K2 was a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

, 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 ...

and

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

duo, formed by sisters

Aleksandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus ...

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, ; ; 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 Hungarian father an ...

, 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 def ...

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

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. Aleksandra and Kristina started playing

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

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

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

. 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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Misamanagement (clients include

Supertramp Supertramp were a British rock band formed in London in 1970. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), the group were distinguished for blending p ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

and

Chris de Burgh Christopher John Davison (born 15 October 1948), known professionally as Chris de Burgh ( ), is a British-Irish singer-songwriter and musician. He started out as an art rock performer but subsequently started writing more pop-oriented material ...

). They went to London to support

Labi Siffre Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre ( , born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums from 1970 to 1975 and four from 1988 to 1998. His compositions include " It Must Be Love", which reached number 14 on the ...

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

Mean Fiddler The Astoria 2, subsequently known as the LA2 and later 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 ...

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

Errol Brown Errol Ainsworth Glenstor Brown MBE (born Lester Errol Brown; 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 N ...

(former singer of

Hot Chocolate Hot Chocolate are a British soul band formed by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. The group had at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1984. Their hits include " You Sexy Thing", a UK number two which also made ...

) 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 and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, 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.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

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. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

s -

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a 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 ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

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

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

and

Nona Gaye Nona Aisha Gaye (born September 4, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, 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 vocali ...

) and the composing duo

Rod Argent Rodney Terence Argent (born 14 June 1945) is an English musician. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Argent came to prominence in the mid-1960s as the keyboardist, founder and leader of the rock band the Zombies, and went on to form the ba ...

-Peter Van Hook (who composed and produced for

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

and

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

Two successful albums in Yugoslavia

In 1995, the girls returned to their hometown

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

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

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

and former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. 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 (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

label to record an album for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. In 1997, the girls went to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 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 ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. 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 Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

.
Kristina Kovač Official Site

Kristina Kovač
at

. {{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 Spanish-language musical groups of Serbia