K2 was a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

n pop, R&B,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

duo, formed by sisters

Aleksandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

and

Kristina Kovač Kristina Kovač ( sr-Cyrl, Кристина Ковач, ; born 10 November 1974) is a Serbian singer and composer. She became famous during the 1990s when she and her sister Aleksandra Kovač were a big attraction in Serbia and surrounding count ...

in 1990. They worked with many producers worldwide and released five albums. After eight years, the band finished its work in 1998. Aleksandra and Kristina started their solo careers.

Group history

Beginning

Aleksandra (born 1972) and Kristina (born 1974) are the daughters of

Kornelije Kovač Kornelije "Bata" Kovač ( sr-Cyrl, Корнелије "Бата" Ковач, ; hu, Kovács Kornél; 1 January 1942 – 13 September 2022) was a Serbian composer. Early life Born in Niš during World War II in the Nazi-occupied Serbia to a ...

, a famous

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and his wife Spomenka, who is a songwriter. They have younger sister, Anja (1988), who is an

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. Aleksandra and Kristina started playing

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

when they were very young, so they knew that their job will be -

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. Aleksandra decided she would be singer when she "heard music from the movie '' Grease'' for the first time", in 1978. Aleksandra and Kristina formed their band, named K2. They signed their first contract with a management company from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Misamanagement (clients include

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending pro ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

and Chris de Burgh). They went to London to support

Labi Siffre Claudius Afolabi Siffre (born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums between 1970 and 1975, and four between 1988 and 1998. His best known compositions include " It Must Be Love" which reached number 1 ...

on tour and performed in many famous clubs in London, such as "

Mean Fiddler The Astoria 2, subsequently known as the LA2 then the Mean Fiddler, was a nightclub at 165 Charing Cross Road in London, England. History The venue was originally a ballroom in the basement of the London Astoria theatre and connected by stair ...

", "The Orange" and "Tea Room des Artistes". In 1993,

Errol Brown Lester Errol Brown MBE (12 November 1943 – 6 May 2015) was a British-Jamaican singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the soul and funk band Hot Chocolate. In 2004, Brown received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contributi ...

(former singer of

Hot Chocolate Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener like whipped cream or marshmallows. Hot chocolate ...

) booked the sisters as an opening act and as backing vocals on his tour, after hearing them perform in "Mean Fiddler". After the tour, the sisters began a collaboration with "New Underground", a team of young producers from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, which resulted in several songs that are a mix of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

and R&B. With this, K2 generated positive reactions from major record

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

s -

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. In the following years, Aleksandra and Kristina worked with many important names from the music industry, such as Derek Bramble (a composer and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, who worked with

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

and

Nona Gaye Nona Aisha Gaye (born September 4, 1974) is an American singer, former fashion model, and retired actress. The daughter of singer Marvin Gaye and maternal granddaughter of jazz musician Slim Gaillard, Gaye began her career as a vocalist in the e ...

) and the composing duo

Rod Argent Rodney Terence Argent (born 14 June 1945) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Argent came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the keyboardist, founder and leader of the ...

-Peter Van Hook (who composed and produced for

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

and

Tanita Tikaram Tanita Tikaram (born 12 August 1969) is a British pop/folk singer-songwriter. She achieved chart success with the singles " Twist in My Sobriety" and " Good Tradition" from her 1988 debut album, ''Ancient Heart''. Background Tikaram was born i ...

Two successful albums in Yugoslavia

In 1995, the girls returned to their hometown

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

and, filled with positive energy and creativity, wrote, arranged, produced and performed their first album '' K2'', which became very popular. They successfully promoted this album in

and former

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

. Their singles were "'Ajmo u život", "Džangl Manija" and "Milo moje". In 1996, they released their second album, '' Malo Soula'' (''A Little Bit of Soul''), with singles "Dabadamdam", "Sestre" and "Biću tvoja devojka". At the time, these two albums, as well as the videos for the singles, represented something new, original and fresh in Yugoslavia.

Album for Spanish market and break-up

A year later, in 1997, Aleksandra and Kristina took the offer from

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

label to record an album for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. In 1997, the girls went to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, and signed a contract with

to release an album for the Spanish market. The album they eventually released consisted of Spanish-language versions of their previous songs. For example, their #1 hit "Dabadamdam" became ''"Debedamdam"'', "Sestre" became ''"Hermanas"'', "Ajmo u život" became ''"Vamos de fiesta"'' etc. The same year the remix album called ''"Vamos de fiesta - Remixes"'' was also released for

. Kristina however, later said that this collaboration was "the worst thing that happened to the group". After album promotion followed by a modest tour, the group returned to

and disbanded.

Solo careers

Aleksandra recorded the song "Better or Worse" in 2002, but her album ''Med i mleko'' was released in 2006. It was one of the best selling albums in 2006. For this album, Aleksandra won the Best Adriatic Act award at

MTV Europe Music Awards 2006 The MTV Europe Music Awards 2006 were held in Copenhagen at the Bella Center. The outside stage hosted a concert that featured The Killers, Keane and Snoop Dogg. Presenters included Fat Joe, Timbaland and Moby. Notable events during the ceremony ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Kristina released her solo album ''U nebranom grožđu'' in 2007, becoming one of the most popular solo singers in

. Her album is one of the best selling albums in 2007 and 2008 in Serbia.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' K2'' (1995) * '' Malo Soula'' (1996)

External links

Aleksandra Kovač Official Site

Aleksandra Kovač
at MySpace.
Kristina Kovač Official Site

Kristina Kovač
at MySpace. {{DEFAULTSORT:K2 (Kovac sisters duo) Serbian girl groups Sibling musical duos Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Serbian pop music groups