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Branimir "Johnny" Štulić (born April 11, 1953) is a Croatian singer-songwriter, and author, 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, becoming a cult figure.

Early life

Štulić was born on 11 April, 1953, in Skopje, where his mother Slavica (née Milovac) and father Ivan Štulić – an officer in the Yugoslav People's Army – were stationed at the time. His Croat family originates from Nin, being one of the oldest families from the town. At the age of seven, Štulić moved with his family to Jastrebarsko. In January 1967, Štulić moved to Zagreb where he attended high school and later, for two years, studied phonetics and history at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Philosophy before dropping out.

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 one and it expired. 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 they are born, who gave birth to them, 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.

Life in Netherlands

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.

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. In revolt to the statements made by music editor from Croatia Records and former Jugoton Štulić stated that Azra is not a Croatian band and that he is not a Croat, nor the child of a Serbo-Croatian marriage. In the Serbian public it was seen as a reason to proclaim him as Serbian, however, his lack of declared ethnic affiliation through his career (from Croat to Macedonian, Bosnian, Bogomil, Illyrian, Balkanian) is considered to be related to his revolt of being identified with any of the nations who would start the Yugoslav war. 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 declined both Croatian and Serbian passport and citizenship.

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)

References

1. ^ Vjekoslav Perica (2014). "Heroes of a New Kind". Post-Yugoslavia: New Cultural and Political Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-1-137-34614-8. The Macedonia-born Štulić (of Croatian family background) ... His family background is Croatian but he declared himself a "Balkanian"
2. ^ Dragan Markovina (September 11, 2015). "Ulomak iz knjige Povijest poraženih: Štulić bez domovine" (in Serbo-Croatian). Stav!. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
3. ^ Marko Dunatov (September 26, 2009). "Kad je Johnny bio mlad" [When Johnny was young] (in Serbo-Croatian). Zadarski list. Retrieved March 24, 2018. tvrdio da vuče korijene od Grgura Ninskog. 'Moji su iz Nina, Hrvati', vikao je
4. ^ "VL Biografije: Branimir Johnny Štulić" (in Croatian). Večernji list. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
5. Marija Knežević (September 18, 2009). "Branu ću nagovoriti na povratak u Hrvatsku!" [I'm going to persuade Branimir on returning to Croatia!] (in Serbo-Croatian). Zadarski list. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
6. Maštrović, Ljubomir (1955). "Ninski govor" [Language from Nin]. Radovi (in Serbo-Croatian). 2. Institute for Historical Sciences of the Yugoslavian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zadar: 88. Retrieved March 24, 2018. Od starih ninskih obitelji ostale su do danas samo tri: Ljubičići, Stulići i Morovići. One se još i danas među ostalim seljacima ponose kao pravi i najstariji Ninjani starosjedioci. Ljubičici i Stulići (još i danas po broju najveće obitelji) sve donedavna čuvahu staru hrvatsku narodnu nošnju i glavari njihovih obitelji oblačili su je nedjeljom i blagdanima te su od starine kao članovi crkvenoga odbora (»fabricieri«) imali u crkvi počasno mjesto.
7. "Branimir Štulić" (in Serbo-Croatian). Croatia Records. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
8. ^ Boris Stromar (October 27, 2005). "Branimir Johnny Štulić - Razmišljam o povratku" (in Serbo-Croatian). RiRock.com. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
9. Igor 'Yuri' Jurilj (April 18, 2009). "Branimir Johnny Štulić: "Smijurija u mjerama"" (in Serbo-Croatian). Muzika.hr. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
10. Igor Vujičić (December 30, 2005). "Hrvoje Horvat: "Fantom slobode - Biografija Johnnyja B. Štulića"" (in Serbo-Croatian). Muzika.hr. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
11. Lana Bunjevac (February 21, 2006). "Ines Pletikos: "Kad Miki kaže da se boji"" (in Serbo-Croatian). Muzika.hr. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
12. Lana Bunjevac (May 7, 2006). "Kruno Petrinović: "Prilozi za biografiju Johnnyja B. Štulića"" (in Serbo-Croatian). Muzika.hr. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. Kristina Bosno (August 7, 2012). "Štulić: Živim asketski i pišem pjesme, ali neću izdati album" (in Serbo-Croatian). Večernji list. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
14. "U međuvremenu je Branimir Štulić pripremio dvanaest novih knjiga" (in Serbian). Vreme. December 29, 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
15. "Branimir Štulić ekskluzivno za Index: Najveća pljačka u povijesti Rock'n'Rolla" (in Serbo-Croatian). Index. February 25, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
16. "Džoni Štulić tuži izdavačku kuću zbog autorskih prava" (in Serbian). Novosti. September 30, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
17. "Štulić uzvratio Škarici: Azra sam ja i Azra nije hrvatski bend" (in Serbo-Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. April 27, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
18. Rosić, Branko (May 6, 2016). "Kako je Džoni Štulić postao Srbin" [How Johnny Štulić became a Serb] (in Serbo-Croatian). Nedeljnik. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
19. Županić, Sergej (May 11, 2017). "Štulić na odlasku: 'Gadite mi se svi!'" [Štulić on departure: 'You disgust me all!']. Express (in Serbo-Croatian). 24sata. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
20. "Отимање о Џонија" (in Serbo-Croatian). Politika. April 11, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
21. Andrea Belin (October 15, 2009). "Johnny Štulić: Ne želim više svirati u Hrvatskoj jer je okupirana" (in Serbo-Croatian). Nacional. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
22. "Johnny Štulić: Hrvatsku putovnicu ne želim ni u ludilu" (in Serbo-Croatian). Index.hr. November 7, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2016.

External links

• Azra's channel on YouTube

• 1953 births
• Living people
• Croatian expatriates in the Netherlands
• Croatian rock musicians
• Rock guitarists
• Yugoslav expatriates in the Netherlands
• Croatian male singers
• Yugoslav male singers
• People from Houten
• People from Skopje
• Musicians from Zagreb