Svetlana Ceca Ražnatović

Biography

Svetlana Ražnatović (née Veličković; Serbian Cyrillic: Светлана Ражнатовић, née Величковић; pronounced [sʋětlana raʒnǎːtoʋit͡ɕ]; born 14 June 1973), better known as Ceca (Serbian Cyrillic: Цеца, pronounced [t͡sěːt͡sa]), is a Serbian singer. Dubbed the "Serbian Mother" ("srpska majka"), she made her recording debut in 1988 and has collectively released sixteen studio albums. She is recognized as one of the most commercially successful Serbian artists of all time with collective sales of seven million records. Furthermore, with 150,000 attendees, her 2013 concert in Ušće, Belgrade was one of the highest-attended concerts in the world. In 2023, Ražnatović also became the youngest recipient of the Life Achievement Award at the Serbian Folk Music Assembly. She has been described as a regional music star, and of the most popular names in Balkan music. From 1995 until his assassination in 2000, Ceca was married to Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader Željko "Arkan" Ražnatović, with whom she had two children, including fellow singer Anastasija. In 2011, Ceca was convicted of embezzlement and illegal firearm possession.

== Life and career ==

=== Early life === Veličković was born on 14 June 1973 in Prokuplje and raised in the nearby town of Žitorađa. She has a younger sister Lidija. Veličković graduated from the high school of agriculture, studying pig farming. While vacationing in Sutomore, SR Montenegro, she was discovered by a Serbian accordion instrumentalist and songwriter Mirko Kodić, who took her to Belgrade where she made her recording debut, and from then she eventually pursued a professional career in music.

=== 1988–1993: Career beginnings === Ceca rose to prominence by competing at the 1988 Ilidža Folk Music Festival in Sarajevo with the song "Cvetak zanovetak", receiving the first award for a debut performance. At 15, she released her debut studio album Cvetak zanovetak in 1988 under PGP-RTB. The album has sold in 350,000 copies. In the following years, Ceca released three more records in succession: Ludo srce (1989), Pustite me da ga vidim (To Miki; 1990), and Babaroga (1991). In 1991, she made her acting debut as Koštana in the film adaptation of Borisav Stanković's novel Impure Blood with Rade Šerbedžija, and recorded an anti-war song "Neću protiv druga svog" with Šerbedžija. However, her scenes were eventually excluded from the film due to poor critical reception. The scenes were later included to the television series Tajne nečiste krvi, which broadcast in the beginning of 2012. Despite her rising popularity, she briefly left Serbia to Switzerland before coming back to work on her fifth studio album.

=== 1993–2000: Breakthrough === In 1993, Ceca released her fifth album, Šta je to u tvojim venama, through JV Komerc, on which she began collaborating with the songwriting duo Marina Tucaković and Aleksandar Radulović. The album saw great commercial success, selling over 300,000 copies, whilst the track "Kukavica" has become one of her signature hits. Following the album's release, Ceca held her first solo concert at the Tašmajdan Center in Belgrade, at front of 10,000 people. Šta je to u tvojim venama was followed by the albums Ja još spavam u tvojoj majici (1994) and Fatalna ljubav (1995), the latter of which included stand-out hits like: "Volela sam te", "Nije monotonija", "Idi dok si mlad", and "Beograd". To promote Fatalna ljubav, Ceca had a live show at Hala Pionir. After two years of dating, Ceca and Arkan got married on 19 February 1995 in St. Mark's Church in Belgrade. The whole ceremony was broadcast and released as Ceca i Arkan through PGP-RTS and is often called "the wedding of the century". In 1996, Ražnatović released Emotivna luda under Komuna, and in December gave birth to her first child, Veljko. Ceca renewed her collaboration with PGP-RTS to release Maskarada in 1997. In 1998, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter Anastasija. Her tenth studio album, Ceca 2000, was subsequently released in December 1999. These two records produced popular songs like "Maskarada", "Nevaljala" and "Crveno".

=== 2000–2010: Career setbacks ===

Ceca returned to the scene in 2001 with the album Decenija, released under Grand Production. It saw commercial success, becoming her highest-selling album to date, with over 800,000 copies sold. To promote Decenija she embarked on a European tour, which ended with the concert at the Marakana Stadium in Belgrade on 15 June 2002, where she performed to 70,000 people. In March 2003, due to her involvement with the Zemun Clan, Ceca was arrested by the Serbian police on suspicion of harboring the Clan's leaders in her home, allegedly providing them shelter as an alibi following the assassination of then-Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. She spent 121 days in prison. She was eventually released, and she started working on her new album Gore od ljubavi and Idealno loša in May 2004 and June 2006, respectively. On 17 June 2006, Ceca held a solo live show in Ušće, Belgrade in front of 120,000 people, making it one of highest-attended concerts in the world. After the success of her 2006 concert on Ušće, Ceca embarked on Grom Tour, but due to her controversial background and history, the United States and Canada denided her entrance, but was able to perform in Australia in 2010.

=== 2010–present: Mainstream success === In June 2011, she released Ljubav živi under Miligram Music, which was sold in 150,000 copies. After she had served her detention for financial fraud and illegal firearm possession between 2011 and 2012, Ceca released her fifteenth studio album, Poziv, through City Records in June 2013. It spawned hit-songs like "Da raskinem sa njom", "Ime i prezime" and "Turbulentno". The album was sold in over 200,000 units. Poziv was promoted via Poziv Tour and a concert at the Ušće Park on Vidovdan in 2013. According to Ceca's management, the concert attracted 150,000 people, breaking her previous record for highest-attended concerts by a solo artist in the world. Same year, Ražnatović also performed at the New Year's Eve concert in front of the House of the National Assembly in Belgrade. In June 2016, she independently released Autogram under her record label Ceca Music. It featured popular songs like the title track, "Trepni" and "Metar odavde". Autogram circulated in 150,000 copies. The album became Ceca's most successful mainstream album to date, with over 460 million views on her YouTube channel. She has served as a judge on the televised singing competitions Pinkove Zvezde (2014–2016) and Zvezde Granda (2021–present). In October 2022, Ceca's reality television show, titled Ceca Show: Ceca i deca, also began airing on Blic TV, as well her own late-night talk show Ceca Show.