Zdravko Čolić
Bosnian singer
Zdravko Čolić (Serbian Cyrillic: Здравко Чолић, pronounced [zdrǎːv̞.kɔ̝ t͡ʃɔ̝̌ː.lit͡ɕ]; born 30 May 1951) is a Bosnian pop singer who is widely considered one of the greatest vocalists and cultural icons of the former Yugoslavia. He has been compared to Paul McCartney and Tom Jones by music critics and the general public. He has garnered fame in Southeastern Europe for his emotionally expressive tenor voice, fluent stage presence and numerous critically and commercially acclaimed albums and singles.
Among his songs, "Ti si mi u krvi" (You're In My Blood), from the eponymous album, is widely considered one of the most popular ballads of ex-Yugoslav music.
Early life
Born in Sarajevo, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia to Bosnian Serb parents, police administrator Vladimir Čolić from the Vlahovići village near Ljubinje (Herzegovina) and homemaker Stana Čolić from Trebinje (East Herzegovina), Čolić grew up with a younger brother Dragan. Showing an early interest in sports, the youngster was active as a football goalkeeper in FK Željezničar's youth system, before switching to track and field where he also excelled in the 100 metres and long jump. At one point he ran a 100-meter dash in 11.3 seconds, and continually placed high at various events he entered (finishing just behind future star Nenad Stekić at one of them). Čolić eventually gave up on a career in sports, feeling he lacked the discipline required to compete regularly.
Growing up in Sarajevo, Čolić attended the Vladimir Perić Valter elementary school in the Skenderija neighborhood near the adjacent neighborhood of Grbavica where he lived. He also attended music school, studying guitar playing.
The public source identifies “Zdravko Čolić” as bosnian singer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Zdravko, Čolić and Bosnian.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q169179. VIAF identifies the subject as 46185692. The Library of Congress control number is n2006026345. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zdravko Čolić” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.