 158 m...
headquarters.
In the mid-1990s Mandić moved to his cottage in the village of Zaovine
Zaovine
Zaovine is a village in the municipality of Bajina Bašta, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 442 people.-References:...
in the Tara Mountain
Tara Mountain
Tara , is a mountain located in western Serbia. It is part of Dinaric Alps and stands at 1,000-1,500 metres above sea level. The mountain's slopes are clad in dense forests with numerous high-altitude clearings and meadows, steep cliffs, deep ravines carved by the nearby Drina River and many karst,...
. For a while he entertained the idea of building a theme park named Oliwood there, but soon abandoned it due to lack of funds.
Since the late 1990s Mandić has been active as a club owner and restaurateur. He still owns multiple nightspots in downtown Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
including a cafe named Jazz on Obilićev Venac Street, as well as Kuća umetnosti club on Zmaja od Noćaja Street.
During mid 2000s, Mandić was mentioned in several reports in the Serbian tabloids. In one of them his neighbours at the Zaovine village accused him of arrogant, borderline psychopathic behavior, including shooting their sheep with a rifle. Another described him as being fond of masked orgies.
On 27 December 2010, Mandić's partner Maja Kozlica gave birth to their baby daughter.
Studio albums
- Probaj me (1980)
- Zbog tebe bih tucao kamen (1982)
- Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime (1985)
- Deca bez adrese (1988, with Branko Kockica)
Compilations
- Sve najbolje (1987)
- Smejem se a plakao bih (1993)
- The Best Of (1994)
Singles
- "Tajna" / "Prošlo je sve" (1972, with Dušan Prelević)
- "Ljuljaj me nežno" / "Šuma" (1978)
- "Sutra imam prazan stan" / "Osloni se na mene" (1979)
- "Mandarina i banana" (1990, with Marina Perazić)
- "Vreme za ljubav ističe" (2008, with Ceca Ražnatović)
- "Probudi se za cas" (24.01.2010, Sang for Toshe Proeski in Skopje, Macedonia)