Ceca (singer)
Svetlana Ceca Ražnatović (born Svetlana Veličković on June 14 1973) (Serbian Cyrillic: Светлана Цеца Ражнатовић, born Светлана Величковић) is a female singer popular in Serbia. Initially, the musical genre that launched her into stardom was country music, whereas lately her sound can be described as pop-folk.
She was born in Žitorađa in southern Serbia. Her career began in 1988 with the hit song "Nagging Flower" (Cvetak zanovetak). At the age of 22 she married Željko Ražnatović - Arkan, a Serbian paramilitary leader, who was assassinated on January 15 2000 in Belgrade. She currently lives in Belgrade quietly with her two children (son Veljko and daughter Anastasija). She is mostly popular in the Balkans, but also in countries outside the Balkans with large ex-Yugoslavian populations, Austria and Germany for example.
In June 2002 she held a live concert at the stadium of Marakana in front of 80,000 fans. She also performed a live concert at the stadium of Borac in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska in Bosnia that same year; this was attended by more over 30 000 people. On December 31, 2005, as part of the New Year's celebration, she staged a free concert in Niš. This event was reportedly attended by more than 80,000 people. She also performed in Slovenia at the Tivoli Hall to an audience of 10,000 people and she held the biggest concert in Macedonia at the national football stadium in Skopje, in front of over 45,000 people.On June 17,2006 she held the biggest live concert the Balkans have ever seen,in Usce,Belgrade,Serbia more than 150,000 attended this spectacular concert.Ceca promoted her latest new album "Idealna Losa at Usce"
Non-singing career
Ceca has some experience in acting and in the sports world. In 1991, she played the role of Koštana based on the play titled Nečista krv by Serbian playwright and novelist Bora Stanković. Today she is the owner and president of the football club Obilić, which she inherited from her deceased husband. Ceca is the president of the "Third Child" humanitarian fund, the purpose of which is to increase the birthrate of Serbian mothers and to help Serbian families who have more than three children. She held several humanitarian concerts, raising money for food, clothing, and sundries for Serbian families.
Political career
Ceca is the honorary president of the Serbian party Party of Serbian Unity (SSJ), formed by her late husband Željko Ražnatović (Arkan). She has not been politically engaged, and claims to have only accepted the function of the “president” in honor of her deceased husband, who founded the party.After the assassination of Serbian prime minister Zoran Đinđić in March 2003, Ceca was brought to officials for questioning, after which she was arrested. She was released after 4 months spent in solitary confinement.She has dedicated the song Pile , from her last album Idealno Losa to her husband Zeljko.
Discography (studio albums)
- Cvetak Zanovetak (1988)
- Ludo srce (1989)
- To Miki (1990)
- Babaroga (1991)
- Šta je to u tvojim venama (1993)
- Ja još spavam u tvojoj majici (1994)
- Fatalna ljubav (1995)
- Emotivna luda (1996)
- Maskarada (1997)
- Ceca 2000 (2000)
- Decenija (2002)
- Gore od ljubavi (2004)
- London MIX (2005)
- Idealno loša (2006)