Ladislav Křížek

Ladislav Křížek (born 24 April 1963) is a Czech singer, songwriter, and guitarist active since the mid-1980s. At the beginning of his career, from 1985 to 1987, he sang with the heavy metal band Vitacit. He later joined the group Citron, recording one album with them in 1987, one in 2001, and one more after rejoining, in 2015. He went on to form his own band, Kreyson, in 1989. To date, they have released five studio albums. In 1997, he created the group Damiens with his brother Miroslav. The duo has released three studio albums. Křížek has also published four solo studio albums since 1991.

Biography

Beginnings of a singing career

Křížek began his career in the now unknown group BMM, after which he joined the Žatec-based band Nervus Vegus. The real beginning of his career happened with the Prague band TAM. Křížek did not stay with them for long, however. In the first months of 1985, TAM was offered an opening slot for the annual concert of the band Orient, which they accepted. This concert was attended by members of the heavy metal band Vitacit, whose lead singer Dan Horyna departed in February of the same year. Vitacit liked Křížek's vocals so much that they offered him the vacant spot, which he accepted.

Vitacit

Vitacit had been together since 1973 but had never recorded any material. In 1985, after Křížek joined, they met guitarist and singer Miloš "Dodo" Doležal, who became the band's new frontman. Křížek and Doležal went on to write a number of hit songs together. Vitacit had much success and filled concert halls throughout 1985 and 1986. By 1987, they began to attract attention from record labels and received several offers. In January of that year, however, Křížek announced his departure from the band. His last concerts with Vitacit were held in a grim atmosphere, and on 15 March 1987, Křížek and Vitacit performed together for the last time.

Citron

In February 1987, the Ostrava-based metal band Citron was hit by an unexpected event. Their singer Stanislav Hranický broke his leg and was unable to perform for an extended period of time. For this reason, the band hired Křížek as his replacement. They immediately began to work on their third album, titled ''Radegast''. Upon release, it went Gold and was the first big success for Křížek. The following year, Citron won the Zlatý slavík award. Citron went on to tour extensively, not only in Czechoslovakia, but also in Poland, the USSR, and Germany. They appeared frequently on television, topped music charts, and garnered much success during this period. In early 1989, the band began to prepare their next studio album, ''Vypusťte psy!'', but disagreements began to show among them. They managed to record a demo and release two singles, before Křížek departed the band in August 1989.

Kreyson and solo work

In 1989, Křížek collaborated with Karel Svoboda on the title song for the television series ''Dlouhá míle''. The same year, together with Citron guitarist Jaroslav Bartoň, he formed the heavy metal group Kreyson. In 1990, Kreyson released their first album, titled ''Anděl na útěku''. It was recorded in both Czech and English versions, with the help of producer Jan Němec. The single "Vzdálená" proved to be a huge success, topping all domestic charts, and the band went on tour for the rest of the year. In 1990, Křížek released his first solo record, ''Zlatej chlapec'', which was also a big success and sold 100,000 copies within fourteen days, and Křížek won his second Gold record. In the following years, Kreyson released the albums ''Křižáci'', ''Elixír Života'', and ''Zákon Džungle''. Just like ''Anděl na útěku'', ''Křižáci'' came out both in Czech and in English. In 1993, Křížek released another solo album, titled ''Klíč k mé duši'', which received Diamond certification the following year for 400,000 copies sold. 1994 also saw the release of ''Best of Láďa Křížek'', the artist's first compilation album. Towards the end of that year, Křížek sang a duet with Czech opera diva Eva Urbanová in a rock adaptation of ''The Phantom of the Opera''. In 1995, Křížek was voted among the top three most popular singers in the nation. The same year, he sang the intro song to the cartoon ''O Malence'', together with Slovak singer Dara Rolins. In 1996, Křížek issued the holiday album ''Kam hvězdy chodí spát'', in collaboration with the Bambini di Praga youth choir. The album also included a duet with singer Karel Gott

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