Miroslav "Miro" Žbirka (21 October 1952 – 10 November 2021) was a Slovak pop and rock singer and songwriter, widely popular in 1980s Czechoslovakia. Born in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

to a Slovak father and an English mother, he sang in Slovak, English, and Czech. He sometimes recorded in

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, but lived in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and since early 1990s in

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, where he died. In the late 1970s, Žbirka co-founded two Czechoslovak pop music bands, Modus and Limit. In 1982, he rose to fame by winning the annual

Zlatý slavík Zlatý slavík () was a Czechoslovak music poll and award of the same name established by the magazine '' Mladý svět'' in 1962, and broadcast on television. It was held until 1991, when Český slavík took its place. After the dissolution of ...

award for the best male singer in Czechoslovakia. After the 1992 division of Czechoslovakia, he repeated this achievement in the Slovak annual Slávik Awards, coming number one in the annual end of year charts in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Žbirka had some performances with

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

in 2012. Asteroid 5895 Žbirka, discovered by Czech astronomer Zdeňka Vávrová in 1982, was named in his honor (the official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

on 27 August 2019 ()). He died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on 10 November 2021, leaving behind recorded vocals for his 15th studio album, '' Posledné veci'' (''Last Things''), which was completed by his son David Žbirka in Konk Studios by May 2022.

Discography

;Studio albums * 1980: '' Doktor Sen'' * 1982: ''Sezónne lásky'' * 1983: ''Roky a dni'' * 1984: ''Nemoderný chalan'' * 1986: ''Chlapec z ulice'' * 1988: ''Zlomky poznania'' * 1990: ''K.O.'' * 1993: ''Songs for Children'' (designed for children) * 1994: ''Samozrejmý svet'' * 1997: ''Meky'' * 1999: ''Songs for Boys & Girls'' (designed for children) * 2001: '' Modrý album'' * 2005: '' Dúhy'' * 2009: ''Empatia'' * 2015: ''Miro'' * 2018: ''Double Album'' * 2022: '' Posledné veci'' ;Export albums * 1981: '' Doctor Dream'' (aka ''Miro'' and/or ''Like a Hero'') * 1982: ''Light of My Life'' * 1983: ''Giant Step'' (aka ''Dear Boy'') * 1989: ''Step by Step''

Awards

Major awards

Music polls

References

;General * ;Specific

Bibliography

External links

* *
Miroslav Žbirka
at ''

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'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zbirka, Miroslav Slovak pop singers Slovak rock singers Slovak folk singers Slovak singer-songwriters New wave singers Slovak guitarists 1952 births 2021 deaths Slovak expatriates in the Czech Republic 20th-century Slovak male singers Slovak people of English descent Modus (band) members Zlatý slavík winners 21st-century Slovak male singers Czechoslovak male singers Musicians from Bratislava Deaths from pneumonia in the Czech Republic Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) English-language singers from Slovakia Czech-language singers from Slovakia Slovak-language singers of the Czech Republic