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Branimir "Johnny" Štulić (born April 11, 1953) is a singer, composer, and writer, best known for being the frontman of the popular former Yugoslav rock group Azra. He is known for his charismatic stage performances and inspiring song lyrics that often combined rock poetry with a strong sense for social commentary.
Early life
Štulić grew up in Skopje. His father is from Nin, Croatia.
Music career
He began his musical career with a band named "Balkan Sevdah band", performing beside own songs also The Beatles covers and folk music. The name was changed to Azra in 1977. The initial line up which included Jura Stublić, Marin Pelajić and Mladen Juričić soon dissolved, and they formed another popular band Film. During the 1980s, became one of the most prominent and influential musical acts in Yugoslavia. The Azra days brought Štulić widespread fame in Yugoslavia, as well as a rabid and devoted youth following – Štulić often used his music as commentary directed towards the social and political conditions in the then-Socialist Yugoslavia.
He has been living in the Netherlands since 1986. From 1989 performed under his name with live support of "Sevdah Shuttle Band", and released solo studio albums Balkanska rapsodija (1989) and Balegari ne vjeruju sreći (1990). When it became obvious to him that Yugoslavia will collapse, Štulić in 1991 in Sarajevo recorded the album Sevdah za Paulu Horvat (released in 1995), documentary Das ist Johnny in which the most memorable moment was when viewed from the window of Sarajevo hotel room and concluded that soon all would burn, and his alleged last visit of the territory was in 1995 in Belgrade, where produced album Anali and promoted book Božanska Ilijada. In regards to the Yugoslav war, Štulić frequently expressed his disapproval of separatism and was a fervent believer of Yugoslavism and Brotherhood and unity. He commented that "I have no passport, no money and have no place to go back. I had a Yugoslav and expired me. Yugoslavia is no more, it's the same as when you are born and you are told: this is your dad, this is your mother, because, according to Homer, no one knows when is born, who gave birth, at least the first three years. And now I do not have my parents and that's why I'm happy".
After the ex-Yugo wars ended in 1995, Štulić recorded two solo albums, both published in Belgrade, Serbia, with the last Blase in 1997. In 2005 he published an autobiography called "Smijurija u mjerama", with average reception. Hrvoje Horvat, a Croatian journalist, wrote a biography of Johnny Štulić titled "Fantom slobode", ("The Phantom of Freedom"), published in 2006. Due to Štulić's immense popularity in the former Yugoslavia, the book was an immediate commercial success. However, it was also heavily criticized by many literary critics, and even Štulić himself, for its sometime poor writing quality and alleged misinterpretation of facts. Ines Pletikos directed documentary film Kad Miki kaže da se boji (2004), while Kruno Petrinović a book, Prilozi za biografiju Johnnyja B. Štulića (2006), about the heroes of his poems.
Today, Štulić lives a modest and ascetic lifestyle in Houten, Netherlands, with wife Josephine Grundmeiyer. He typically does not give interviews and is very protective of his privacy. He states he has no interest in going back to his rock career, but in the past few years he has recorded and posted on YouTube over 600 traditional songs, hit covers and some original material. He works on the Serbo-Croatian translation of many ancient and medieval works.
Štulić has said that Azra is not a Croatian band, and that he is not a Croat, nor the child of a Serbo-Croatian marriage. About appearing in Croatia he said that he doesn't want to perform in occupied territories and regarding an issue of him not having a valid passport he responded to the question if he wanted the Croatian one with "I don't want it not even in insanity".
In 2012 initiated a lawsuit against Croatia Records from Zagreb, the direct successor of Jugoton, over royalty rights, as well book publisher from Belgrade, for copyright infringement.
Discography
- Balkanska rapsodija (1989, Jugoton)
- Balegari ne vjeruju sreći (1990, Jugoton)
- Sevdah za Paulu Horvat (1991, Komuna)
- Anali (1995, Komuna)
- Blase (1997, Hi-Fi Centar)
