10 famous musicians with Croatian heritage born outside Croatia
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Loading... - Jakov Saric
- 06 Jun 2022
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People with Croatian heritage born outside the country have made an impact around the world in a number of fields, including music.
Whilst there are many more, below are just 10 of them who made a big impact.
Krist Novoselic
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Krist Novoselic was the bassist and co-founder of the legendary grunge band Nirvana. Born in California to Croatian parents Marija and Krsto Novoselić, Krist spent time in school in Zadar on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast in the 1980s.
His mother Marija is from Privlaka, near Zadar and father Krsto is from Iž.
He met Kurt Cobain through his brother and the two discovered they had a similar taste in music and decided to form the band Nirvana. The rest is history.
Tony Butala
Tony Butala was the lead singer of the vocal group The Lettermen, who had two Top 10 singles, 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contemporary chart (including one #1), 32 consecutive Billboard Magazine chart albums, 11 gold records, and five Grammy nominations.
Butala was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania and is of Croatian descent.
He was honoured last year with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Lorde
Ella Yelich-O’Connor, better known as Lorde, burst onto the music scene as a teenager a few years ago thanks to her smash hit ‘Royals’. That hit spent nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won her two Grammy Awards.
Lorde has Croatian roots on her mother’s side and lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Lorde revealed that she got her Croatian citizenship in 2017.
Michael Bublé
Canadian-born singer, songwriter, and record producer Michael Bublé has sold over 75 million records and has his own Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The multi Grammy Award winner has Croatian roots with his grandfather Mihovil originally from Trogir near Split on the Dalmatian coast. Bublé grew up listening to Mihovil’s old jazz records and it was he who convinced Michael to enter a talent show as a 17-year-old which he won.
Guy Mitchell
Guy Mitchell was an American singer and actor who was successful not only in the US, but also the UK, and Australia. He sold 44 million records, including six million-selling singles.
His first hit was “My Heart Cries for You” (1951). He ventured into rock with songs including “Heartaches by the Number”, “Rock-a-Billy”, “The Same Old Me”, and his biggest hit, “Singing the Blues”, which was number one for 10 weeks in 1956.
He was the son of Croatian immigrants and was born in Detroit, Michigan.
David Paich
The American-born musician, songwriter, singer, and record producer is best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional singer of the famous rock band Toto.
Paich wrote or co-wrote much of Toto’s original material, including the band’s three most popular songs: “Hold the Line”, “Rosanna” and “Africa”. With Toto, Paich has contributed to 17 albums and sold over 40 million records. Additionally, Paich has worked as a songwriter, session musician, and producer with a host of artists including Boz Scaggs and Michael Jackson. Read More...
