Drago Mlinarec (born 14 December 1942) is a Croatian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

musician who became known in the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

with popular

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Grupa 220 Grupa 220 was a Yugoslav rock band from Zagreb founded in 1966. It was formed through merging previous instrumental rock groups ''Ehos'' and ''Jutarnje zvijezde''. They are notable for publishing the first authored works in the local field of roc ...

Life

Mlinarec was born and grew up in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, the capital of Croatia. During his formative years, Yugoslavia was under Tito's form of communism though it had open borders with the West. He has stated that his lyrics were inspired, at least in part, by the Noir films he had seen at the cinema.An interview with Drago Mlinarec
jetset.cro.net

Work

Besides playing in one of the most popular rock bands in Yugoslavia,

, Mlinarec in the 1970s composed music for several theatre plays, TV shows, documentary and feature films. His musical style was compared with

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member ...

. Some of his albums were recorded in Sweden.

Musical career

After serving his mandatory military service, Mlinarec left Grupa 220 and begun a successful solo career. His 1972 album ''Pjesme s Planine'' yielded several notable songs including ''Noćna Ptica'' and ''Skladište Tišine''. Arguably his greatest achievement was the 1975 album ''Rođenje''. He used a variety of sounds and his style of play was distinctive - it remains so today. Among his later hits is a

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

hit ''"Caracas"''.

Discography

Singles and EP's

* "Kad bih bio Petar Pan" (Jugoton 1967) * "Osmijeh" (Jugoton 1967) * "Prolazi jesen/Plavi svijet" (Jugoton 1968) * "Prva ljubav/Povratak" (Jugoton 1971) * "Sivilo perona/Do viđenja, vještice" (Jugoton 1971) Solo * "Noćna ptica/U njegovom srcu" (Jugoton 1972) * "Caracas/Kule od riječi" (Jugoton 1977)

Albums

* ''Naši dani'' (Jugoton 1968) * ''Originals 67/68'' (Jugoton 1987) - kompilacija Solo * ''A ti se ne daj'' (Jugoton 1971 - LPY-V-S 50926) * ''Pjesme s planine'' (Jugoton 1972 - LPVYS-60995) * ''Rođenje'' (Jugoton 1975 - LSY-63002) * ''Negdje postoji netko'' (Jugoton 1977 - LSY-68037) * ''Sve je u redu'' (Jugoton 1978 - LSY-66057) * ''Tako lako'' (Jugoton 1979 - LSY-66079) * ''Sabrano'' (Jugoton 1980 - LSY-66115) - kompilacija, "remake" ranije snimljenih pjesama * ''Pomaknuto'' (Jugoton 1983 - LSY-63152) * ''Analog'' (FV Založba 1994 – FV 43) * ''Krhotine'' (Croatia Records 1996 - CD D K 5050919) - kompilacija * ''Krhotine 2005'' (Croatia Records 2005) - compilation * ''Collection'' (Croatia Records 2011 - CD 5936268) - kompilacija (box set)

and solo * ''The Ultimate Collection'' (Croatia Records 2007) - compilation

Awards

* 1987: The Josip Štolcer Slavenski award from the newspaper ''

Vjesnik ''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb which ceased publication in April 2012. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained ...

'' * 1997: The Porin Award for the album ''Krhotine'' * 2005: The Porin Award for lifetime accomplishment in music

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mlinarec, Drago 1942 births Musicians from Zagreb Croatian rock musicians Croatian guitarists Croatian songwriters Croatian composers Living people 20th-century Croatian people